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From Ali Abdaal’s Why Do We Seek Permission? :  "When you start teaching yourself stuff and realize how easy it is to teach yourself anything, you get over this idea that you need to be qualified to do something" , Ali gave the example of his friend who always thought of coding as a black box but after starting to learn, he realized that it made more sense than he initially thought and it became easier the more he made the effort to consciously learn.  Ali referred to Austin Kleon who said:  "As long as there’s gonna be at least one person in the world who cares about what you have to say, there’s almost a moral imperative to put your stuff out there because you’re helping people, you’re helping the world, you’re adding value to the world however that might be." The curse of the expert.  Often the person you want to be teaching you stuff is not the person who is the expert because they cannot empathize, they cannot understand where you’re coming from. You want so...

Clearing out my inbox on a Sunday evening got me reading two articles from the Daily Stoic and watching one video off YouTube.  From You Are Not Too Busy to Read :  "If Napoleon, commanding an army of some 40,000 men, could find time to read on a march some 1,600 miles from home, you can find it. If Marcus could read while he was ruling the world, if Seneca could do it while studying the law, suffering from tuberculosis, while in exile, in the Senate, as a consul, while he dealt with Nero's insanity, you can. Leaders must be readers. There is no good life without study and practice and wisdom. Don't find the time. Make the time . You're not too busy.  Nobody is." From You Still Have Time. You Have So Much Time : "What Seneca's life proves is something much more bluntly phrased in Gary Vaynerchuk's viral video, " You've Got F*cking Time. " It might feel like you are too old, that things have not turned out like you planned, that you'v...

Ikigai: The reason you wake up in the morning.  Stumbled upon the audiobook of Ikigai The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life .  Went on to find out more about what other people have to say about it. In an article by Thomas Oppong , he mentioned,  According to author Dan Buettner, the concept of ikigai is not exclusive to Okinawans: "there might not be a word for it but in all four blue zones such as Sardinia and Nicoya Peninsula, the same concept exists among people living long lives." Buettner suggests making three lists: your values, things you like to do, and things you are good at. The cross section of the three lists is your ikigai. Ikigai is seen as the convergence of four primary elements:  What you love (your passion) What the world needs (your mission) What you are good at (your vocation) What you can get paid for (your profession) Want to find your ikigai ?  Thoman Oppong also indicated four guiding questions.  1. What do I love?...

Recently, I started doing Homework for Life , which is to pen down on an excel sheet or anywhere of your choice a story worthy moment for the day.  Homework for life was mentioned in Ali Abdaal's   email newsletter ,  "The point isn't just to expand our bank of stories - it also encourages us to reflect on our days in a super easy-to-do way, thus allowing us to remember snippets of our life that would otherwise pass us by. " Matthew Dicks , the author of the book Storyworthy , has gotten emails and messages from people all around the world telling him that the 5 minute process every day has changed their lives.  --- I shall report back in a year about my process. Let me know if you're joining me on this activity too!  That's all for today, see you tomorrow!

Motivation is a myth. Heard this in one of Ali Abdaal's Not Overthinking podcast episode 10: Why do we struggle with motivation? This perspective would be useful in getting things done in the future.  Some key points I took from it: Discipline is more important than motivation. Ali shared a blog post from wisdomination.com that changed his life. From the blog post,  " Motivation operates on the erroneous assumption that a particular mental or emotional state is necessary to complete a task. wheres, Discipline separates outwards functioning from moods and feelings and thereby ironically circumvents the problem by consistently improving them. " Ali added "Action comes first and the motivation follows. In essence, action leads to motivation which leads to more action." Some hacks that were mentioned in the podcast:  1. Make the action more pleasurable. 2. Make inaction less pleasurable - for example, having a deal with a friend that you have to pay them money if...

When we think about giving, we often think about physical items, such as a gift, an item, often a present wrapped up etc.  But sometimes giving could mean giving someone your time, your listening ear, knowledge, advice that is wanted, giving a thought to someone, giving your attention or giving someone gentle and kind words.  What could you give someone today? Something that you already possess. --- That's all for today, see you tomorrow!   

Got reminded to write New Year's Resolutions (find a Why Do People Make New Year's Resolutions? article here ) but prefer to call it Setting Intentions. Here are some of my favorites for the year: * Embrace change and challenges.  * Do better everyday.  * Dream big. * Do all things you've chosen with great passion or not do them at all. * Dare. Dare to ask the Universe for what you want. * Give whenever you can, give love, joy, your knowledge, happiness. --- That's all for today, see you tomorrow!

 If there's one thing you should listen to in the next few days, it's this: Your Thoughts Will Heal or Kill You with Marisa Peer  (embedded link goes to Spotify but you could also listen to it or read the show notes on Lewis Howes's website ) I am currently listening to it the second time to take loads of notes and I will share them in the next blog post. Here's some to start off: "We don't understand that the brain has no sense of humor, and only picks up words and think they're real."  "We think our mind's job is to make us happy. It really isn't. It's to make us survive against what were really pretty bad odds. And how we survive is, everytime we say something like, 'That would kill me. I'd die if that happened,' the mind goes on red alert to stop it from happening." --- Would you pay more attention to your thoughts and words now that you know it could have such a huge impact? --- That's all for today, see you t...

What is the identity you would like to give yourself for 2021? Today's post is inspired by James Clear 3-2-1 Thursday Newsletter . In it, he mentioned, I. "If you genuinely care about the goal, you'll focus on the system." II. "We often avoid taking action because we think "I need to learn more," but the best way to learn is often by taking action." III. "A final thought from Atomic Habits as we start the new year: "Improvements are only temporary until they become part of who you are.  - The goal is not to read a book, the goal is to become a reader.  - The goal is not to run a marathon, the goal is to become a runner.  - The goal is not to learn an instrument, the goal is to become a musician. This year, focus on the identity you want to build." --- This year, my focus is on being consistent, improving 1 percent everyday, embracing change and challenges. How about you?