Daniel Baarns

Author of Just Start | 75+ Newsletters | 600+ Cars Detailed | Helping recovering perfectionists go from fear to action. Free Newsletter 👇

[Daniel Baarns @DanielBaarns]

2 newsletters.

Podcast.

Post.

All written and linked to.

Doing my best to simple say…

Thank you.

To my clients for four years.

To the readers of my newsletter for 2 years.

For the readers of my book just start.

To the supporters of my missions trip.

I’m so grateful.

[Daniel Baarns @DanielBaarns]

16 hours of work.

A gallon of water.

2 pounds of ground beef.

A thank you from a client.

A friend who’s inspired by me and choose to share it via text

A cat that was the cutest.

Friends who I helped find a great mechanic.

What a day.

[Daniel Baarns @DanielBaarns]

Pain of action > pain of regret

Better to make the offer
Do one more job
Take the trip
Ask the girl

Then wonder…

What if I did? (Hate that feeling)

Action has a way of creating clarity that thinking (and overthinking) rarely does.

[Daniel Baarns @DanielBaarns]

Pain of action > pain of regret

When I first started detailing I detailed 12 cars Friday and saturday.

Played drums at a church in Santa Rosa Sunday (4 hour drive round trip)

The played a worship night at vintage grace. (12 different songs between the 2 sets)

Limit found.

[Daniel Baarns @DanielBaarns]

How are you so good at solving problems in real time?

Well, when your snare is falling and you're playing drums in front of a thousand people, you generally figure out how to keep going.

Ninety percent of live music:

if you keep going no one will notice.

[Daniel Baarns @DanielBaarns]

Blue collar hands

+

White collar mind

=

a dangerous combination.

[Daniel Baarns @DanielBaarns]

Experiences lead to deeper connection.

Today I met someone who’s from Brazil.

Talked about food, and the place I went.

And now we have a warmth to our relationship that wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t go to Brazil.

That’s why these experiences matter.

People matter.

[Daniel Baarns @DanielBaarns]

What do I honestly admire about this person?

Starts with the exterior:

(Shoes, hair, jewelry)

Then, if I can, I try to take that thing that I'm seeing on the exterior and ask myself, "What is the positive character trait that would lead to this external expression?"

[Daniel Baarns @DanielBaarns]

Why train like an athlete? (When you own a business)

So you can trail run 5 miles (Despite not having run for distance in years)

Suana for 15 minutes

Cold plunge for 2.5 mins

Build a friendship

And ceramic coat a vehicle afterwards.

That's something few owners can do.

[Daniel Baarns @DanielBaarns]

I spent a year taking exclusively cold showers.

During the winter it's incredibly challenging.

During the summer it's refreshing.

Now I choose:

coffee during the winter.

Cold showers during the summer.

[Daniel Baarns @DanielBaarns]

Choose your pain.

Inaction is painful.

Action is painful too.

Missed 4 workouts last week.

I was still sore.

Worked out each day this week.

Sore.

But one feels like progress.

The other feels like prison.

I’d rather be sore from progress.

[Daniel Baarns @DanielBaarns]

POV you’re on a call and 3 people posted over 500 times in the last week.

My mind is blown.

So much of life seems to be just breaking beliefs.

Now that I know it’s possible I can do SO much more.

For context that’s 80 pieces of content across platforms PER day.

Wow.

[Daniel Baarns @DanielBaarns]

why do you capture every talk?

Because I only regret what I decided not to capture out of fear.

Fear of being bad.

Fear of looking dumb.

Fear of forgetting something.

I have one talk thanksgiving of 2023.

And I WISH I'd asked someone to record it.

[Daniel Baarns @DanielBaarns]

The reality of being an entrepreneur:

Realizing at 11 o'clock that you have energy and ideas to execute.

And at 29 you'll pull an all nighter.

Not because of a worthless test.

But because you're building a life.

And these ideas are more energyzing than sleep.

[Daniel Baarns @DanielBaarns]

I do not feel enthusiastic, but what I also know is that if I first act enthusiastic, often the feeling will follow. I will probably have way more fun being enthusiastic than not. I'm going to listen to a comedy special and ask myself what am I excited about over the next few months. Lean into that excitement and see what happens.

[Daniel Baarns @DanielBaarns]

How are you?

Today I don't feel that great, but tomorrow I'll feel a whole lot better.

I think I said this to about four people yesterday.

It's sort of fascinating to go: I don't feel that great right now, and having confidence that I will feel better in the future makes it more bearable. It's also interesting to watch people not know what to do with that response.

[Daniel Baarns @DanielBaarns]

The right person at the right moment kept me alive at 19.

Another helped me stay in college after failing tests at 22.

Another person helped me stay in business when all I wanted to do was quit at 26.

Having a support system of people who care about you matters.

[Daniel Baarns @DanielBaarns]

I don’t need to learn.

I need to teach what I learn.

As fast as possible.

If my life is about teaching I will learn more deeply.

The time between learning and application becomes almost 0.

Output goes up.

Overthinking go down.

[Daniel Baarns @DanielBaarns]

How are you so good at meeting new people?

I was in college for a total of 9 years.

That’s a minimum of 18 semesters x four classes.

72 new rooms. Each with 30 new faces.

Finding the best people in the first 2 weeks determined if you had great group projects or bad ones.

[Daniel Baarns @DanielBaarns]

Working out helps me be a better friend.

How?

It makes me feel good.

Makes me feel accomplished.

Which makes it easier to see the good in others when I already feel good.

Its easier to celebrate others wins when I feel good in my own skin.