INTxK

🎯 How do I stay motivated if I can’t set deadlines?

Not everything can be tied to a deadline.

Some things just have to be maintained over a longer period of time.

For example, how do you become an expert in new software?

It's tough to stay motivated when you don't know how long the journey will take.

Here’s one way you can stay motivated:

✨ Start a micro-project linked to your goal. i.e., becoming an expert in Figma.

Micro-projects have deadlines and deliverables. i.e., a prototype in 2 weeks.

When you get it done, something amazing happens:

Your body releases dopamine.

You feel good, and it makes you want to do more.

To recap:

✨ Don’t worry if you can’t fix a deadline.

✨ Break down the goal and work on micro-projects.

✨ The projects you complete carry you forward.

The ‘Solopreneur burnout’ is real.

I used to work as much as 17 hours a day during my early days with INTxK.

I got things done on a day-to-day basis, delivering from a Point A to B basis. That’s working linearly. Great for aggressively pushing towards goals.

Yet something happens with that style of work. You get better at work, but you also get tired of it.

That’s how I got burnt out at one point.

In such a burnt-out phase, I rediscovered a technique called iterations.

Iterations are cycles of work. It’s where you bend the linear process into a circular flow. This is especially helpful for developing a system for work. With each new iteration, you build upon your existing progress.

Moving focus from linear to iterative work mode made a world of difference in how I operate.

For example, the Polymod Framework was built in many iterations (so many actually that I’ve lost count).

Initially it took a long time for me to get the system into shape.

But then I noticed something interesting.

My system got better with each iteration, and the number of manual tasks started shrinking. Now, I could focus more on linear/manual processes when they were needed. The rest — my system took care of it.

These days, 4-5 hours of focused work on an average day helps me get done more.

Here’s today’s takeaway— iterate on your systems.

Take note of your existing workflows and think about how you can reduce the steps or automate certain repetitive tasks.

Do what you do best and don’t let yourself get burnt out.

[Mustafa, 2025-05-17]

Yesterday, I had a debate with my sister about the Polymod FOS.

The Polymod FOS stands for The Polymodular Framework and Operating System. It’s the technical name for a powerful and versatile system that automates reporting and insight mining based on your logs.

What can you do with it?

✨ Get live insights on your performance and activities via a dashboard.

✨ Get instant report on what you did this month— excellent for reviewing when you’re juggling multiple errands.

✨ Instantly generate a project report with a history of every update, change and minute detail of your project.

It doesn’t end there…

✨You can use AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, NotebookLM and Claude to get custom insights on demand. All you have to do is share your logs and ask away.

I did a small demo, and she was impressed with what she saw. I told her I want to help people grow. I see a lot of young people feeling lost when they start with a project, an initiative or a potential business venture.

I was there not too long ago, so I understand what it feels like to be running around without focus, consistency and structure. All that is needed is a little self-discipline, to log their journey and to learn from mistakes.

That process can be very messy and hard to set up. I created the Polymod FOS for myself to deal with those challenges. It’s been serving me well for quite some time now, and I wish for it to serve others who are like me.

Interestingly, here’s where we differed.

The PolymodOS is fine; it’s affordable, and it does the heavy lifting using just a few Google Sheets in the background without the users even being aware of it.

But my sister had a concern with the Polymod Framework, which encourages users to take logs both by hand and clean their data before putting it in the PolymodOS. It’s not a weakness; it’s an intentional feature because that’s how users get accurate reports on their data. Without that cleanliness, it's only garbage in, garbage out.

Pragmatically seen, my sister believes not many people are willing to write what they do and enter it into a system. It’s too much work.

Yet I argue that we do it all the time. We log our activities on Facebook, Instagram and X every day. We hoard notes in digital notebooks but rarely go back to review them. Most of the time we don’t even have decent ownership of our data.

Sam Altman from OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, takes notes in a small pocket notebook. This is not without a reason. Our brain processes information much better when we write things using pen and paper. But we also need digital systems which scale and offer more freedom of analysis and flexibility of use— without hoarding information, of course.

The Polymod FOS was created with love. We wish to be a part of your journey towards growth. Help you make sense of what you want to accomplish. All it requires is a little discipline— write often and reflect.

[Mustafa, 2025-05-13]

One of the classic debates that still rages on in the productivity community is, “Should I choose Notion or Excel for work?”

In 2025, we have access to a crazy number of tools out there, many of which we can try and use for free. But then we also tend to get stuck between the ‘always jumping to the shiny new things’ and the ‘doing everything with a single tool’ mindsets.

Considering these two as the extreme ends, here’s an approach I would suggest. Build your toolset over time rather than relying only on one tool for everything. The goal is to jump ship less. See each tool as a part of your larger collection of tools. Explore, curate and incorporate these tools into your collection.

This requires some time and effort. You have to try different tools from time to time, testing their features and figuring out where they shine and where they fall short. With this intuition developing, start assigning the right tool for the right job.

To do this, you need to gather intel. Use app stores and Product Hunt reviews for this. You can also study the comments section under YouTube videos or subreddit posts on Reddit. See what other users are talking about and how they are using it. Hopefully, it won't take much longer to figure out what you are looking for.

So…Notion or Excel?
I say, “Why not both?!"

[Mustafa, 2025-05-10]