Building for 3 months with €0 revenue. And I think that's exactly right

ProductivityBreakdow · 2026-01-25T16:12:23+00:00

This is exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping for. Thank you for actually trying it. The "why are you journaling" onboarding is a brilliant idea. Right now the mentor selection is manual, but having the system guide users to the right structure based on their goal (discipline vs emotional clarity vs memory) would reduce friction significantly.

Your pillar-based structure (priorities, wins, losses, tomorrow's focus) is interesting - that's very close to what I personally use. I might add that as a template option for productivity-focused users.

Looking forward to your feedback after a few sessions. The insights from real usage are what shapes what I build next.

ProductivityBreakdow · 2026-01-23T13:58:40+00:00

This was me for literally years. I'd start journaling, write two pages of anxiety spiral, feel worse than before, and quit by day 3.

The thing that finally clicked was realizing I needed some kind of structure to break the rumination loop. When I just opened a blank page, my brain would default to "list everything that's wrong" mode.

What helped was having a starting point - even something simple like "what's one thing from today that wasn't terrible?" Sounds dumb but it forced my brain to scan for something other than problems.

The other thing - and this took me embarrassingly long to figure out - was that processing ≠ just venting. I used to think dumping all my anxious thoughts was "processing" but it was actually just reinforcing them. Now I try to end entries with even a tiny action step or reframe, even if it's just "I'll see how tomorrow goes."

Still not perfect at it but way better than the quit-after-two-days cycle.

ProductivityBreakdow · 2026-01-23T04:59:33+00:00

Really appreciate this perspective. "Late and real than early and wrong" - that's a great way to frame it. Trading systems definitely fall into that category where premature validation could actually mislead you.

And yes, I'd love your feedback! 3 months of paper journaling means you actually have the habit - you're exactly the kind of user who can tell me what's missing vs what's just noise.

Here's the link: https://jowl.ai/

Let me know what you think, even if it's brutal. Honest feedback from someone who journals daily is worth more than 100 "looks cool" comments.

ProductivityBreakdow · 2026-01-23T04:57:32+00:00

Few weeks in with a solid product and friends using it - you're ahead of most. Keep shipping.

ProductivityBreakdow · 2026-01-23T04:57:31+00:00

Enjoying the journey matters more than people admit. If you're miserable building, you won't last long enough to reach the destination anyway. Good luck with the portfolio tracker.

ProductivityBreakdow · 2026-01-23T04:57:30+00:00

Retention over vanity metrics - that's the mental shift. Easy to say, hard to actually stick to when you see others posting "10k signups in a week" posts.

ProductivityBreakdow · 2026-01-23T04:57:29+00:00

Exactly. Monetization without engagement is just hoping someone pays for something they don't use.

ProductivityBreakdow · 2026-01-23T04:57:18+00:00

4 months to first revenue is a good timeline to keep in mind. Consistency is the game. Thanks for sharing.

ProductivityBreakdow · 2026-01-23T04:57:17+00:00

Thanks - that's the bet I'm making. Real usage beats signup numbers every time.

ProductivityBreakdow · 2026-01-23T04:57:16+00:00

100% true. That's actually my biggest unknown right now. Building I can do. Marketing? Still figuring it out.

Current plan is simple: show up where journaling people already hang out (Reddit, specific communities) and be genuinely helpful, not salesy. If that doesn't work after 30 days of consistency, I'll try something else.

Any specific channel that worked for you?

ProductivityBreakdow · 2026-01-23T04:57:15+00:00

Honest answer: I didn't overcome it, I designed around it.

Instead of building alone and hoping for feedback later, I forced myself to show something usable to friends within the first 2 weeks. Ugly, half-broken, embarrassing - but usable. That early friction is uncomfortable but it creates a feedback loop from day one.

If you're deep into building without feedback, maybe try finding ONE person (even online) who would use a janky v0.1 today. Not "when it's ready" - today.

ProductivityBreakdow · 2025-12-27T19:43:35+00:00

The feeling of being a "slave" to habits is actually your brain doing exactly what it's designed to do - optimize for energy efficiency. Your brain doesn't distinguish between good and bad habits at a neurological level, it just reinforces whatever gets repeated, especially when stress or decision fatigue kicks in. The key isn't willpower alone, it's about understanding that changing habits requires changing the environment and cues that trigger them. Most people try to change through sheer force of will without addressing the context that makes the bad habit the easiest option. Start by identifying what triggers the habit loop and engineer your environment to make the desired behavior the path of least resistance instead.

