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By Colby Kultgen

9 Life Lessons from 90 Years, Advice For Big Projects, and Ready Is a Decision

Read online / Read time: 4 minutes

Hello friends!

Welcome to 1% Better.

The newsletter where I share my 5 favorite ideas, lessons, and discoveries of the week—no fluff, just the good stuff.

Let's get right into it.

A sentence I can't stop thinking about

This simple phrase has been living rent-free in my head for weeks:

The more I think about it, the more I believe that the most valuable skill in life is your ability to take action in spite of feeling nervous, unprepared, or uncertain.

The people who get ahead aren't the most confident, or the most prepared.

They're simply the ones who decide to do the thing regardless of how ready they feel.

The advantages of this compound quickly:

You learn faster because you're in the arena, not on the sidelines.
You build momentum while others are stuck deliberating
You open doors that don't exist for people standing still.

On the flip side are the people who wait.

Endlessly preparing but never starting. While they're waiting, opportunities close. Someone else takes the leap. The gap between where they are and where they want to be only widens.

So next time you catch yourself waiting to feel ready, ask: what if I just decided to be ready right now?

Everything you want is on the other side of that decision.

A bit of advice for starting big projects

Oliver Burkeman on reducing overwhelm of a big task:

I feel like this pairs perfectly with the "Ready isn't a feeling, it's a decision." mindset.

Something as simple as opening the file, sketching an outline, or sending one email takes away a big project's power to intimidate you.

P.S. I pulled this from Oliver's excellent newsletter that everyone should subscribe to.

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A list of hard-won lessons from 90 years of living

​This list of life lessons comes courtesy of Edward Packard, creator of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series of books.

In his words:

Usually I would try to summarize, but that would be doing this list a disservice.

Highly recommend setting aside 5 minutes to read them in full.

A book I'm very excited to read

If I had to choose my favorite non-fiction book of the last 5 years, the answer would be easy:

​The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel.

I never expected a book about personal finance to be so captivating, but the way Morgan weaves together storytelling, behavioral psychology, and financial wisdom completely changed how I think about money.

And now, the follow-up is here: The Art of Spending Money​

While the first book focused on saving and investing, this time, Morgan's tackling the flip side—how to actually spend money in ways that make us happier.

I don't know about you, but I'm clearing my weekend to read it.

😂

Have a great week!

P.S. Reply telling me what resonated most this week!

(I read and respond to them all)

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