I’m a little late for my second update in my quest to move out of my studio apartment while building financial stability. On one hand, things have been moving very quickly since my last entry in April; on the other, there’s truth to the saying, “no good plan survives first contact with the enemy,” which, in this case, is my brain trying to balance everything.
While I’ve stuck with most of my original strategies, I’ve pivoted my attention to some others that cropped up. And when I decided to try out one of my back burner ideas, that yielded results a lot faster than I expected, making me rethink my entire short- and long-term plan to this challenge.
Since I’m (mostly) a one-man operation with a lot of ADHD, managing my energy is perhaps my biggest struggle. Between working from home (without the ability to body double to keep myself focused), the number of opportunities to build what I want in different ways, and the underlying anxiety that has me second-guess myself more often than I’d like, I’m always fighting off burnout from either too much excitement or too much indecision.
Even if you don’t have ADHD, the warmer months often bring a lot of renewed activity, energy, and momentum. Much like the daily layer of SPF 30 to keep myself from burning up under the sun, this update will be all about protecting you from another kind of burn: scope creep, a lack of focus, and feeling like you can’t keep up with your to-do list.
In this post, we’ll explore the following…
A status report on how I’m progressing with my goals as well as a quick refresher of what strategies I’ve been using.
What to do when things go too fast, even if they’re going well.
Avoiding that feeling of one step forward, five steps back.
The importance of grounding yourself in the process.
Moving in the Right Direction
While you can get a full refresher in the last entry, here’s a quick summary of what I’ve been working on:
I posted my first non-gaming video in a long, long time on YouTube and Instagram. It performed much better than expected on Instagram (over 2,500 views in 48 hours compared to the average 200 views my posts get); the algorithm seems warmer over there than YouTube so this has made me rethink some of my content strategy and where and how to post. However, because of the emotional labor it took to make that video, it derailed the rest of my content plans for the following weeks (hence why this update is so late).
To further cut down food costs and manage energy, I now use a meal delivery service. Despite its cost, local food prices here are so expensive that meal delivery that covers 3-4 days out of the week actually saves me $30-40 a week. And because the meals are well-rounded, high-quality, and pre-made (I only need to put them in the oven for 12-15 minutes), I no longer order out and save money on groceries too as I now just buy staples or sides to supplement the meals. For the rest of those days, I keep it simple with soup and sandwiches, overnight oats, eggs and some sort of protein, and pasta dishes.
All of my current clients are on the retainer model with two more warm leads. Each of my current clients has a slightly different arrangement on this model, allowing me to better test what’s working and what isn’t. I’ve also updated the “Start Here” page to talk more about the hybrid credits/hours system for this retainer that allows me to serve my clients much better while securing the monthly recurring revenue I need to keep my finances stable.
Updated my internal project management system to remove friction and decision paralysis. To mirror the credit/hour system, I’ve built a time tracking log to make sure I’m dividing my time and attention across my projects and my clients more effectively. I’ve also added a “Done” list in addition to a “To Do” list as an ADHD trick to get more dopamine by acknowledging accomplishments that I might not realize (this helps when I feel like I’m busy but not getting as much done).
I soft-launched the pay-what-you-want resume writing service for people who need help finding work. This was the backburner project that turned out better than expected. After I posted the service on my personal Facebook and S2C’s community Discord, a few early adopters reached out almost immediately. This also opened up other networking opportunities, offers for work, and ideas for similar devices that, while great, have affected the balance of my whole system. In turn, I have some further adjustments to make across the board; the volume has led to a bit of burnout.
As far as measurable progress goes, we’ve been making gains across the board (green shows movement in the right direction):
Eliminate outstanding debt and establish a safety net.
Balance between expenses vs. total income: 12.36% (up from -5.79%; should be increasing)
Money left over each month (cashflow): 11.00% (up from -6.14%; should be increasing)
Credit utilization ratio: 96.52% (down from 97.51%, should be decreasing)
How much of my income goes to housing, utilities, and insurance: 38.95% (down from 48.38%, should be decreasing to less than 33%)
Savings (days/% of one month’s expenses): 2.9 days/9.67% of one month’s expenses (up from 2.7 days/9% of one month’s expenses; should be increasing)
Buy a house/condo/duplex/townhome OR find a new place.
Become more creative and calm.
Create five pieces of content a week: April 2026 average was 0.67/week (up from 0.5/week).
Develop better cooking, meal prep, and nutrition habits.
Consecutive days of not eating out (except for special occasions or work functions): Longest streak was 6 days, up from 2 days.
Current Main Focus: Improving credit utilization ratio to at least 95%, then 90%.
Note: Goal #2 is paused to focus on Goals 1, 3, and 4 first.
When Things Go a Little Too Well
We all have dealt with a fear of failure in some form another at some point. Sometimes, we have the opposite problem and good things are happening a little too quickly. The pay-what-you-want resume service, the Instagram video performing 12x better than average, and all the little tweaks I’ve been making to the system over the past month and a half have been good. But they’ve piled up quickly and my focus is too divided.
On top of the work I need to do for S2C, there’s client work to be done, my personal responsibilities, networking and finding new clients, trying to spend time with friends and not become a recluse… the list goes on.
