The Ark Digest #22: Substack Growth Wins, Course Launch Preparation & Optimizing My Dolphin Chronotype
80+ email subscribers & 200 followers in just 2 weeks on Substack
In this Ark Digest, you'll learn:
↱ How I gained 80+ email subscribers and 200+ followers in just 2 weeks on Substack (and why the platform switch was worth the complexity)
↱ My streamlined approach to managing dual email lists and why I'm consolidating all newsletters on one platform
↱ The breakthrough discovery about my "Dolphin Chronotype" and how optimizing my 6AM schedule around fragmented sleep patterns boosted my productivity
Welcome to the 22nd Episode of the Ark Digest™️.
Every week, I share the unfiltered reality of building Noah's Ark, the wins, the struggles, and the insights that emerge when building a profitable and purposeful creator business.
Inside each Digest, you'll see:
↱ Real progress updates on my current projects
↱ Raw thoughts and breakthrough moments
↱ Weekly inspiration fuelling my journey
↱ Lessons you can steal for your own path
↱ Data from tracking my habits and productivity
Think of this as a direct line into my mind as I build my dream creator business, so you get inspired and motivated to progress on your own journey.
Let's begin :
🐺 Current Tasks & Projects
Noah's Ark:
1) Substack Growth Update
I've been on Substack for two weeks now.
Here's the result:
I've gained over 80 email subscribers from the app, which is pretty good, but also gained over 200 followers to my personal profile.
This stat is less emphasized than the email subscribers in the Subtack interface, but if we compare this to similar social platforms like X or threads, it's more than I ever had without going "viral".
I got these results by simply posting notes 1-3 times a day, and two newsletters per week.
So overall, I'm pretty happy with the Substack switch.
It was a lot of work, but it was a great opportunity to rework my branding and clarify my positioning.
The headaches about figuring out how to manage two email lists are worth the growth gains.
If you haven't read my previous Ark Digest and my post about "Why Smart Creators Are Ditching Social Media for Substack" here is a quick summary of the "2 email list problem":
Yes Substack allows you to host your newsletters, but the marketing automation features sucks.
This means you don't want to only use Substack to manage your list, and also have a dedicated email provider
(I personally use Podia email because my entire website and courses are hosted on Podia)
But the issue with that is that you need to manage both email lists, which is kind of a pain in the a**.
And because Substack doesn't have an API, you need to sync both lists manually.
But I've come to terms with that.
Once per week, while doing my weekly review, I will:
Import my new Substack subscribers to my Podia Email list, so they are subscribed when I have product launches.
Import my Podia Email subscribers to my Substack, so they receive the weekly newsletters.
I have changed all of my email forms on my website with a Substack embed form…
But a lot of my new email subscribers are coming from my Lead Magnets, thanks to my YouTube traffic.
So if I want everyone to receive everything, I need to do this dual syncing by hand.
Originally, I wanted to keep my Ark Digest format (the email format you're reading right now) on my Podia Email list and the essays and Kortex tutorials on Substack.
I even explained the differences between the two lists and each type of content in my welcome email on Substack…
But I concluded that it was adding too much unnecessary complexity.
From now on, every newsletter email will be hosted and sent directly on Substack, and I will only send my product launches email via Podia Email.
This means that both the Ark Digest and the Ark Letters are going to be hosted on Substack.
And talking about product launches…
2) Building my next Digital Course
I finished building my next Digital Course last week.
I've recorded all the modules, edited them, imported them into Podia, created all the links, resources, and bonuses…
And finished crafting the sales page & email sequence.
I used AI to help me craft the entire sales page and marketing sequence, and as always, I was mindblown by how good it was.
Of course, I gave it the strategic direction, the big idea, the structure and sections to follow and everything based on my course content, my personal knowledge, my own notes and all that stuff.
But the quality of the outcome for the final sales page and email sequence always blows my mind.
Writing everything by myself would probably have taken me 2 or 3x more time.
Right now I haven't created a systemized workflow for it yet, I'm still "vibe prompting" it and getting amazing results.
But I will definitely translate this system for sales pages and email sequences in a specialized workflow in the future.
I'll probably add them into a course about how to create and launch digital courses, or specialized in-depth courses on sales pages copywriting and email marketing.
