Public Commitment 2023 – Update 2

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 it could also mean letting go of non-productive parts to make the expansion possible.

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

House

Objective (O): Live in the dream house

KR7: Continue with upgrading garden (e.g. sports cabin & chickens)

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)

V: Move (in June)

V: Sell old house (everything is lined up for sale in two weeks)

The whole of May and the beginning of June was dedicated to moving house and all the logistics. Everything went smoothly, and I’m thrilled to be living there.

Two things still need to happen: buying a car (somewhere in the next few weeks) and a few big upgrades (and tens of small tasks) to the garden. The first of these two is making a chicken coop. The second is transforming the latter part of the garden shed into a fitness space.

Both are on track to be completed in the coming quarter, setting us up for a calm Q4 where we get the chance to test out the two (!) fireplaces.

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)

Again no significant updates. I have started thinking more about moving my energy towards the promotion of my projects (see below) which should hopefully help with the improvement in incoming cashflow.

Because of moving the finances don’t currently reflect ‘normal’ spending. So from July onward I will track those again and aim to spend less than 50% on living expenses.

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

Again, no big updates here as expected.

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)

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

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

I could improve this (after the chaos of moving several times travelling). We’re also making friends with the neighbours here, with one of the kids being a big fan of Max.

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

As mentioned before, the blogs on this site are currently on pause.

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 (will be Q3 now)

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

I’ve been working diligently on improving the resources on Blossom. What I haven’t done much is do outreach to get more (paid) readership. So that is something I will do more of this quarter. This also includes adding some introductory courses I’m cooking up on PsychedelicsCourses.com. Stay tuned for more.

Queal

O: Maingain with a focus on customer satisfaction

KR1: Launch QQ offering each quarter (3x done)

KR4: Refocus on customer acquisition & retention (new project in Q3)

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

X: Post blogs 3x p/w

With Queal we’re going to invest more in the acquisition of new customers in Q3. I won’t bore you with the details (as mostly I don’t know them yet). But I will report back how it went at the end of the quarter and possibly share lessons on my Twitter.

Flo Coaching

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

KR1: Relaunch Flo Coaching in Q3, (V: but after relaunching PC)

KR2: Remake customer flow, including coaching talks

X: Retest workflow with 2+ acquaintances in Q2

With moving, this got pushed back further. But it also means that we now have the perfect space for doing psychedelic-assisted coaching. The current plan is to help promote Flo Coaching with Lotte doing most of the actual coaching. Expect a lot of updates here in the coming weeks.

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. Didn’t do too much during moving and whilst in America, but did do sports almost every day during the vacation before this. I just went and visited the gym that is a few minutes away from us and will likely go there 3-4x per week (pending the building of my own gym).

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

In the evenings, I want to spend more time researching what is best to do in terms of food (and sports). Walking has become considerably easier (less biking, larger garden) but I will have to start ramping up the amount of sports sessions I do to get back in the best shape ever.

Mindfulness

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

KR1: Meditate >3650 minutes (60 hours; now a bit lower in Q2)

KR2: Investigate & find 1+ meditative path to explore

KR3: Take psychedelics for exploration 4+ times (2/4), including 1 (0/1) new compound

Now that I’m back from travelling, I’ve picked meditation back up. I also have several meditations lined up that I want to explore. One is around jhanas, the other is from QRI exploring meditation from about the same perspective as I’m coming.

Notes

Moving house has taken up a lot of bandwidth and has overall been a pleasant experience. Now that I’m completely settled and have caught up with most of the work that I was behind on, I feel energised to go and get things done.

In the coming days, I will continue working out the details for the work and life plans and keep improving, or ‘expanding’ as I like to say this year.