The newsletter where I share my 5 favorite ideas, lessons, and discoveries of the week.
1. A list of habits with the highest rate of return
Habits that have a high rate of return in life:
- sleeping 8+ hours each day
- lifting weights 3x week
- going for a walk each day
- saving at least 10 percent of your income
- reading every day
- drinking more water and less of everything else
- leaving your phone in another room while you work
I've seen this list from James Clear (author of Atomic Habits) a few times, and what always strikes me is how simple it is.
None of these are revolutionary.
But most of the biggest returns in life come from getting the obvious stuff right.
A few more I would add:
- no phone for the first 30 minutes after waking up - cooking most of your own meals - single-tasking instead of multitasking - putting time with friends on your calendar
Your challenge this week: Reply with the habit that's had the highest rate of return for you this year.
2. A new personality type between introvert and extrovert
A reader sent me this, and I've never felt more seen in my entire life:
shoutout to Helen S. for sharing!
I experienced this on my recent trip to Peru.
For 17 days, I was travelling with a big group of people I had never met before. And it was funny because everyone was lovely, the group was great, but I still noticed myself feeling a little disconnected at times.
In the bigger group settings, I had a harder time feeling like I was really getting to know people. But then I’d get the chance to spend one-on-one time with someone, and it felt completely different. More like the kind of connection I actually enjoy.
And I think this isn't talked about enough.
Knowing your connection style matters (a lot).
Because if you don’t understand this, it’s easy to take the wrong lesson from certain environments.
You think you’re awkward, when really you’re just in the wrong setting. You think you’re antisocial, when really you’re just craving a different kind of connection.
To be clear, I don’t think the answer is to only put yourself in social situations that feel perfectly comfortable. But there’s a difference between healthy discomfort and constantly trying to socialize in a way that works against your nature.
As we move into summer, I’m trying to build my days around 3 simple principles:
Spend more time outside
Spend more time with friends
Spend less time getting triggered by strangers on the internet
Seemed like a perfect time to return to this article.
4. A tweet thread about overcoming procrastination - read it here
I'm a procrastinator. You're a procrastinator.
We're all procrastinators.
It's one of the constant battles we fight as humans, and I think that's why this thread gained so much traction.
I'm not saying it's going to fix yourprocrastination.
But I do think there are some genuinely great tips here.
A few I liked:
The trick is lowering the entry cost. Instead of telling yourself you have to finish the whole task, shrink it down to the smallest possible step, open the document, wash one dish, send one email. Once you start, momentum usually carries you further than you expected.
I focus really hard on the physical movements, detached from my ‘self’. Like move the arm. Move the leg. Find this information, etc. It helps to separate the weird lizard brain from the part of the brain that has higher desires and is less fearful.
I do it badly just for five minutes. The resistance isn't to the task. It's to the version of the task your brain has built up into something unbearable. Starting badly collapses the myth. The rest usually follows.
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