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  • Trying to buy creatine

    Trying to buy creatine

    I started three e-commerce brands in 2019, 2021 and 2022 from zero to, somewhat, an exit this year.

    I am not a frequent online buyer. First, I never had much money to spare in my last, so it’s an habit to not buy much stuff. Second, I have a tendency to overthink my choices. I feel like I need to make the perfect decision, so often I quit the process without making a purchase.

    But in the few times I do search for a product online I end up getting really frustrated by how poorly some websites are made.

    The following it’s not a comprehensive and it’s in no particular order. It’s a list of things I noticed when trying to buy from one of the most competitive industries in the internet: supplements.

    The brand names in this industry are just….

    SKULL. BRUTHAL. DARK. EXTREME. OPTIMUM. VENOM. CANIBAL. HARDCORE. DEMONS. IRIDIUM. TITANIUM.

    All of above are from real brands in Brazil.

    I’m 100% sure that I’m an alien customer. Almost all the brands use names and graphics in the opposite of what I’d expect for a product I’m going to ingest.

    I would love to see better wording and images related to healthy, quality, trust, certification and so on.

    I expect to know where are you from

    Many websites I visited in my search for creatine don’t tell me from where they are. Most of them lack a “About Us” page, phone number, or even basic information like the city they operate from.

    Trust. Trust. Trust. How many years are you in the market?

    Most of the brands rely on fake social proof. Lot’s of influencers, who probably received money or free products, try to convince me the product is good. I can’t trust them!

    Why not leverage other trust signals like the time in the market? Two of the companies I checked have been around 20 and 15 years, but this information is buried in the “About Us” page. It should be in the most prime location of the website.

    Specialists in the best most accurate nothing language

    “Our suppliers are the best in the market”… says who?

    “The most pure creatine”… can you show me an independent test lab?

    “Most advanced creatine technology”… yeah? Why?

    It’s so full of empty words that at the end of this session I was shocked I didn’t came across the “quantum” wording – or maybe soon we see a “AI Enhanced Creatine”?

    To make things worse

    A independent analysis from ABENUTRI – Brazilian Nutritional Association – find out that 10 creatine brands sold creatine that didn’t contain any creatine!

    And dozens of other brands didn’t have at least 80% creatine in their creatine!

    Out of 88 different brands, 23% were reproved. It’s also important to note that 7 brands couldn’t appear in the analysis due to legal action taken by their owners against ABENUTRI.

    In the end I got one

    Suffering from choice fadigue, I narrowed down my options to those on ABENUTRI list. The first one that had an acceptable delivery time and cost, and disclosed where they are and how long they’ve been in the market became my choice.

    I can understand why people prefer buying in marketplaces. Much of the BS is cut down and you get the benefit of comparing brands.

    But whenever possible, I’ll continue buying directly from company website. As a seller in several marketplaces myself, I know how much power these behemoths abuse. But that is a post for another day.

  • If there’s consistency here, why not there?

    How did I manage to maintain my gym frequency and even increase it?

    My teenage years and early adulthood didn’t involve much physical activity. There was physical education at school, and at certain times, a weekly soccer game with friends, and that’s basically it. At some point, I decided to start swimming, and I took to it quite well. For a few years, I kept at it twice a week. Circumstances changed, and I quit swimming until I was able to return two years later. Since then, every week I’ve been in the pool. A little over a year ago, I took another step: weight training three times a week. I had tried in the past and had never lasted more than six months. But this time it seems to have “clicked.” I’m feeling progress and enjoying my routine of exercising five times a week.
    So why am I telling this story? It’s part of my investigation into consistency (or the lack thereof).
    The most critical point of what I perceive as a lack of professional or creative progress is the lack of consistency. As analyzed previously, it stems from a restless pursuit of new visions, which in turn arise from new professional and creative passions. A monkey jumping from branch to branch who never really knows one tree.
    Translating this into the context of exercise, this creative-professional restlessness would make me the kind of person who tries every new sport that pops up: Beach Tennis, Stand-up Paddle, Padel, Pickle Ball. Yet that’s not what happens. Why?
    Or better yet: why does it work so well with swimming and weight training, and how can I translate that into the professional and creative realms? Maybe it’s because there’s a sunk cost at the gym: I pay every month, whether I use it or not, so I need to make it worthwhile. But it can’t be just that, because I could simply cancel at any time. Another point favoring continuity is the perception of progress. I feel my body improving, experiencing less pain, gaining more strength, and this generates emotional momentum.
    So it could be that paying and seeing progress are key factors. If so, I need to bring this combination into my professional and creative life. Paying is straightforward: renting a new server, paying for a course, or investing money in new products stocks. But without progress, it’s completely useless, or worse, it becomes unprogress. In professional terms, progress might mean getting the first user for a project, then the first paying customer. In creative terms, it might mean noticing weekly progress in content production, finishing a book, and eventually gaining readers.
    The key is progress. I conclude that consistency derives from progress. Progress is what generates the emotional fuel to move forward day by day. It’s like a walk that only makes sense if you see movement ahead of you. After all, why take a second or third step if the first didn’t yield any noticeable movement? Even better if the movement is taking you toward your desired destination.
    So the real question is: how do we achieve progress? How do we move forward in small steps so that one advance encourages the next? How do we “fill the emotional tank” with progress?
    The starting point is to create space for emotional clarity. To get there, I imagine a few possibilities.
    Meditating is one possible solution that always comes to mind. Meditation creates space. Also, using less social media, and reducing the consumption of short-form content are actions that open up more mental space as well. Combined, these two actions can help me recognize the progress that might be slipping by unnoticed because there’s no room for it now. And it becomes clear that this recognition is what fuels the emotional engine.
    That’s it: creating space for the emotion of progress. What follows is consistency, more progress, more fuel, more progress. The positive feedback loop I’ve been looking for.

