Weekly Wisdom #322 - How to be happier

Excitement for Happiness, Advice for Living, Micromorts, No-Cook Dinners, Misting Fans & Writing

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Happy Sunday!

One of the ideas I've thought most about recently comes from Tim Ferriss:

Excitement is the more practical synonym for happiness, and it is precisely what you should strive to chase. It is the cure-all.

Excitement is a much more tangible state or emotion than happiness, which is what makes it a more useful goal.

Often, the next question is, "well X makes me happy, but it won't make me money."

The good news is that the number of things for which that's actually true is shrinking.

You can create content around your hobby, or create products.

The internet means you can reach enough people in very specific niches to still make it profitable.

And it has never cost less to get started.

So next time you're feeling restless: remember to chase excitement instead of happiness.

Have a great week!

Graham

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Links

📚 Book I'm Reading: Excellent Advice for Living - Kevin Kelly - Kevin has some excellent essays, classics that I've read over and over, like 1000 True Fans and You Are Not Late.

He's put all his life advice in one book, which makes for nice light, high-impact summer reading.

📖 Lies per Second, Meetings per Decision Ratio, and other important biz metrics - Andrew Chen - This is a bit of a misleading article, but introduces the ideas of micromorts—a unit of risk that represents a one-in-a-million chance of sudden death, represented nicely in this chart:

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It gives you a good question to ask AI tools: how dangerous is this activity in micromorts per hour?

And can follow it up with how many hours per week you do that activity, to estimate what the most dangerous things in your life are.

🥗 16 No-Cook Dinners You Can Make in 20 Minutes - Eating Well - I stumbled on this list, and as someone that tries to eat pretty healthy but doesn't always want to take the time to cook, I appreciate a good list like this.

✍️ Ship 30 for 30 - I wrote a review of the writing program that I joined a couple years ago, and it remains one of the best courses I've done.

They're opening up a new cohort (their first in a while), so if you're interested, now's the time to check it out (closes Sunday night).

🔧 Cordless Misting Fan - If you've ever traveled to the desert, you'll know that misters are ubiquitous at outdoor patios and restaurants.

Most recently, I noticed teams in the recent Club World Cup were using giant misters like this one to keep their players cool.

I was surprised to find you could buy small ones for just $88 (battery required). Makes a big difference during the heat waves much of the world seems to be now experiencing.

Tweet of the Week

Charles Miller-->

@charlesmiller_7

How to build confidence:

10:49 AM • Jul 9, 2025

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