This Week:
- The networking solutions chat that may be the start of something big.
- The INSANE villa I stayed at this week with a group of guys.
- A week of crazy activities (jetskis, gun range, meals, workouts) living in Bali.
May 2025
| Su | M | T | W | Th | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 5/1 | 2 | 3 |
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
Where In The World Was I?
- 🇮🇩 Bali, Indonesia
Metrics From The Week
It will make more sense later in the post 😂
The Start Of Something Big
On my checkout day the co-working hostel hosted this networking solutions chat.
I was going to ask a question/challenge about my free to paid client bridging situation, but I didn’t get time.
However, I got to hear three other people speak about the business challenges they’re facing and ended up contributing, asking questions, and sharing my experiences and learnings.
It was actually really fun and exciting.
My hands were really shaky with nerves, but I felt like I was in such deep flow problem solving.
I don’t know how to convey this with words on a post, but I walked away thinking “yep… yep, I need to be there every single time they do this. Not to share my own challenges, but this is the start of something big for me…”
It honestly reminded me of when I was a tutor in computer science in college.
And if you’ve watched a handful of my YouTube videos on my story, I always go back to tutoring computer science as the feeling I’m chasing.
“Alignment” is the only way I can describe it.
I’m getting goose bumps just thinking back to this.
The 1MI Event
So a little bit of context first. I’m in this international networking group. I joined last year and went to the launch party in Granada, Spain (My Brain Is Rewiring What Is Now Possible, August 4th, 2024). It’s a mixture of access to houses and week-long events in places.
Day 0
This week was a week-long stay at this absolutely UNREAL villa with 8 other guys. The house came with a staff of about 4 people that would clean the rooms every other day, cook breakfast, help get any coffee or things we need from the grocery store, laundry, etc. And they were the nicest people I’ve ever met.
By far the best place I’ve ever stayed in my life.
It was so fun to see guys I met last year in Granada, Spain (and Budapest) and have been chatting with online.
I met a new guy that does fitness coaching and had such a great conversation about just travel, life, business, everything.
And another guy who I’ve met before gave me some really useful tips for my current business and where I’m at.
Day 1
Man what a day.
Started the day waking up at 6am and going to the gym that also had a sauna+cold plunge.
Then came back to the house to have breakfast.
The afternoon we took some photos of each other to use for social media/branding.
Then went to a Muay Thai class. It was my first time!
There was about zero instruction 😂 we jumped straight into a warm up and then some combo punches and kick moves, then some moves with partners, some bag work, and some kicks with the instructors/pads. I had no idea what I was doing but it was fun and VERRRRRRY sweaty.
We ended the night at a great steakhouse.
Unreal. This is what life is all about man.
Day 2
Coffee, gym, then a cafe for brunch.
Then took a bus down to the beach to this watersports place and rented jetskis.
And MAN was this fun.
I got some GoPro footage that I’ll hopefully clip and add here once I go through it. But it was so fun. We went for the fast jetskis (1300cc) vs. the “slow” ones (700cc). The water where we went was pretty choppy.
I could never describe or capture that feeling in words. The jetskis are SO powerful. Ripping around, getting splashed by waves.
It was so fun I went back for a second time (15 minutes).
In the evening we went to another Muay Thai class (different place).
This one was REALLY good.
We did warm ups, combo punches/kicks with a partner, some bag work, then everyone paired up with an instructor/fighter.
I was telling him how it’s my first time.
We started with a 1-2 punch, took one look at my punch, and went “alright let’s start with the basics” 😂
I was like oh my god thank you so much I have no idea what I’m doing 😂😂😂
He walked me through everything, stance, posture, hands, the rotation and twist of the body and feet for each type of punch.
It was honestly incredible. I appreciated it so much.
And the best part was that this was just part of the class, I think he worked there. Afterwards, he was like “yeah of course, come by and find me and we can train more.”
Then ended the night with some more steaks.
Day 3
Coffee, gym, then breakfast back at the villa.
I pushed hard in the gym, it felt amazing to be around other guys pushing each other.
After brunch we had massages.
Then went to an indoor shooting range.
The guy took us to one room first. I was expecting a run down on everything. He basically said “this is one room but we’ll start in another room that’s smaller/easier, follow me”
We went to the other room and he pretty much just started calling up names one by one.
I’ve shot a couple times before, but when I went up I said “it’s my first time” and he went “it’s okay, just take it slow” and just handed me the gun 😂😂
Got a bullseye and several hits in the darker inner rings with the handgun(s).
Then went to the other room (the first one) and shot a double-barrel shotgun and rifle. I’ve got a clip on my GoPro of hitting two targets back to back with the shotgun 😤
Traffic getting to and from was VERY bad (took 1.5 hours each way)… But it was worth it. So much fun.
We ended the night with a private chef dinner at the villa. It was unreal.
Day 4
Morning coffee and chats.
Then we spent literally 8 hours at this insane social/wellness club.
Got an insane workout in with the guys.
Met Hamza.
Sauna+ice bath.
Chilled by and swam in the pool.