  • Se aqui há consistência, por que não acolá?

    Como eu consegui manter a frequência na academia e inclusive aumentar? Minha adolescência e início da vida adulta não foram de muita atividade física. Havia a educação física na escola, o futebol semanal com os amigos em algumas épocas e é isso. Em um momento decidi começar a nadar e me dei bem com essa atividade, mantive por alguns anos, duas vezes por semana. As circunstâncias de vida mudaram um pouco e abandonei a natação até conseguir voltar depois de dois anos. Desde então toda semana estou na piscina. Há pouco mais de um ano dei mais um passo: musculação três vezes por semana. Já havia tentado no passado e não tinha durado mais de seis meses. Mas dessa vez parece que “clicou”. Estou sentindo progresso e estou gostando da minha rotina de exercícios cinco vezes na semana. Tá, mas por que estou contando isso? É parte da minha investigação sobre a consistência (ou a falta de). O ponto mais crítico da minha percebida falta de progresso profissional ou criativo é a falta de consistência. Derivada – como analisado no texto anterior – de uma ânsia em perseguir novas visões, que por sua vez brotam de novas paixões profissionais e criativas. Macaco pulando de galho em galho não conhece bem nenhuma árvore. Se traduzida para o contexto dos exercícios, essa ânsia do criativo-profissional me faria ser aquele tipo de pessoa que experimenta qualquer novo esporte que aparece. Por exemplo: Beach Tennis, Stand-up Paddle, Padel e Pickle Ball. No entanto isso não acontece. Por quê? Ou melhor: por que funciona tão bem com a natação e a musculação e como eu posso traduzir para a seara profissional e criativa? Talvez seja porque há um custo afundado na academia: todos os meses eu pago, se usar ou não, então preciso fazer valer. Por outro lado não deve ser só isso, já que bastaria cancelar. Outro ponto a favor da continuidade é a percepção de progresso, eu sinto meu corpo melhor, sinto menos dores e mais força nos movimentos, isso gera uma força emocional. Portanto, pode ser por pagar e ver progresso. E se for isso, preciso levar essa combinação para a parte profissional e criativa. O pagar é muito simples: colocar um servidor no ar, pagar um curso ou afundar dinheiro em estoques de novos produtos. Mas sem o progresso é completamente inútil, até pior, um desprogresso. No profissional o progresso seria conseguir o primeiro usuário de um projeto, depois o primeiro cliente pagante. No criativo, conseguir notar o avanço semanal na produção de conteúdo, finalizar um livro, e por fim ter leitores. A chave é o progresso. Concluo que a consistência é derivada do progresso. Esse progresso é o que gera combustível emocional para avançar no dia a dia. É como uma caminhada que só tem graça porque existe um movimento na frente dos olhos, afinal, por que daria um segundo ou terceiro passos se o primeiro não teve nenhum efeito de movimento? Ainda melhor se o movimento é em direção ao lugar onde se quer chegar. A pergunta então é outra: como ter progresso? Como progredir em pequenos passos para que um avanço puxe o próximo? Como “encher o tanque” emocional do progresso?  O ponto de partida é abrir espaço para clareza emocional. Para chegar lá imagino algumas possibilidades. Meditar é uma possível solução que sempre volta a tona. Meditação abre espaço. Também usar menos o celular e redes sociais, reduzir o consumo de conteúdo curto, é uma ação que também abre mais espaço mental. Combinadas essas duas ações podem me levar a reconhecer progressos que talvez estejam escapando hoje pois não há espaço para eles. E fica claro que esse reconhecimento é o que abastece o emocional. É isso: abrir espaço para a emoção do progresso. O que seguirá é a consistência, mais progresso, mais combustível, mais progresso. O feedback loop positivo que eu tanto procuro.