The frustrating part is that despite my progress, it still feels like one step forward, five steps back. For instance, while it’s true that I finally have a solid MRR that’s right above breaking even, some unexpected car issues and prepping for traveling later this year have wiped out those gains as fast as I’ve made them.
But that’s because the problem here isn’t that things are bad. My energy is just spread too thinly across too many directions. And when executive dysfunction is already a struggle, this compounds into lost days where I’m stuck idling, hearing my brain sizzling in its skull as I try to scrape enough dopamine together to go toast some bagels for breakfast.
Luckily, there’s a way out.
Being Busy vs. Being Productive: Anxiety, Burnout, and Being Kind to Yourself
To combat burnout and decision paralysis from being overwhelmed, I have two main tools I lean on:
Firebreak days: I purposefully schedule a day during the week without any appointments or deadlines. This way, if I need the day (or even just a half day) to catch my breath, it’s there. Otherwise, any work I do chips away at the workload for the following days.
Hard stops: when I feel like I’m juggling too much at once and the firebreak days aren’t helping, I pull the proverbial ripcord. I turn off my phone, close all my messaging apps, and just ghost for a few hours or even a full day.
While firebreak days are built into my weekly schedule, hard stops are rare and used only as needed. I’m a big believer in keeping yourself challenged because growth happens when we’re confronted with obstacles to overcome. But grinding yourself to dust in the pursuit of hustling is unhealthy in various ways. And with my insomnia spiking and clenching my jaw so often and hard that I’ve developed a knot of muscular tension underneath my cheekbone that’s pulling on the right side of my face, this serves no one.
Suffering for your work isn’t noble nor is it martyrdom; it’s a lack of prioritizing your well-being and forgetting the point is to create and enjoy the process, even with its challenges.
Performing a hard stop is a learned skill. Too often, we feel that if we just let everything fall to the wayside, even for a moment, your life will come crashing down. This isn’t true. That’s because this isn’t a dramatic “let it all fall and break” moment. It’s more like a, “okay, we’re going to set these things down as gently as we can, take a breath, and figure out how to better carry them” moment. Unfortunately, perfectionism and a sense of shame surrounding rest makes it hard to remember we’re allowed to take a strategic breather.
But this is one of those things I have to keep written on the whiteboard of my desk when I forget: rest is a part of the work. You’re allowed to put everything down, allow your brain to defragment, your shoulders to relax, and to fill your lungs with a few good deep breaths. Sometimes that takes a few minutes. Sometimes it might take a day or two. But none of us were made to be broken down so needlessly.
Work is important. I believe that we all have an obligation to find our calling based on our skills, interests, and how to best serve each other. But buckling under your workload because you feel like you have to for [pick a reason] serves no one. And when things get hectic, even when you mean well, taking time to rest and reorganize how you carry a load that’s changed beyond your expectations in a relatively short time is the mark of competence, skill, and self-love.
As for me, I’ve taken some time to reprioritize my tasks, even if that means falling silent for a bit. In this extra time it’s taken to finally publish this update, I’ve…
Reconnected with a few organizations and established relationships with new ones which might yield more opportunities (if not for work, then definitely to have good friends for mutual support).
Collected new testimonials that’ll make marketing myself and establishing trust a bit easier.
Cleaned up my elevator pitch to explain what I do quicker and more clearly.
Discovered potentially more effective ways to market and share my content and rediscover why I love making content in the first place.
Adjusted my business model to better balance my personal workload with what my clients need me to handle.
Figured out ways to eat better, more regularly, and with healthier, more cost-effective options.
Opened a new, high-interest savings account with better strategies to grow that over time in service to my goals above.
And that’s just the handful that come to mind.
But my point is that when we’re stuck in firefighting mode, constantly reacting to whatever life throws at us, that should be read as a reminder to take a step back and breathe. If our attention is constantly pulled in dozens of different directions, everything feels urgent and few things get done. Taking the time to first decompress and then reprioritize will let you identify what to do first.
Even if it’s just one thing, that’s one thing you can decisively handle and remove from your list. And then you handle another. And then another. And then another. Don’t worry about getting everything done and having nothing to do; life will always toss something your way to keep you busy. But the trick is to be busy on your terms as best as possible.
And that just takes practice knowing when and how to pull the ripcord.
What’s Next?
Though I’ve been keeping up well with my clients and their projects, today marks the end of my own rest period regarding S2C-related projects. Still, the biggest goal for me is to continue building out this website with more content and hard-launching the pay-what-you-want resume service. I also need to figure out what kinds of videos I want to make on Instagram and YouTube in line with the one that did so well; regardless of its metrics, it reminded me of how fun making content is and how to enjoy the process again.
I suppose that is the whole point though, right? Of work, life, this little challenge series. Life and all its obstacles can be fun if we ground ourselves in the enjoyment of what we’re doing, regardless of how difficult it might feel.
There’s a reason why the tagline is “life’s a game, play it well.” We ought to do better to remember we can, indeed, press pause for a little bit, stretch, and figure out the next steps. And, more importantly, that we’re allowed to do so.
Game in thumbnail: Arma Reforger (Bohemia Interactive)