This Week’s BIG Idea
In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear presents us with the idea of systems vs habits.
I recently watched a video where Alexander Heyne shares a three-step framework to design your life. The framework involves a series of simple steps where you determine the trajectory of your life and achieve your goals. I explain this below in the terms he put it along with the video, but I’ve simplified this plan even further. Essentially, the way in which the three-step framework works is extremely simple:
- Plan your goals
- Develop habits to achieve those goals
- Review
Again, this is an extremely simple overview of the video. If you take anything away from this idea is that some things are not random occurrences. Although it’s extremely simple to look at someone who has achieved something in life and attribute that success to luck, the truth is that that person took a series of decisions that led them there. By following the steps detailed above you’re already ahead of most people.
What I’m Working on
After reading The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness, I recently started meditating on a regular basis. Although I started this practice recently, I’m already seeing some benefits: I see myself being present at random times, I often think before reacting to something external, and I notice small details I’ve never paid attention to before. I’m not going to say that I’m a new person, but I feel that this is something I’ll continue doing. Here’s a link to the book summary.
What I’m Listening to
Although I have read books from both Derek Sivers and Tim Ferriss, I had never listened to this episode before. Many of Sivers’ philosophies are discussed and I simply couldn’t keep up with the number of books mentioned. Luckily, I found a transcript of this podcast here https://tim.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/125-derek-sivers.pdf.
What I’m Reading
- Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport: I just started rereading Digital Minimalism because I wanted to share a summary of the book on the website. I read this book last year and it’s been tremendously helpful to deal with technology. In the book, Cal Newport details a method that encourages you to stop using what he calls optional technologies. Once you do that, you take a thirty-day break from them. Finally, you slowly introduce apps, websites, and devices and determine which ones are worth your time and which ones aren’t. Unlike some hacks that involve putting the phone away when you go to bed or going to the settings to enable grayscale mode, the method Newport details in the book is more strict.
What I’m Watching
I recently watched this video from the YouTube channel ModernHealthMonk. In it, Alexander Heyne introduces the idea of “designing your life” for a specific purpose which resonated with me. The video details a system to achieve whatever you want in life. The system is flexible enough that anyone can use it and the best part is that you need simple tools. You just need a notebook, a pen, and a few minutes a day for planning.
The three-step system involves the “Vision”, where you ask yourself where you want to be in the next five years. Then we have the “Daily Habit” which involves determining your goals and coming up with a series of habits to achieve them. Finally, you have the “Follow Through” which is the act of making sure that your actually making progress toward your goals. Heyne, also published a book called Master the Day which is about habits to improve your health, body, and mind. I liked the video enough that I might check out that book at some point.
This Week’s Quote
“Life without Design Is Erratic”
Seneca
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