  • The problem is not consistency

    The problem is consistency. Every time I managed to create or learn something new, I had to exercise consistency. To learn a new frontend technology, I watched and rewatched a YouTube course until things started to “click.” And it didn’t happen over a few days, it took at least four weeks. This is a minimal example, but it serves the purpose, because with all the other important things I’ve learned or produced, I kept coming back for weeks, months, even years. On another occasion when I exercised consistency, I planned and created a short video creation app for social networks, VideoStories, and the lack of consistency eventually led me to abandon it. These days, as I’m all over the place – and even my writing feels anxious – I’ve realized that the problem has always been consistency. For a moment, the vision of anything is crystal clear, and the next moment it’s gone.

    Another example is the recurring idea of creating a game: I see the map, I see the gameplay fun, I sit down to plan, and after just a few hours, the vision is no longer there. It’s the same with running a company, wanting to create products (and learning the necessary skills, like drawing). It even happened with activities that made me feel really good, like meditation. I’m scattered everywhere, and therefore nowhere at all. At least not long enough to actually create something. Even in this text, halfway down the page, the words become more difficult. Inconsistent.
    At some point, I learned how to plan. What’s the scope? How to break it into stages? How do I know when it’s finished? What structure allows it to function independently of me? Could this be a way to overcome inconsistency?
    Yet all these things are subject to (or limited by) consistency. Why is there a lack of consistency? What is it, really? Am I translating it correctly, or is it something else? Is it some kind of energy? Just an expectation? I’ve studied Chinese for a year and then stopped. Is the vision just a temporary passion? If I maintain the vision, does consistency follow? Or will everything make sense someday? Like in Steve Jobs’ famous speech: you can only connect the dots afterward.
    Computer, programming, money, discovering how things work, learning Chinese, learning to draw, starting a company, expressing oneself, being creative. All these professional passions have created so many visions, but they all disperse in the absence of consistency.
    Where will all this lead? Is the problem consistency? I’m not sure anymore. Maybe it’s about falling in love with so many new things, being dazzled by countless visions. When a new one comes along, the old ones are cast aside, and thus nothing is truly learned or created.
    So what’s the solution to learning and creating when you want to learn and create too much?

  • O problema não é a consistência

    O problema é a consistência. Todas as vezes que consegui criar ou aprender algo novo, tive que exercer a consistência. Para aprender uma tecnologia nova de frontend vi e revi várias vezes um curso no youtube até fazer as coisas “clicarem”. E não foi em um espaço de um ou poucos dias, foram pelo menos quatro semanas. O exemplo é mínimo, mas serve porque em todas as outras coisas importantes que aprendi ou produzi eu me mantive voltando por semanal, meses, anos. Em uma outra oportunidade que exerci a consistência planejei e criei um app de criação de vídeos curtos para redes sociais, o VideoStories, e a falta de consistência me fez abandoná-lo também. Hoje, por estes dias, que estou por todo lado – e até minha escrita está ansiosa – me dei conta que o problema é e sempre foi a consistência. Por um momento a visão de qualquer coisa é cristalina e no momento seguinte já não é. Outro exemplo é a ideia recorrente de criar um jogo: vejo o mapa, vejo a diversão, sento para planejar e no passo de poucas horas a visão já não está mais ali. É o mesmo com a empresa, com a vontade de criar produtos (e o aprendizado das skills necessárias, como o desenho). Aconteceu, inclusive, com atividades que me faziam muito bem, como a meditação. Estou por todo lado e por isso em nenhum lugar. Pelo menos não o tempo suficiente para criar alguma coisa. Mesmo neste texto, na metade da folha, as palavras vão ficando mais difíceis. Inconsistentes. Em algum momento eu aprendi a planejar. Qual o escopo? Como repartir em etapas? Como saber se foi concluído? Com que estrutura isso pode funcionar independente de mim? Seria essa uma saída para vencer a inconsistência? No entanto todas essas coisas estão sujeitas a (ou falta de) consistência. Por que falta consistência? O que é, em primeiro lugar. Traduzo certo ou é outra coisa? É alguma energia? É apenas  uma expectativa? Lembrei que estudei chinês por um ano e parei. A visão é paixão, temporária? Se mantiver a visão, a consistência vem junto? Ou será que tudo irá fazer sentido algum dia? Como no famoso discurso de Steve Jobs: é só depois que você consegue conectar os pontos. Computador, programação, dinheiro, descobrir como as coisas funcionam, aprender chinês, aprender a desenhar, ter uma empresa, se expressar, ser criativo. Todas as paixões profissionais criaram tantas visões, mas todas se dispersam na falta de consistência. Onde será que tudo isso vai dar? O problema é a consistência? Já não sei, talvez seja se apaixonar por tantas novidades, e dessas paixões deslumbrar tantas e tantas visões. Quando vem uma nova as antigas ficam de lado e assim nada se aprende ou se cria. Então qual é a solução para aprender e criar quando se quer aprender e criar demais?

