Raw Dogging Attention - Time To Stop

Hello all,

With all the work on the projects and feeling the momentum, I haven't prioritized the newsletter and writing. And I've missed it.

I am going to get back to more frequent (but not necessarily regular 🙃) and shorter posts. Not too polished, not too rigid, not too detailed - just riffing and documenting key points.

The rough structure:

• 1 core theme/topic - something I've been thinking about AND want to share with you.
• Projects' updates - a (short) log about things I'm building, learnings, wins, fails, trade-offs, etc.
• Unsorted bits - mini ideas, links, observations.

Let's see how it goes 😎

Raw dogging my attention

Over the last few months, I've noticed that I've started enjoying "hearing" the street.

I used to be that person who couldn't waste a second of his commute without listening to a podcast. This was a couple of years ago. Then, I started feeling fatigue from all the new information, and I switched to listening to music.

Now, I have reduced my headphone use during the commute by 10x. And I am loving it. I feel that not listening to anything and being in the present helps me recalibrate my overstimulated brain.

I tried this on my recent flight, and it felt weird, but satisfying. To raw-dog your flight experience completely, you'd be doing nothing but sitting. No screens, no audio, no books, no snack, just sit.

To be honest, I couldn't do it to 100%, but I had a least half of the 2.5-hour flight doing nothing. It sounds easier than it is 😀 Next time, I'll try to grow my raw-dogging-the-flight muscle. You should try it.

Coincidentally, there is a new trend I saw recently - younger people share a video of themselves sitting in front of a camera for 15 minutes (Independent, Youtube, Today)

I fully support the idea of embracing boredom. We've been "fighting" for our kids to feel more of it. I believe boredom is essential for creativity and not just for children.

How often do you feel bored?

PS, while learning more about this term, I found out the origin is sex-related (having sex without a condom) 🙃🤦‍♂️

Projects

Activity Hub

I've been sending out dozens of LinkedIn connection requests to potential users. I am rotating through 5 bookmarks, each for a different segment of the target audience:

Each filter has a few parameters and a list of possible job titles. Aiming for 30 connection requests per day. Getting about 5-10 accepted requests. Then, sending a very short message:

Quick note. I run ActivityHub.lu - a directory of team-building options in Luxembourg. Might be useful for future events.

~1 out of 10 people respond with interest.

As for visitors, it has some promise, I think. I had a couple of similar peaks after posting an announcement on LinkedIn and Reddit. Daily non-zeros are likely from those LI reachout efforts.

Now, I am trying to set up custom event tracking in Google Analytics to better understand what visitors click. According to my ChatGPT marketing consultant 😎, the engagement and conversion numbers are very promising (considering the size of this niche market). I need to set up a proper conversion funnel tracking, but I haven't figured out yet how to do it with Google Analytics and Softr.

Unsorted

(Your version of “Little Ones”)

• Inability to reach customer support when you are a paid member is extremely annoying. Trying to downgrade my X account to a lower plan (still paid), and it's been a week of daily automated emails; they couldn't process the payment for the next year's subscription (which I do not intend to renew). 🤯 I have a feeling this is the result of Musk's lack of customer obsession.
• What I hate about living in Europe is how many people find smoking in public places normal. Yes, legally, there are some guidelines on how close you can smoke, but so many people smoke wherever they want. Very frustrating. Apparently, I am not the only one who can't bear it - YouTube.
• The world is big, and people from outside the Western bubble (the majority of the planet) often have different opinions. A hilarious example (though some westerners will find it offensive) - YouTube.
• An amusing example of people from one country making fun of each other - YouTube.
• Found a new favourite DJ for the background focus music - LIKA (YouTube). My previous favourite was Chris Luno (YouTube)

Till next time 👌

Kirill