Andy Coughlan's Daily Journal

Sometimes the best days are the messy ones – the days when your wins come bundled with facepalm moments and hard truths about things beyond your control. Today was one of those days. The Good Stuff My proof copies for the Political Circle book finally arrived, and they're brilliant. Much chunkier and more substantial than I'd imagined – the kind of book that feels proper in your hands. There's something magical about seeing months of work transformed into an actual physical object. I also managed to add some cracking features to ListCoach, including embeddable forms and subscriber-only templates. These aren't flashy updates, but they're the kind of improvements that make the platform genuinely more useful for people building their audiences. The Reality Check But here's where it gets slightly mortifying: there's a typo on the book cover. It's a bit disappointing that Amazon's proofing tools didn't pick it up, but I guess they don't check the covers like they do the content. You know that sinking feeling when you realise you've been staring at something for weeks and completely missed the obvious? Check and double-check, folks. Then check again. Because apparently, I clearly didn't. I also got some negative feedback from the first person I've shared ListCoach with. Still trying to decide if it's valuable. More evidence required. When Others Let You Down Speaking of things going sideways, watching McLaren's questionable decision-making potentially cost Lando Norris the championship was a proper lesson in frustration. Lando finished 4th, Oscar came 2nd, and Max Verstappen gained a massive advantage on both of them. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, others will let you down. It's a harsh reminder that success isn't just about your own efforts. You can be brilliant, dedicated, and strategic, but if the people around you make poor calls, it affects your outcome too. Whether it's a racing team, an old friend, or a business partner, other people's decisions ripple into your world. Moving Forward So what's next? I'm focusing on what I can control: promoting ListCoach and Drift Films. The cover typo is fixed. The book is brilliant. McLaren's decisions are theirs to live with, and Lando is still in contention for the title. Sometimes progress looks like proof copies that exceed expectations and features that actually work. Sometimes it looks like learning to triple-check your work and accepting that other people's choices aren't yours to control. Both matter. Both teach you something.

Occasionally, the most ordinary days teach us the most extraordinary lessons. Today was one of those days where small victories and unexpected discoveries reminded me why paying attention to the little things matters so much. The Magic of Finally Starting I got this website into a decent MVP state. There's something almost magical about moving from intention to action (and you'll find a lot of that sort of thing in my novel!). It wasn't perfect, it wasn't fancy, but it was done (well, it was usable!). The Power of Showing Up for Each Other My sister and brother-in-law took me out for coffee this morning. It sounds simple, but in our busy world, someone taking time to just be with you is profound. We didn't solve world hunger or discuss anything earth-shattering – we just connected. It reminded me that relationships aren't built on grand gestures; they're built on showing up, one coffee at a time. The Posture Revelation That Changed Everything I discovered my posture was completely wrong today. Well, not completely wrong; just completely wrong in the hip department. Apparently, my hips were rotated too far forward. When I corrected it, my belly disappeared. Magic! It made me wonder what other 'truths' about myself might actually be fixable with just a small adjustment? This got me thinking about all the things we accept as unchangeable about ourselves. Sometimes what feels like a fundamental flaw is really just a habit we can adjust. What would happen if we questioned our assumptions about our limitations? When Fear Meets Reality I've been working on my fantasy novel, and last month, I cut 45,000 words from it. Forty-five thousand! My first book was only 55,000 words all told! I was terrified it would become a nonsensical mess, but I dutifully obeyed my editor and put it away for a few weeks. As I read through the first 22 chapters this week, I was pleased as punch to find it's actually better. Tighter. More engaging. Kill your darlings, people. Those words I was so attached to were just getting in the way of the real story. I'll do a proper post about this in due course, as I've learned a lot through the process. The Beauty of Small, Consistent Progress None of these wins were massive. I didn't launch a bestseller (yet!) or run a marathon (ye.. nah, that ain't gonna happen). I built a website, enjoyed coffee with family, edited some chapters, and learned to stand up straighter. But together, these small actions created momentum that feels unstoppable. Progress isn't always about the big leaps. What small win could you do a tiny fist punch of victory about today? What adjustment might make a bigger difference than you think? The magic isn't in the size of the step – it's in taking it at all.