  • Llm Politeness

    do you know when you have a problem, call a company number and whoever picks up after many minutes starts telling how important you are to their company? all that fake politeness when you just want your problem solved. LLM are going to 10x this. disruptive. you think you get mad at this unbelivable scripted answers when you have a problem? wait until an LLM talks to you crafting a highly customized ultra-polite-shit while not solving your issue.

  • Dealing With Big Companies

    I almost panic when I need to get in touch with some big corporation. Costumer service calls, for example. You will use your phone to be tortured by an automatic voice telling you that “we value you”. No you don’t value me. You treat me like cattle going down, your costumers are like meat.

    The bullshit is so extensive that words scramble in my mind as I try to put my ideas here. Being an entitled “entrepreneur” wannabe, for sure I think “maybe I can solve this shit and be a big corporation myself”. Oh no, what the fuck is wrong with me? With us – if you find yourself reading my ideas in this blog, I am sure we’re alike. So the deal we end up to: think different just to be equal everybody else.
    This new idea is simple: to avoid doing business with big corporations. I know it is impossible hard. But for the sake of my mental health. That is something I am trying to pursue.
    I took a course on happiness some years ago. On Coursera, I think. The teacher brings all the studies regarding what makes us happier. One fast thing anyone can do: quit social media. Social media as we know today is toxic in so many levels. You literally get healthier if you stop using that. In social media you are only data points for a big corporations pursuing money at any costs.
    Even in my business this struggle is destroying my quality of life. Recently one major marketplace changed some rules about how to ship the products sold in their platform, and with that I was forced to stop selling there. I tried to contact them so many times, and all the replies seems to be automatic, robots. When I could see one human wrote back, it was just for a generic apology, “there is nothing we can do for you right now”.
    This week the OpenAI organization released the “GPT-3 artificial intelligence model”. So many people were putting this as a breakthrough: “the end of callcenters! Better chatbots!”. With all humanity I have in my heart “fuck these people”.
    Of course “artificial intelligence” will replace humans. They are forcing humans to do a horrible job. They put a human being to follow a strict script in a screen, and then they replace the human with a robot. “We made it! Artificial Intelligence”. Fuck these people. But they don’t make the rules, right? They are just “playing the game”. Who needs SkyNet when we have the almighty Capitalism?
    Some corporations are impossible to strip off: utilities like water, power, internet connection service. At least their job is so strict that rarely I need to call the “Customer Service”. Internet provider may have some hiccups, and I thank god I still have my 4G! Other corporations are a bit less shit, so we pay a premium (hello, Apple).
    Anyway, that’s almost a driving force for what I want to do in my life. Bitcoin looks so promise to me: I can have my own money, without being attached to monstrous big Bank Corporations. But it is really hard to use day to day due to low adoption, and it will be like that for long, or forever.
    This rant about anxiety on dealing with big corporations is an open issue for me. If you relate to this, please contact me, via Twitter (hello last barrier to dropping social media entirely) or via email (rafael@hey.com). Hey, an email service created by Basecamp, is a good example on dropping big corps in favor of small business. I hope one day everything in my life is serviced by small business. The one humans take care of, that one humans say “Hello” when you call them.

  • How To Stop Using Facebook Or Any Social Media Without Deleting Your Account

    Unfollow or mute every person you do not know personally or do not had a meaningfully conversation for some time.

    • Mute all of your friends and family.
    Beware of traps
    • If you are addicted, your brain will try to rationalize a way to keep you getting those social media rewards (likes, “knowing” about others, etc. Understand this behavior.
    • No, people won’t judge you because you stopped liking their posts. They are too busy with their own life.
    • “But I get really good content in my Timeline”. No, you don’t, it’s your brain trying to convince you to stay using SM.

  • Livre Arbitrio Do Quasar Distante

    Of course, randomness isn’t the only thing necessary for free will. But it does mean that your fate is not necessarily sealed. So, when you resist that second cookie, or turn off the TV in the evening, you can take pride in the fact that maybe, just maybe, the choice was yours after all.

    Photons, Quasars and the Possibility of Free Will

    2018-12-05 06:25:45

  • Stanislaw Lem Sobre Livros E A Vida

    E daí, já que meus livros foram traduzidos para 40 línguas e venderam 27 milhões de exemplares? Eles irão todos desaparecer, já que enxurradas de novos livros estão inundando tudo, arrastando tudo o que foi escrito antes. Hoje, um livro numa livraria não tem nem tempo de pegar um pó. É verdade que atualmente vivemos mais, mas a vida de todas as coisas ao nosso redor ficou bem menor. O mundo está morrendo tão rapidamente que não é mais possível se acostumar a nada. – Stanislaw Lem, em entrevista para a Folha

    2018-06-19 19:02:09