Weekly Wisdom #294 - 3 Learnings From 2023, Living Longer, How to Quit Anything, and 2024 Motivation

3 Learnings From 2023, Living Longer, How to Quit Anything, and 2024 Motivation

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Happy Monday!

I'm in the process of wrapping up my 2023 annual review, which has me reflecting on the best and worst parts of the year, as well as everything I learned.

I'm planning to write a full post, but in the meantime, here are three learnings that stood out:

Macro matters more than micro: whether it's the broader economy vs. your specific company, the people you spend the most time with vs. the people you know, exercising frequently vs. the specific workout: the big things are always going to matter more in the end than the small ones.

Positioning matters: maturity is being willing to face problems head-on; wisdom is avoiding them in the first place. Putting yourself in a good position saves you a lot of headaches in the future.

Productivity is about focus time: the most productive full-time workers I know find ways to work outside "normal" working hours/environment. Most modern work environments are so full of meetings and distractions that it's impossible to make meaningful progress.

I hope you got some time to relax and see loved ones over the holidays, and are excited about the year ahead.

Have a great week!

Graham

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Links

📚 Book Notes: Outlive - Peter Attia - The most useful book I've ever read on extending health span and preventing disease, this was one of my favourite reads last year.

I've added my key action items at the top of the notes, which may be slightly different for each person, but there will be things—like exercise suggestions—that will apply to everyone.

This book is worth reading (and re-reading) in full, as the underlying concepts pertain to the most important thing in all our lives: our health.

📖 24 Ways to Change Your Life in 2024 - Sahil Bloom - Sahil is well-known for his posts about systems and frameworks for better thinking. This post should have something for everyone to take into the New Year.

A few I like:

30 for 30: With whatever you want to improve at, do it for 30 minutes per day for 30 straight days.

To prioritize more effectively, use an Eisenhower Matrix.

Follow the 80% rule at lunch to avoid afternoon lulls: Eat a lighter lunch and go for a walk right after it to promote digestion and mental clarity.

📖 How to Quit Just About Anything - Pocket Collection - This Pocket collection includes articles about how to quit everything from a bad habit, to sugar, caffeine, complaining, and more.

One of my favourite mantras is "less but better" and quitting is usually the first step required to make room for less.

📚 Shoutout to my colleague Nick, who just published his first book, a fantasy novel called Fate's Conscripts. You can purchase it on Amazon here (or read his blog here).

🍸 Another shoutout to my friend Sam, who officially released his new gin, Wild City Spirits. You can get it at select bars across the US.

Tweet of the Week

If you need a little motivation to kick off your 2024, this acceptance speech from music artist Jelly Roll gave me goosebumps (it's only about a minute long).

Taylor Lewan-->

@TaylorLewan77

This video is incredibly.

All the adversity, pain, and sacrifice @JellyRoll615 has made to get to where he is at is truly a movie.

Honored to call this man a friend, congratulations no one deserves it more than you.

11:37 PM • Nov 8, 2023

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