I’ve wrapped up working on GymRats for now. I made substantial commits while I was here, but not nearly as much as I thought I would. The state of the business isn’t where I want it to be, but there is still positive growth and potential. Still averaging 1k sign-ups per day and continuing to see the app be essential for certain use cases. I’ve discovered some incredible, groundbreaking research related to the app that could blow things wide open. Exciting things ahead on that front.
I attribute the slip-up to a couple of things, but it was probably inevitable based on my setup. The slow start and food poisoning incident sent me into a panic. I was here three weeks and I hadn’t gotten anything done. So I went into overdrive and worked and worked and worked. This imbalance of course won’t last long and I knew that, but I just kept thinking I need to put up with it for now and it’ll be good for me later.
What I didn’t account for was that I went slightly mad due to social isolation. It had more of an effect on me than anticipated, which is funny because when I lived alone and worked remotely I experienced this discomfort, but there I was out and about on the weekends and seeing people and such so it wasn’t nearly the same as being in a foreign country 12 time zones away from all who I know and love. Here, the limited interactions I had were at a largely no-talking co-working space and with shop merchants who spoke limited English. The overworking made me tired where I wouldn’t want to socialize anyway.
I am a ginormo introvert and I love my alone time. It’s just peaceful and nice and blissful. But it’s amazing that I still don’t know that I need people too. I read a funny blog post recently talking about this dynamic.
All said, work is over (for now) and onwards to fun in Pai and Australia.
🔬