By Colby Kultgen

A Better Way to Make Friends, A Very Practical Book, and Life-Changing Purchases

Read online / Read time: 4 minutes

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Hello friends!

We're back with your weekly dose of 1% Better.

I don’t usually theme these issues, but almost everything this week seemed to fall under the category of life hacks.

So I ran with it!

I mean c’mon, who doesn’t love a good life hack?

Alright, let's get right into it.

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A practical guide to making friends

I want to start with what might be the most underrated life hack of all:

Building a strong social circle.

We all know how difficult it can be to make friends as an adult.

But I thought this thread did a really good job of making the process feel a little less mysterious.

When I moved to Toronto two years ago, making new friends became something I had to be much more intentional about, and a lot of this lines up with my experience.

A few tips I’d add:

Become a regular somewhere. I started going to the café attached to my building all the time and eventually became good friends with some of the people who worked there and a few other regulars.

Host more often. I try to have at least one get-together at my place every month. It gives you a reason to stop saying “we should hang out soon” and actually put something on the calendar.

Start a club around something you already like. I’m currently in three separate clubs with my friends: two book clubs and one movie club. There’s something powerful about having a shared interest that gives you a reason to keep getting together.

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An article worth stealing a few ideas from

Next up, we have this article: Random Quality of Life Improvements That Will Change Your Life.​

I’ll be honest, I clicked on this expecting the usual "drink more water" type of advice.

But I was pleasantly surprised by how much depth there is here.

This idea in particular stood out to me:

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A book I think everyone should read

Keeping with our theme of life hacks.

My friend Ben Meer's debut book, How to Be Good At Life is officially out tomorrow!

Ben sent me an early copy, and let me just say, you guys are in for a treat.

It’s extremely practical—with tons of simple ideas for improving how you work and live.

If you’re a fan of books like Atomic Habits, you'll love this.

And if you order today, you can still get access to his Year of Systems course as a pre-order bonus.

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A thread I spent 45 minutes reading

It’s been a while since we’ve had a good “purchases that changed your life” thread.

​This one from all the way back in 2022 might be the best I’ve ever come across.

I somehow spent over 45 minutes scrolling through the replies.

There are hundreds of answers, with many useful recommendations that I’m now very tempted to buy.

Consider this your warning before clicking.

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A final life hack I'll leave you with

Don't actually try this lol.

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😭 No bonus links this week because I've been a busy boy.

But, if you discovered something really cool recently, I'd love it if you sent it my way (maybe I'll feature it in the next issue).

— Colby

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