Connected with maybe six other new and interesting people living in Bali and traveling there.
This place is insane… and MASSIVE. And the women there, wow.
I honestly don’t have words to describe this.
How is this real life?
The Final Morning
Coffee and some incredible conversations.
I felt like I was leaving part of my family.
Final Takeaways
This honestly might have been one of the best weeks of my life. It was so fun and it was so meaningful to be able to share these experiences with other guys that I actually relate to and connect with.
It was also hilarious to see the transformation from some of the other guys between the day they got there until the last day.
Everyone else absolutely loved it. The energy in this group was amazing.
2 guys literally cancelled their flights back and decided to stay longer 😂
2 other guys said they’re 100% coming back in 6-12mo.
And I guess I just live here now 😄
Thoughts From The Week
Life
There’s this Instagram reels caption that I’ve seen trending here and there, something like b-roll footage of friends laughing and spending time together with the caption “almost forgot that this is the whole point.”
I kept thinking about that this week.
Early Mornings
Half the days we woke up at 6am, the other half was about 7am or so.
The 6am wake up and early gym session days, I noticed something interesting.
6am is early for me. I used to wake up at 6:30am every day but it’s been more like 7am for a while lately.
But I would get up, brush and get ready, then walk out and see other guys already up and at the coffee machine making coffee.
I just feel like I’ve been around the types of people for so long where I’m the first one to get up. I’ve rarely met people in hostels (outside Bali and SE Asia) that play life the same way.
It just felt refreshing to not be the first one, ya know?
Out Of Body Experiences
I’m gonna try my best to explain this but I don’t quite know how to articulate this…
This must have happened like 10 times this week.
I noticed every once in a while I’d have these moments where I’d suddenly become extremely aware of the present moment and almost detach away from myself, observing or at least being incredibly aware of myself speaking/saying something.
Not quite a “watching myself from 100 feet up,” more like this almost slight detached observation.
It was almost as if I couldn’t recognize this reality as being my life… It looked too different.
I think I had 2 takeaways, one I’ll talk about next, but the second being this growth moment, seeing this as an indicator that I need to raise my self-image and confidence to a new level to match my reality.
Processing
I’m very glad I write these posts and do nightly journaling because I can see how all of this would just pile and pile up over time.
See, I spend so much time alone and so much time thinking and reflecting. A week with family or a week like this with other guys, especially something with so many activities. I find that I almost lose my sense of self (whatever that means).
It’s as if I trade it for either motion (booking the taxi, planning the next things, problem solving) or conversation, deep in the topic and not deep in my own thoughts.
I felt like I barely thought this week. I know I did, but just in comparison to what’s normal, it just feels like there’s “so much” to catch up on.
Like what the hell just happened this week 😂
Where am I and how is this my reality 😂😂
Give, Give, Give
Similarly, another thing I started to pick up was that I felt like I was in “give, give, give” mode.
Everyone really liked the photos I took and we tried to take photos of each other multiple times during the trip, but I don’t think anyone else took as many candid photos as I did.
I don’t mean this in a bad way, because photos just come more naturally to me. I’ve built up this habit and skill over the last 5 years of taking photos when I see a scene or composition I like.
I think I just wished there was someone else doing the same thing so that I could also benefit from it.
And again similarly to both of these things, I saw this in conversations as well.
As a coach (ah fuck it I’ll just make it my identity at this point 😂😂😂) I feel like I’m always in “other people” mode, trying to pick apart and understand what people are working on, what could be blocking them, what might unlock something, etc.
I had some incredible conversations and rewarding conversations, but man, I still struggle with the uncertainty of my own path right now.
And going back to The Week Of Social Exchanges In Da Nang (April 13th, 2025), this is why that 10 minutes meeting the life coach at the smoothie place made such a big impact on me.
I think generally in life, everyone cares about themselves. And because of that, man it just feels so special to find someone that breaks that frame and really listens intently and cares about YOUR life.
The Final Piece
Having said that, one of the great conversations I had, I think we were talking about relationships and dating and I was explaining my story/situation and the progress that I’ve made.
I forget his exact question, I think it was around self-confidence and how that’s changed, but I remember my answer.
Over the past maybe 4 years, gosh I just feel this mixture of gratitude and meaning from how much progress I’ve made in my life.
The more I meet other people, the more deep conversations I have, and the more I help people, the more I’ve continued to build and build this foundation of confidence and worth (“value” or “meaning” or something like that).
But the final piece I feel like I have to figure out is business (okay, maybe not the FINAL piece)
And it just stings every time I see someone dumber than me making more money than me (not in this group).
Yeah…
Very happy to be back here… I’ve been reminded of how good Bali is, how amazing the people are, and how friendly everyone is (and the locals).
Seeing the other guys experience Bali for the first time, their reactions, and seeing them go through the transformation from first impressions to “I’m cancelling my flight because it’s so f-cking insane here,” that’s been a good perspective for me.
It feels weird to say but I’ve been to so many places in the world, met so many people, that that fresh first perspective has kind of worn out a little bit.
What’s Next?
Booked another (smaller) villa with the guys that stayed.