Anyway, I know this will provide a lot of value for creators all over the world because marketing is often the part that people have the most trouble with.
I personally love copywriting and marketing, and persuasion in general, so it has never been a pain for me, but for my sales-phobic people, having dedicated AI agents to whom you can delegate the marketing is a game-changer.
For my next launch sequence I'm going to try a new approach.
Basically, if people aren't interested in seeing the whole sequence, I'll add a link at the bottom so they can opt out of the sequence only.
(And not unsubscribe from the entire list)
Originally, I didn't want to do that.
"Everyone is going to unsubscribe from the sequence…"
"Maybe if you hadn't given them the choice, they would have ended up convinced by your pitch and would have bought…"
"You'll lose sales…"
That's what I thought.
A mix of doubt and uncertainty.
But after talking with some creator friends doing that and also seeing successful creators doing this, I decided to do it as well.
I think it's better in terms of user experience, transparency, and it will keep my email list clean.
It's a bit more work to set up because I will need to add a link in every email that adds a tag to people so they opt out of the campaign when they click, but at least people will be able to choose.
I don't want to make a decision based on scarcity and fear of people not buying or reading my stuff because I give them the ability not to.
That's not the mindset I want to operate in.
Anyway, stay tuned for next week's launch.
Personal Goals
1) My new 6 AM Schedule
I've been making a new experiment for the past 3 weeks.
I've been waking up at 6 AM, taking a 20-minute to 1-hour nap at midday, and going to sleep at 10 PM.
I have a very fragmented sleep and often have to deal with insomnia…
So I've always tried new stuff to improve my sleep.
But despite my best effort with bio-hacking and tracking my sleep for the past 5 years with my Oura ring…
I've never been able to have perfect sleep.
That's why I used to always prioritize sleeping for 9 hours per night to make sure I was energized enough for the day.
But after creating a custom GPT sleep expert and diving back into sleep studies and the science of chronotype, I decided to make this change.
If you don't know about it, Dr. Michael J. Breus, a sleep doctor and expert, popularized the concept of sleep chronotype.
Your Chronotype is the natural inclination of your body to sleep and be awake at certain times.
That's what people naturally refer to as being an early bird vs a night owl.
Dr. Michael J. Breus categorized these chronotypes into four animal-based types:
Lions: Early risers who feel most energetic and productive in the morning and prefer to complete tasks early in the day, going to bed early as well
Bears: Follow the sun’s schedule, waking up with daylight and winding down after sunset, with peak productivity late morning to early afternoon
Wolves: Night owls who wake up late, have peak productivity in the afternoon and evening, and often go to bed around midnight or later
Dolphins: Irregular, light, and fragmented sleep, often struggling with insomnia, and are most productive late morning despite sensitivity to noise and light
As you've probably already understood from my description, I'm a Dolphin Chronotype.
Basically, 10% of the population just have fucked up sleep and that's it, that's your nature.
And before sleep expert come at me, yes, I:
Meditate
Brain dump
Wear blue light blockers
Eat 2-3 hours before bed
Cut screens 1h before bed
I'm not saying I have perfect sleep hygiene, but I don't have poor hygiene either, so bad habits aren't the root causes.
I just have less effective sleep than the average human, and that's okay.
I'm not going to complain about it or be mad, but I want to have a schedule that is organized around that.
And according to Dr.Michael Breus’ work, here is the ideal Dolphin chronotype day:
So I basically followed that graph, except I go to sleep earlier and take a nap midday.
For now, I can say that I love the new routine.
Waking up early, going to the gym, and still having time to work in the morning feels amazing.
But I need to be careful sticking to my schedule, or I can quickly feel tired.
(We had very hot days in France last week that made it very hard to sleep well at night)
2) Re-integrating caffeine into my lifestyle
If you've been following me for some time now, you know I stopped drinking caffeine last February.
The original goal of that experiment with caffeine was to observe my energy levels without caffeine and see if I could optimize my sleep as well by stopping it.
What I observed is that my energy levels were more stable during the day, with no crash, and I could deep focus at any time during the day, not only in the morning like I used to when I was on caffeine.
Unfortunately, it didn't solve all of my sleep problems.
