Good Sunday 🌝!
Welcome new subscribers :)
I now call my newsletter Sunday Beam because after the first 10 newsletters, it's time to have a name. Partly because I feel awkward calling it the Kevon Cheung's newsletter, and partly because I want to have a more consistent approach to sharing my thoughts.
So, Sunday is the day the newsletter goes out, and beam brings together bright and fresh knowledge.
I also change the design and font as I want us to focus on the words, and words only. #minimalistic
If you follow my Twitter @kevon69, you know that I had a pretty crazy week. I launched the Building in Public guide across many platforms. Not only I got on Hacker News 1st page, my website exploded. I've not had this many visitors on a single day. I'll share more about what I learn from the launch later!
Also, a lot of people are interested in how I got to 1200 followers in 12 weeks, so I wrote how I used human behavior to grow my Twitter audience.
😖 Change
This past Monday, our 24/7 confinement nanny went on leave for 24 hours. It was our first night taking care of Avery, and it was a nightmare.
Ever since the nanny left our home, Avery wouldn't stop crying. It got worse in the evening when we put her to bed. We battled her all the way until 1am when she passed out from exhaustion.
What happened there?
Apparently the presence of the nanny was crucial to Avery's security. She was not used to the new sleeping routine and the new people to bring her to bed. Overall, it was a sense of insecurity.
We're all afraid of change, so why wouldn't a newborn be? But the good news is that a baby can adapt to a new style fairly quickly.
Then the next morning I went for a run, and I started thinking about its implication to a working adult. A lot of people are afraid to make a change in their lives, even if they're insanely unhappy. They often hold on to their job and wait until another shows up before they resign.
I always have a different approach to this. In the past 3 years I had made 2 critical decisions to leave the companies I was working on. I was sure I wanted to move on, made it happen, and gave myself sometime to figure out what's next.
Yes, it feels insecure not knowing what's next, but that "empty space" allows me to explore new things that could shape my next big move.
From my observations, people who make leaps and embrace the insecure period often come out with a drastic but happy change. And people who don't make leaps often make progression but a steady, gradual one. Am I the only one who feels this way?
🥇 Personal Monopoly
Most of you know that I've been in a "searching" phase in the last few months. I know I want to create valuable content under my own name and hopefully use that to sustain my family's life one day. But, I'm not exactly sure what "my niche" is yet.
My approach so far has been to stay true to myself, and let my curiosity and interest guide me. I know that I can't simply force myself into a "niche" because in a couple of months, I'd likely reverse that.
Last week I came across this term "Personal Monopoly" from David Perell. This video explains the term well. It is a term that exactly describes what I'm trying to do.
I'm finding the intersections between what I enjoy x what I'm good at x what people need.
On the other hand, I'm looking for a problem hard enough that is worth solving. I like Jeff Bezos' approach "take time to build hard things, so it takes time if people want to destroy them". I don't want to follow what others are doing, I want to dig into my curiosity and do something unique.
This obviously will take time, and you all will be watching.
💡 Inspirations
For inspiration this week, I'll leave you with Sam Altman's (former president of Y Combinator) new blog post on his life advice as he turned 30. Lots of good reminders.
🎉 Have an Awesome Week
If you enjoy reading Sunday Beam, it'd be amazing to share it with a friend or two. You can send them here.
And I'd love to say hi to you on Twitter @kevon69! I'm also quite open about my life so you can also IG me @kevon.