The Jai Journal

Entry 09 // September 14th, 2024.

The year after i finished high school I worked at a timber mill.

12 hour night shifts watching wood fly by on a machine. Bored out of my brains and not allowed to sit down or look away in case a piece of wood went askew and messed up the line.

Headphones were a “health risk” so no music or podcasts either. Unless you were one of the lucky ones who had built-in ear muffs on your hard hat and could hide AirPods inside of them.

It was pretty rough work really. Surrounded by people with very little ambition or desire to find something better.

I lasted 5 months.

And it was one of my favourite jobs of all time.

Because through the boredom I found something that changed my life.

I used to rip the labels off packs of wood and write on the back of them every time I had an idea.

One of my ideas was to buy a travel Instagram account, grow it, and then use it to get free stays and products.

I spent $160 AUD on an account with 7k followers and for the next 3 years I posted twice a day. It was a feature page, so I would find content and repost it… this was way before the days of Reels so it was all images, hashtag strategies and engagement groups.

I grew the account to 155k followers and several more to 20k+. This led to me growing accounts for small businesses and a whole lot of ‘firsts’ in business.

My first sales call.

My first customer (that paid me $59/month).

My first camera.

My first free trip as a creator.

My first ‘real’ business, a creative agency.

My first time hiring someone.

My first million dollar year.

My first time losing 100s of thousands of dollars on top of this.

My first time truly facing my limiting beliefs.

And my first time finding my “why”

Everything happened exactly when and how it should. Thousands of micro decisions that led to me being the person I am today. With full faith that I would end up where I’m meant to end up.

Looking back, that timber mill job gave me something many people avoid… Boredom.

and through that boredom I found ideas. Hundreds of them.

In my case the boredom was forced upon me. But we all have a choice.

I can leave my desk right now, walk to the park without my phone and sit there for 2 hours.

I bet, through the boredom, I’d have some pretty good ideas.

The shower, long car drives & running are all great places to find ideas because they create space.

Creating space is the best way I know how to come up with ideas. Because it’s the only way to escape the chaos of life long enough for our brains to think differently.

For what it’s worth, @TheArtOfMondays is the second best way I know how to come up with ideas. Surround yourself with ambitious people who inspire you to think bigger in your life & work... it will change your life.

These are the first steps to break free from the conditioning you’ve been under since you were born.

It’s how all the inner work is done.

It’s how I wrote this email.

And it’s how you’re going to have the idea that changes everything.

You can do it without having to work 12 hour night shifts at a timber mill.

Down to get bored this week?

Big love,

Jai

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