This is my first newsletter and I’m pretty excited about sharing these things with everyone. I’m constantly exploring new concepts, tools, mindsets, and anything that can help me level up and hope that sharing them here can be valuable to others. Enjoy.
What I’ve been writing about:
Living for Now Without Losing Your North Star - Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about self-worth and where that comes from. I find myself working really hard toward my goals and when things don’t work out, I feel bad about myself. From research and reflection, I’ve come to my own conclusion that there is a healthy mindset that allows you to follow your dreams without sacrificing the present moment. Check it out if you're interested in learning more.
What I’ve been reading:
The Art of Learning - An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance by Josh Waitzkin - This is a really fascinating story about Josh’s life as he rose to become world-class in chess and martial arts. He does a great job distilling his techniques that are applicable to any field. I actually found out about Josh from a Tim Ferriss clip where he talks about being intentional with day structure, which caught my attention because that’s something I spend a lot of time thinking about. From what I’ve read so far, the book does a really good job of blending between narrative and guidance, which is always entertaining.
Principles - Life and Work by Ray Dalio - This book is certainly more well-known and has been on my list for a while. I’ve finally decided to tackle it in the form of an audiobook. Ray is famous for his success in investing and through this book sheds light on the importance of using principles as a means to progress in life. One concept that is really sticking out to me from this book is the idea of using radical open-mindedness as a means to make better decisions for yourself and within organizations, and I’m wondering how I would want to apply this to my life.
Tools I’ve been using:
Pocket - I’ve used Medium for a while primarily as a substitute to social media when I’m waiting for something or as a productive break, but sometimes the content is a little Buzzfeedy and repetitive. Pocket’s a really simple tool that works on your computer and phone that allows you to super easily bookmark any form of media (article, video, podcast) so you can save it for a better time to consume that content, and also has a really good recommendation engine for content from many platforms. Usually, the time you come across a piece of content isn’t the ideal time to actually consume that content, which is where Pocket comes in.
Intention - There are a lot of productivity apps like this that are focused on keeping you off distracting sites, but this is the first to work for me. You set up your distracting sites (for me YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram) and if you go on that site you are confronted with a popup that asks you how long you want to stay on the distracting site. I love this because it isn’t so rigid to block the sites completely but it does force you to be intentional about how you want to spend your time. I also love that there is an option to override the popup and use the time productively if you write why.
What I’ve been watching:
How to Read More Books (37 Min Doc by Max Joseph) - This guy is kind of the man. This is a really fun journey where we get to join Max on his expedition around the world to learn about philosophies behind reading books. This really got me thinking about the types of books I want to spend my time reading and how I want to approach reading in general. For example, he interviews the fastest reader in the world who even admits that getting through a lot of books quickly shouldn’t be your only goal.
Step Into Your Journey with Peloton (48 Min Vid with Becs Gentry, Jess Sims) - As a big Peloton person, especially during these times, it’s cool to learn more about the stories behind the instructors and their mindsets toward training in general. One thing that stuck with me was Becs saying how it’s important to go out there and try lots of things, but when you find what you like, it’s time to focus. For her, that means running 5 times a week.