Enjoy Today, Not Tomorrow

Hello Predictable Revenue community,

Book update: Pre-sales have been coming in steadily and I wanted to find a way to say thanks, so today I'm launching The Pre-Sale Club - a monthly call where anyone who pre-ordered my book can show up and I'll help you diagnose and solve problems related to revenue or product market fit.

Our next club meet is Friday August 8th @ 930am PT. Pre-order the book here and forward me the proof of purchase to get your invite. No skill testing question required.

Today’s newsletter is a message that might be more for me than it is for you - but thanks for being here. I also recorded it for youtube (~6 mins) if you prefer that medium.

The "This Will Be Easier When" Trap

I've been catching myself saying this phrase more and more: "This will be easier when..."

It doesn't matter what comes after "when" - there's always going to be another hurdle, another milestone, another moment we're waiting for. I remember a moment from a few years into building voltageCRM when I was walking through a grocery store parking lot. I spotted a beautiful white 911 and thought, "Man, life will be good when I have enough money for a car like that."

The little dopamine hit was immediate. I could see the scenario clearly - me driving that gorgeous car, wind in my hair, feeling like I'd finally "made it." For a moment, that future felt more real and more appealing than my actual present.

Here's the thing: nearly ten years later, I still don't have that 911. But you know what? My life isn't bad without it. In fact, it's pretty damn good. And this realization - that I was already living a life worth enjoying back then - that's what hit me recently. That version of myself was so focused on what he didn't have that he couldn't see what he did have.

The Dopamine Hit of Future Fantasy

Those little mental escapes - imagining how great things will be "when" - give us dopamine hits for things that may never exist. Worse, they distract us from the reality we're living in right now. We're living in future fantasy instead of living in the now.

I notice this happening everywhere in my life:

• At the company: "The company will be so much easier when we hit X revenue milestone"

• At home: "Life will be better when the kids can do X"

• Personal goals: "I'll be happy when I lose these 20 pounds"

The pattern is always the same. We're constantly deferring our satisfaction, our contentment, our sense of accomplishment to some future state that feels just out of reach.

But here's what I realized about my seven-year-old twins: they're great right now. Yeah, they're intense. Yeah, it's chaos. But they're also hilarious, curious, and full of life in a way that won't exist when they're older. By constantly telling myself life will be easier later, I'm ignoring the present chaos and joy they bring today. I'm missing out on the good because I’m thinking about the future. 

You Are Exactly Where You Should Be

A few years ago, when I was trying to lose weight, a friend told me something that completely shifted my perspective: "You weigh exactly as much as you should."

At first, I was offended. I was overweight and unhappy about it. But then they explained what they meant: given my eating habits, my exercise routine, my sleep patterns, and my stress levels, my body was doing the math perfectly. This was the inevitable result of my inputs.

If I wanted different results, I needed to change the inputs. No excuses. No victim mentality. No "it's not fair" or "I have bad genetics." Just brutal honesty about cause and effect.

About a year after that conversation, I had a similar realization about our company. We were struggling with revenue, and I was frustrated with where we were. But then it hit me: we were exactly where we should be given our inputs. The number of leads we generated, the quality of our sales process, the type of customers we targeted, the service we delivered - we had earned exactly the results we were getting.

The same principle applies to everything. Today is either the reward or punishment for everything you've done leading up to this moment. That's brutal, but it's also freeing. There are no more excuses, no more "things will be better when..." It's radical acceptance of where you are today.

If you want different results, you need to change the inputs. It's that simple and that hard.

Why This Matters for Founders

As founders, leaders, CEOs, and parents, so much of our job is simply to show up - and show up well. Mentally balanced. Ready to make good decisions.

Because here's the reality: no matter how much planning you do, no matter how many brilliant strategies you come up with, success or failure often comes down to the quality of your decision-making in critical moments. And you can't make good decisions if you're rattled, frustrated, or hanging onto yesterday's problems.

I think it was Seneca who talked about one of the core principles of stoicism: willingly accept what is outside your control. I've probably said that to myself thousands of times, because if I want to show up balanced and ready to make good decisions today, I can't be hanging onto what happened yesterday.

I can't be pissed off about what someone said, or what one kid did to the other, or the deal that fell through, or the hire that didn't work out. If I show up angry and on tilt, I'm not going to make good decisions. I'm not going to be mentally balanced. I'm not going to be the shock absorber my team needs.

And I'm definitely not going to get the company to a different place if I can’t see today clearly.

Finding Hills 

I was thinking about this during a bike ride this morning. I used to hate riding up hills - they were exhausting and frustrating. But now, if I don't have a hill on my ride, it feels meaningless. It's not as fun.

Maybe there's something weird about me that I like climbing hills. But I don't think so. I think there's something weird about all of us as founders - we're here because doing something hard is interesting. We chose the difficult path because that's where the growth happens.

The struggle isn't something to endure until we reach the top. The struggle is the point. It's what makes the journey worthwhile.

The Bottom Line

If you're happy with what you have right now, you'll be happy. If you're unhappy because you don't have that white 911 (or whatever your version is), you're making yourself miserable - and you're probably already in a pretty good situation.

Think about it this way: ten years from now, you're going to look back at the current version of yourself and think, "That person didn't know what they had." Don't wait ten years to appreciate what you're building today.

The hard thing you're doing right now? That's the point. We're founders because doing something difficult is interesting. The hills make the bike ride worth it.

Your company, your team, your family, your life - they're all pretty great right now. Do you want to make them better in the future? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean right now is lacking.

Enjoy today. Not tomorrow.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this, forward it to a founder friend who might need to hear it.

Collin 

PS - I’ve created a library of the ‘core docs’ I use to run Predictable Revenue - would sharing those resources be enough of an incentive to get you to pre-order the book?