This Week’s BIG Idea
We all have that habit that we start, but can’t sustain over time. In my case, that’s been playing guitar which is why I’ve redesigned my environment. Since I’m using a digital tool called Rocksmith 2014 that requires you to connect the instrument to the PC via USB, I leave that cable always hooked up to my computer, as well as a pick right in front of me. As simple as that change sounds, it made a big difference. For the last couple of days, I’ve played guitar for hours. More importantly, I’m experiencing something I often read about, the advantages of flow.
For those unfamiliar, flow is a mental state where we’re so immersed in an activity that we forget about everything else, including the passage of time. When I decide to play guitar, everything else becomes secondary and I forge the most essential things, such as eating, going to the bathroom, or doing work-related stuff. Before playing guitar, the easiest way for me to achieve that state was through reading. While that sounds bad, there are many advantages to experiencing flow.
I haven’t experienced the advantages of flow since I was a child. I remember drawing or playing trading card games for hours on end. I’d look outside and it would be sunny and then suddenly, it would be dark. As scary as that sounds, achieving flow is one of the most rewarding things you can experience in life. To achieve flow, two main things are necessary: a clear goal and to stretch your limits. In my case, I’m trying to learn a new song regularly and I’m often trying to improve my technique as I go, so I fulfill both requirements. With this in mind, think about yourself. How often do you experience flow? And if you don’t, how would you achieve it?
What I’m Working on
A while ago, I tried summarizing the book Copywriting Secrets by Jim Edwards. In the book, Edwards teaches you to write copy which is one of the most useful skills someone with an online business can acquire. I liked the book a lot, but it was so packed with specific information that I gave up after a while. While writing a summary might not be the most adequate thing to do, I still want to benefit from the book’s content which is what I’ve been doing before bed for the last couple of days.
What I’m Listening to
Modern Wisdom: Eric Jorgenson – The Wisdom of Naval Ravikant: The Almanack of Naval Ravikant is one of the first books I read when I started this website and I loved it. In the book, Eric Jorgenson compiles information from blog posts, interviews, tweets, and videos of American entrepreneur and investor Naval Ravikant. Jorgenson then released that in the form of a book. The timeless wisdom included in that book is staggering and I find myself coming back to it again and again. In the episode linked above, Chris Williamson interviews Eric Jorgenson and discusses the process of writing The Almanack of Naval Ravikant.
What I’m Reading
The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter: in this book, the author argues that our comfortable lives lead to most of our physical and mental problems. Easter suggests that embracing discomfort is the thing that leads to happiness. Since our ancestors evolved to be uncomfortable this book is about living at the edge of our comfort zone, reconnecting with the wild, and being happier.
What I’m Watching
40 Harsh Truths I Know at 40 but Wish I Knew at 20: the older we get, the more lessons we learn. One of the best parts about reading and learning new things is that you can benefit from other people’s mistakes. In the short video I linked above, Mark Manson shares forty lessons he learned throughout his life. Since I’m transcribing those lessons to a Notion page already, you can read them in order here.
- Your relationship with others is a direct reflection of your relationship with yourself.
- The only way to feel better about yourself is to do things worth feeling good about.
- The only failure is not trying.
- No one is coming to save you.
- Be the partner you want to have.
- The most valuable things in life compound over a long period of time.
- The most sexy and exciting things have diminishing returns.
- If you aren’t turning down things that excite you, then you’re not focused enough on something that matters.
- Taking responsibility for all your problems alleviates more suffering than it creates.
- You give power to who you blame.
- If you have to tell someone you’re that, then you’re not that.
- Motivation is not the cause of action, but the effect.
- Love is not the cause of commitment, but the effect.
- Passion is not the cause of good work, but the effect.
- The person you marry is the person you fight with. The house you buy is the house you repair. The dream job you take is the job you stress over.
- A happy life is not a life without stress, it’s a life of meaningful stress.
- Don’t view exercise as an exchange for something.
- Trust people.
- There’s no such thing as a life without problems.
- Growth is rarely accompanied by joy and celebration.
- F**k being normal
- If you can’t say no, then your yes’s mean nothing.
- Be careful how you define yourself.
- Don’t make assumptions about people.
- No one thinks about you as much as you think about yourself.
- Confidence does not come from an expectation of success, it comes from a comfort with failure.
- Develop a willingness to be disliked.
- You cannot be a life-changing presence to some people without also being a complete joke to others.
- Floss. And wear sunscreen. Every day.
- Extraordinary results come from repeating ordinary actions over an unordinary amount of time.
- Choosing a partner isn’t just about romance.
- Don’t overestimate romantic love.
- Trust is the currency of all relationships.
- If all of your relationships have the same problem, you’re the problem.
- There’s no such thing as a bad emotion, only a bad response to an emotion.
- Mornings are the real sh*t.
- You don’t have to prove anything to anyone, including yourself.
- Bad advice will be useless within a few weeks, but good advice will last you a lifetime.
- Nothing meaningful in life is easy, nothing easy in life is meaningful.
- It’s never too late to change.
This Week’s Quote
A fit body, a calm mind, a house full of love. These things cannot be bought — they must be earned.
Naval Ravikant
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