Public Commitment 2023 – Update 1

Theme: Expansion

This year I’m focusing on expanding myself and my impact on the world in various domains. It follows from a year where a lot of groundwork was done (e.g. finishing v1 of Blossom’s database). In 2023, it’s time to build on that and expand outward.

The expansion can take many forms, from moving to a bigger house, to offering more things with Blossom. It also means improving what I’ve done in terms of fitness and ‘recovering’ from the kidney donation (by ‘expanding’ to higher numbers on the big lifts).

Another way of putting the theme, with a slightly different meaning, is ‘Big or Bust’. It’s a bit more aggressive, but also captures the pruning side of the equation. Expanding means building on what is working, but could also mean letting go of non-productive parts to make the expansion possible.

This is the first (big/quarterly) update to the goals of 2023.

House

Objective (O): Live in the dream house

KR5: Move (in June)

KR6: Sell old house (will be on market mid April)

KR7: Make plan for house/garden upgrades (e.g. sports cabin)

KR8: Buy a car

V: Get financial information from the accountant by <5 Feb

V: Get ‘inkomensverklaring’ info and/or check for financing from ABN AMRO

V: After the above, look seriously on Funda and refine the criteria once more

V: Visit houses & make offer (pending mortgage, bought a house)

Well, that went a lot quicker than I thought it would. The very first house we visited was one that we loved and which was well within our budget. We will move into the house in the first half of June, and my apartment will be for sale soon.

Two fun projects will follow after moving in. First, making plans and starting the execution of them concerning the house and garden (e.g. sports cabin). Second, buying a car gives us more mobility (though a train station is a 5min bike away).

Finances

O: Make 10k p/m (currently between 3-6k p/m)

KR1: Keep track of finances p/w (ongoing, good)

KR2: Spend <50% of income on normal living expenses (not tracked that precisely yet)

KR3: Track and start improving the income of Blossom (started tracking & more promotion membership)

No significant updates here. I am following a course on how to set up sales, do customer interviews, etc., for building out the membership (or a future course) for Blossom. I’m working through the steps and have started promoting the membership more. The biggest challenge is discovering what people find helpful.

Flotte

O: Strengthen the relationship

KR1: Have 1+ deep conversation per week that doesn’t side-step challenging parts

KR2: Follow our habits such as Tuesday date night, meditate evenings (3+ p/w), check-in monthly

No updates here; still going well, and working on the house etc., is a good project together. We haven’t started working together more (for Flo Coaching), but I’ve helped Lotte with some things.

Relationships

O: Maintain a diverse set of relationships, and meet (expand) new friends in my interest areas

KR1: Call friends when walking Max 3+ p/w (going, 6/10)

KR3: Meet 2+ new people in Q2 outside work (>100min)

V: Meet 2+ new people in Q1 outside work (>100min)

This has been going relatively well. I can call more people when walking Max, and this will probably become more prominent when I’m not living in Rotterdam anymore.

FW.com

O: Have a lively (>1 post p/m) personal website

KR2: Post updates on what I’ve written on social media

KR3: Write one large (>1000w) post p/m (paused for now)

KR4: Write about fitness & diet in Mar (to be done later)

KR5: Post major updates (~1 p/m) in personal newsletter

V: Write a post about kidney donation in Jan

V: Finish update of design site & personal brand

This is the place where I’ve done the fewest things. The redesign went well, and I’m happy with the site’s appearance. But I haven’t made time to write again. I’m writing a lot for Blossom and notice I also don’t have the bandwidth to write for here. So, for now, I’m pausing this and will pick it up when I have more space.

Blossom

O: Expand the impact of psychedelics as medicine

KR2: Have ~2 calls with new people p/w (ongoing, 10/10)

KR3: Launch own (60-75min) course in Q1 (probably late Q2)

KR4: Reach >$1000 p/m income from non-consultancy work

KR5: Reach >$3000 p/m income from non-consultancy work

KR6: Work through an online course (e.g. customer interviews)

KR7: Relaunch the reports as membership perks (planned/working on this)

KR8: Add all past summaries for members

KR9: Provide who-is-who directory

V: (re)Launch PsychedelicsCourses <15 Jan

Most of my working hours are dedicated to building out Blossom. Since starting the course (KR6), I’m considering expanding my offering and doing customer interviews for that purpose. I don’t know where I will end up exactly, and who knows, the goals will change over the coming quarter, but this is the direction I’m currently heading in.

Alternative directions could include focussing more time on Flo Coaching, providing more resources for a general audience (versus focusing on the research), or a wholly new direction.

Queal

O: Maingain with a focus on customer satisfaction

KR1: Launch QQ offering each quarter (1x done)

KR2: Relaunch go bars (<30 Apr, delayed)

KR4: Refocus on customer acquisition & retention

X: Post blogs 3x p/w

I’ve dropped the goal of posting blogs 3x per week. Although they were about topics I found interesting, the match with Queal and with our audience wasn’t what it could be. We might reconsider this in some time, but for now, we’re getting the bars out as soon as possible (packaging is currently being made).

Flo Coaching

O: Help 20+ people experience psychedelics to expand their minds

KR1: Relaunch Flo Coaching in Q2, but after relaunching PC (started)

KR2: Remake customer flow, including coaching talks

KR3: Retest workflow with 2+ acquaintances in Q2

This has been pushed back slightly. On the one hand, there are still quite a few courses with missing information. On the other hand, we’re moving house and might not want to set up too much in Rotterdam. But, I have started promoting Lotte as a coach/guide, and if everything works out, we should be able to host people in Q3.

Sports

O: Expand my all-round fitness to exceed that of 2022

KR1: Do sports 6x p/w (3x cardio & 3x gym), after kidney recovery (now at 4-5)

KR2: Lift more than 440kg on big 3 (squat, bench, deadlift)

KR3 (uncertain): Incorporate stretching goals later in the year

No big update here. The recovery has gone well, and I’m feeling totally normal again. Times are a bit hectic, so I haven’t started a new sports plan. I plan to keep on doing what I’m doing and possibly update slightly before moving to the new house.

Health

O: Be in the best shape ever

KR1: Do 3 experiments (1x in Q2) with standard meals (2 meals x 5-7 days)

KR2: Track 3+ health metrics (e.g. free test)

KR3: Walk >10k steps p/d

I’m in good shape, but far from the best I’ve been. The goal is to ramp up the effort in the latter half of this year. For now, the goal of 10k steps is something I can take more seriously and will hopefully also be easier in the new place (especially because I probably will bike significantly less with Max, so will walk more with him).

I did do an experiment with a green smoothie and this was not too bad. It’s not something that would immediately go into my routine, so will experiment again in a bit.

Mindfulness

O: Improve the state of my mind, and expand it

KR1: Meditate >3650 minutes (60 hours; now a bit lower in Q1)

KR2: Investigate & find 1+ meditative path to explore

KR3: Take psychedelics for exploration 4+ times (1/4), including 1 (0/1) new compound

No big updates here, besides doing less meditation than I was planning to do. I might pick this back up soon, but also feel content at the moment with less regular meditation practice.

Notes

Building on the ‘release’ notes, I have picked up coaching with the course (a coach is available over email). I haven’t written more about hobbies, but have been playing video games for 2-4 hours per week, which is very relaxing.