But I still tried.
And that's why I decided to integrate it back into my schedule during the week.
I stick to only one cup of coffee a day, and don't drink coffee on the weekend or on days when I feel good.
(Which I need to transform into a clearer rule because that’s a great way to end up taking it every weekday)
I'm going to experiment with that and also plan a dedicated caffeine detox week to make sure I don't become dependent on caffeine to function again.
It's very easy to start drinking too much coffee as you accumulate sleep debt and have work to do, but when doing so for years, you end up badly straining your body and mind.
As always, I'll keep you updated on my progress here.
3) My 30-Day 1-hour Meditation Challenge
In a previous Digest, I wrote about trying to meditate for one hour a day.
I kept the streak for 20 days, but stopped after that.
My girlfriend came to spend 2 weeks with me, and I ended up losing the streak after a few days with her.
Of course, I'm not saying it's because of her; it's 100% my responsibility.
But it's harder to keep this kind of time-consuming habit when you're living with someone else.
Since we are both working from home, the moments we can really enjoy together are at the end of the day, which was the time I was usually meditating.
It was a great experiment, and I definitely plan on doing this again when I am alone again.
Maybe I will split my hour into 3 20-minute sessions to integrate it more easily during the day.
3) This Week's Focus
Planning my next product launch for next week
Creating a new YouTube video
Hitting new PRs at the Gym
📈 Last Week Summary
⚛️ Habits Progression : 72%
⚡️ Efficiency Rank : A ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
😄 Average Happiness : 5/5
💤 Average Sleep : 7.4h
🧑💻 Deep Work Time : 18.8h
📱Average Screen Time: 3.72h
🚶♂️Average Steps: 8113
(Data recorded through my data tracking system in Notion)
🎯 Last Week's Highlights
Why Building A Second Brain Is The Ultimate Moat in the AI Age
In this Ark Letter, you'll learn:
↱ Why AI dependency is quietly eroding your most valuable creative asset (and how to protect it)
↱ The counterintuitive practice that gives you an unfair advantage as other creators become AI-reliant
↱ A 3-step system to build your "cognitive moat" while still leveraging AI strategically
Stop Forgetting Everything: My System To Learn Fast
In this Ark Letter, you’ll learn:
↱ The best way to learn and highlight content as a Content Creator in 2025
↱ Why you forget 90% of what you're learning in only 30 days (and how to prevent it)
↱ The exact tool stack and system I use to streamline my learning routine and make sure I get the most out of it
💭 Last Week Capture
When AI models are down and you find yourself panicking because you can’t access GPT, remind yourself how this wouldn’t even have occurred two years ago. Take this as an opportunity to cultivate your mind
You shouldn’t ask yourself « how can I grow on X » or « how can I grow on youtube » but instead ask yourself « how can I grow my BUSINESS on X ». One will lead you to seek virality and optimize for vanity metrics, the other will lead you to optimize for leads and conversion. 2 different questions leads to 2 different answers
Latest thoughts and ideas saved using the Capture feature inside Kortex App.
🎨 Weekly Inspiration
📖 Books
Currently Reading:
Bushido - The Soul of Japan
On Writing by Stephen King
The Apothecary Diaries
🎧 Music
Recently listened to:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=2BfxCEy0YoQ&si=jawLP0Wguioa5ovs
(This one for my Pokémon fans out there, I've been listening to this mix in the Gym, it's a banger)
💭 Fiction
Read the latest chapters of:
Kaiju n°8
Blue Lock
Chainsaw Man
Sakamoto Days
Omniscient Readers’ Viewpoint
🎮 Video Game
Currently Playing:
Pokémon TCG Pocket (I'm back…)
Smash Bros with friends
I've been wanting to take a break from my obsession streak of no dopamine activities except work, so I started playing some games again.
As always, I'm very wary of how games impact my dopamine system, so I keep track of their impact on my focus and work.
✍️ Kortex Note of the Week
Recently Studied:
🖌️ Quote of the Week
Thanks for reading this 22nd episode of the Ark Digest™️.
If any part of this resonated with you, hit reply and let me know what you're building.
I wish you the best on your own entrepreneurial journey…
And welcome back to the Ark,
Noah.