By Colby Kultgen

The Odyssey Plan, Napping is Good For You, and One of The Coolest Things On The Internet

Read online / Read time: 4 minutes

Hello friends!

Before we get started, I have a small request:

Reply to this email telling me ONE thing you'd like to see more of in this newsletter.

Productivity tips, AI tools, YouTube videos, feet pics, interesting articles.

You name it.

Feedback is what helps me make this a banger every week.

1. An exercise I wish I'd done 10 years ago

This post from Author Daniel Pink caught my eye last week.

The Odyssey Plan is a five-year planning exercise created by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

The idea is that you answer the following 3 prompts:

Write out, in detail, what your life would look like 5 years from now if you continued down your current path.
Write out, in detail, what your life would look like 5 years from now if you took a completely different path.
Write out, in detail, what your life would look like 5 years from now if money, social obligations, and what people would think, were irrelevant.

A great thought experiment for anyone struggling to figure out exactly what they want to do with their life.

I found an official worksheet if you want to give it a try.

Firmly believe everyone should do this at least once.

2. A bit of good news for nappers

If you're Team Afternoon Power Nap, I have good news for you.

A recent study found that a one-hour afternoon nap can recalibrate your brain's synaptic connections.

If that doesn't mean anything to you, here's a more detailed explanation someone left under the original tweet:

Your brain accumulates “noise” throughout the day. Every conversation, every decision, every stimulus strengthens synaptic connections. By afternoon, your neural circuitry is essentially turned up too loud. Signal-to-noise ratio degrades. Focus drops. Learning efficiency declines. You’re not tired because you’re lazy. You’re tired because your cortex is saturated.

What this study showed is that a one-hour afternoon nap resets that. Synaptic strength decreased back toward baseline (the volume got turned down) and the brain’s capacity for new learning (LTP-like plasticity) increased. The nap didn’t just rest the brain. It recalibrated it. Cleared the noise. Restored the ability to form new connections.

Personally, I've always felt guilty taking afternoon naps, but now I have a peer-reviewed excuse.

3. One of the coolest things on the internet

I'm a big nerd, so things like this really excite me.

Honestly, anything that makes me want to go outside and explore my city more is a win.

Speaking of which, I recently started playing Pokémon Go again (told you I was a nerd).

My step count is going to be insane this summer lol.

4. A quote about confidence worth framing

Confidence doesn’t come from believing in yourself. It comes from having done the uncomfortable thing enough times that your nervous system stops flagging it as an emergency.

Because nothing is actually hard, it’s just unfamiliar.

Difficulty is a perception your brain assigns to protect you from novelty — not an accurate measure of what you’re capable of. Every time you post, pitch, or push through something that scares you, your brain updates its prediction model. Expansion stops being coded as danger.

I read this quote in a Substack article and immediately sent it to 3 different people I know.

This mindset shift of "it's not hard, it's just unfamiliar" is such a powerful one.

Next time something feels impossible, try asking yourself: is this actually difficult, or have I just never done it before?

5. The harsh truth about smoothies

😂

Have a great week!

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1% Better: The Odyssey Plan, Napping is Good For You, and One of The Coolest Things On The Internet

The Odyssey Plan, Napping is Good For You, and One of The Coolest Things On The Internet

1. An exercise I wish I'd done 10 years ago

2. A bit of good news for nappers

3. One of the coolest things on the internet

4. A quote about confidence worth framing

5. The harsh truth about smoothies

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