Phil Frischke

13 surgeries by age 20. Living with butterfly disease.
I teach giving speeches and write about self-improvement.

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

I've had a rare skin disease since birth and was given
3 months to live.

My skin tears easily, causing daily pain.

Yet, I’m now in my 20s.

Here’s how I’ve learned to overcome these challenges and work towards my goals:

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

@KellyNgee Thank you. It means a lot to me!

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

I've had a rare skin disease since birth and was given
3 months to live.

My skin tears easily, causing daily pain.

Yet, I’m now in my 20s.

Here’s how I’ve learned to overcome these challenges and work towards my goals:

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

@KevinSzabo14 Value first is right, but it skips a quiet trap.

You can hide inside creating value forever because it feels noble and never asks you to name a price.

At some point someone still has to be willing to pay, and that part is its own separate skill.

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

@stijnnoorman The not stopping part is where I lost my agency. I started it fine, sent around 2,600 cold emails, then drifted because nothing pulled me forward.

Starting ran on motivation. Continuing needed a reason that survived the boring middle, and I lacked one.

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

@mindandglory Lasting comes down to a pace you can repeat on a bad day, not a sprint you brag about once.

The move is a daily minimum low enough that you never fully stop, then letting the streak carry you. More here: https://t.co/qZgLfFZWYV

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

@MasculineTheory The isolation stage is the one I would not romanticize.

I had a long period of it as a teenager, partly forced by a skin condition and partly by people who kept their distance.

It built something, but it also left habits I am still unlearning now.

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

@DearS_o_n I get the sentiment, but I would push back. Living with constant pain from a skin condition never once made me want to conquer anything.

Hard times taught me things, but the drive came from goals I actually wanted, not the pain itself. Pain mostly just hurt.

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

@Dwriteway Being good at the work and being findable are two completely separate skills.

Most people quietly assume the first one earns the second.

It does not, which is why so many genuinely skilled people stay invisible for years.

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

@KevinSzabo14 I push hard too, but I plan around a skin condition where wound care alone can eat 2 to 3 hours a day.

Working as much as you can looks different when your body sets a hard cap.

So I measure effort by whether the energy went somewhere useful, not by hours.

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

@KevinSzabo14 Shame survives on secrecy.

The thing you would never say out loud keeps its grip exactly because it stays unsaid.

Said plainly to one person who doesn't flinch, most of it just quietly loses its power.

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

@ItsKieranDrew Before my workshop speech I was deep in my head, then my laptop wouldn't boot and a heckler sat front row. No time left to overthink.

I cracked a joke, fixed it, went. Went great. The thinking would have ruined it.

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

@stijnnoorman For years in primary school I was sure everyone was watching me, judging the wounds, the slow walking. Some kids did bully me.

Most just didn't care, they were busy with their own stuff. That realization came late but it took a lot of weight off.

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

5 things I do almost every day:

1. Write, to think clearly
2. Read, to steal better ideas
3. Walk, to drop the brain fog
4. Sleep early, to win tomorrow
5. Gym, to fight a body that fights me

Each one is small. But together they're everything.

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

@thebetterless True

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

What I thought would make me happy:

A supercar
Everyone watching
A big number in the bank

What actually does:

A clear head after a hard day
Singing badly in my car, alone
One person saying my words helped them

The second list is the cheaper one.

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

Contrarian self-improvement takes I'd bet my year on:

Motivation is a trap
Discipline is overrated too
Your environment quietly beats both

Stop fixing your willpower.
Start fixing what's within arm's reach.

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

@homeofficehero9 Yup

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

5 skills nobody teaches you in school but everybody needs:

1. Writing simply
2. Speaking clearly
3. Managing your attention
4. Building one good habit at a time
5. Sitting with boredom without reaching for a screen

Learn these and you're ahead of most.

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

@sumizeit True

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

Atomic Habits

James Clear took years of research and boiled habit change
down to one idea:

You don't rise to your goals. You fall to your systems.

The 4 laws that changed how I live:

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

@MANSOORNABI12 True

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

Public speaking is a superpower.

More trust
More opportunities
More people who remember you

In a world that hides behind screens, the person who can stand up and speak wins.

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

@ChinosmithJesse Yeah true

[Phil Frischke @PhilsUpgrades]

@thearslaniqbal Facts