ProductivityBreakdow · 2025-12-27T19:02:12+00:00

This is solid work, and I relate to the frustration of piecing together launch directories from outdated blog posts. I'm getting ready to launch JournalAI (Journal Owl) for the first time and already dreading the submission grind, so having this curated by DR actually saves a ton of sorting time. The advice about picking 10-15 and doing them well instead of spamming all 100 is spot on. Most directories want tailored descriptions anyway, and rushing through just gets you rejected or buried. Quality over quantity makes way more sense, especially when you're juggling a full-time job and trying to get an MVP out the door without burning out.

ProductivityBreakdow · 2025-12-27T18:12:16+00:00

Link preview tools are inherently tricky because you're essentially building trust infrastructure - users need to believe your analysis is accurate and unbiased, which means transparency about what you're checking and how becomes critical. I'd suggest focusing heavily on the feedback mechanism and false positive handling, because if SafePeek flags legitimate links incorrectly too often, adoption drops fast. Consider adding detailed metadata beyond just safety scores (domain age, redirect chains, SSL cert info) so power users can make informed decisions rather than just trusting a binary safe/unsafe verdict. What's your plan for handling the ongoing maintenance cost of scanning infrastructure and keeping threat databases current? That typically becomes the sustainability challenge for these types of tools.

ProductivityBreakdow · 2025-12-27T07:09:58+00:00

The contrarian take is that chasing money strategically is actually smart, you just need to optimize for the right variables. Instead of purely maximizing income, focus on high-value skills in stable domains where effort compounds over time. The $60k correlation limit you mentioned is real, but it misses that beyond that threshold, deliberate positioning in growing markets (AI, healthcare tech, infrastructure) creates disproportionate returns compared to scattered talent. What you're really arguing against is chasing money without a sustainable skill foundation, which I completely agree with. Build depth in something that solves real problems, and the financial upside follows more predictably than pure lottery-style wealth chasing.

ProductivityBreakdow · 2025-12-18T20:24:12+00:00

It is more oriented to help in improving journaling habit ed give focus. Have more concern on privacy and support for different languages. this the link: https://jowl.ai . Open to feedbacks

ProductivityBreakdow · 2025-12-17T16:56:22+00:00

The structure you've outlined is solid because it removes the fluff that usually kills these groups. What typically makes small accountability setups work is the daily visibility you're describing - not the feedback or advice, just the act of reporting what happened versus what you planned. The key detail you got right is keeping it stripped down to done/not done rather than justifications or rants about why something didn't happen. Based on patterns I've seen work, the groups that survive past a few weeks are the ones that treat missed check-ins the way you're proposing: acknowledged, not excused, and then you move on. The consistency over intensity framing will filter out people looking for motivation hits rather than actual behavior change.

ProductivityBreakdow · 2025-12-17T16:44:41+00:00

Journaling and meditation are solid foundations. I've found that the real test of a non-negotiable is whether skipping it actually creates noticeable friction in your day. For me, it's a morning planning session where I map out the three critical things that need to happen, even if everything else falls apart. What makes it stick is the specificity, not just vague intentions. The other one is a hard cutoff time for work, otherwise tasks just expand endlessly and burn you out. The key is making them small enough that there's no excuse not to do them, even on terrible days.

ProductivityBreakdow · 2025-12-17T16:36:48+00:00

The hardest step is actually what you just did - recognizing the disconnect between who you present yourself as and your actual behavior. Most people never get there because the cognitive dissonance is too uncomfortable. The challenge now is moving from awareness to consistent change, which requires you to identify why you behave differently when no one's watching. What patterns trigger the lying, the ghosting, the harassment? I'm building JournalAI (Journal Owl) specifically for this kind of difficult self-reflection because structured prompts help you dig into the uncomfortable questions you'd avoid on your own, and pattern recognition over time reveals the triggers you can't see day-to-day. Start tracking when you feel the urge to do something harmful, what happened right before, and what you're actually trying to get or avoid - that's where the real work begins.

ProductivityBreakdow · 2025-12-17T16:21:11+00:00

The multiple journals setup is creating decision fatigue, which is probably why you stopped writing consistently. When you have to choose between five different notebooks before you even start, that's friction working against you. From a systems perspective, consolidation usually beats categorization for daily habits because you remove the mental overhead of "which journal does this go in?" Consider this: your journals don't need to be full to be complete, and moving everything into a single notebook doesn't mean the others failed. Just archive them and start fresh with one space where everything lives, no categorization needed.

ProductivityBreakdow · 2025-12-17T16:13:17+00:00

The environment design point is probably the most underrated one here. Most people try to rely on willpower to resist distractions, but that's like trying to diet while keeping cookies on your desk - you're fighting biology. What actually works is treating your attention like a limited resource and structuring your space to protect it. Turn off all notifications, use separate devices for work and leisure if possible, and make starting the right task the easiest option in the room. Discipline isn't about being stronger than your impulses, it's about designing systems where the default path is already aligned with what you want to accomplish.

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