040 | 🙏🏻 Welcome to 3-2-1 Tuesday!

January 11, 2022

Hellooooooo,

2022, and of course this email, are all about growth and positive change - so, in the spirit of this, I’m trying out a new format for this email.

I want this email to be snappier, and filled with even more value and useful takeaways than before.

New year, new e(mail). Does that work? Yes? Maybe?

I’m calling it - drumroll please.........

3-2-1 Tuesday!

I’ll share 3 cool things I’ve read, watched, heard, you know the score. Basically, anything and everything that I’ve found useful in figuring out how to enjoy life as much as possible.

Then I’ll share 2 recommendations: books/articles/tweets that I’m currently reading, places I’ve visited, gadgets that are making my life a tiny bit better - the possibilities are endless.

And finally, 1 quote. As always, nothing pretentious or random - the majority of quotes I include come from my favourite writers, books, and podcasts. All with the aim to get me (and you) thinking about the important things in life.

A quick recap of why I write this email:

I think the one of the best ways to learn about something is to write about what I’ve learned, and share it with others. I love learning about self-growth and so this email is a great way to consolidate what I’ve seen or heard, while also enabling others to see it.

As Austin Kleon wrote in Show Your Work!:

Share what you love, and the people who love the same things will find you.

Let’s give this a try. Let me know what you think!

(p.s. - there’s a bonus at the very end)

💭 Three things you need to know:

👏🏼 ONE: How to deal with being overcommitted, scattered, or on the fence about a decision

This is something I learned from Derek Sivers’ brilliant Anything You Want:

If you’re not saying HELL YEAH! about something, say no. When deciding whether to do something, if you feel anything less than “Wow that would be amazing, absolutely, Hell Yeah!”, then say no. When you say to most things, you leave room in your life to throw yourself completely into that rare thing that makes you say Hell Yeah!

We’re all busy, and we’ve said yes to too much. So saying yes to less gives us space to say yes to the things that matter. (For me, this relates to drinking alcohol).

I’m currently reading Essentialism by Greg McKeown and the book is about exactly this: figure out the important things in life and focus on them - forget about everything else.

Oddly, I’m currently listening to the Decompression Session on Radio 1 Relax (a must listen) with Stuart Sandeman, who has just started talking about this exact subject.

Here’s his advice:

It’s helpful to have a No for work and a No for play.

No to work: I haven’t got capacity.

No for play: I just need a bit of downtime at the moment, but why don’t we do something in a few weeks?

💈 TWO: Everyone deserves a good barber

When I get my hair cut, I have a great chat with my barber, Peter. I’ve been going to him for a few years and I wouldn’t dream of going to anyone else (the barber code is real).

If you’re a talker like me, a barber eventually knows your whole life story. Your likes and dislikes, your job situation, your hobbies - he’s a person you confide in.

Proper barbers are usually always amazing listeners. In fact, they are active listeners to the very core: allowing you to finish, pushing you to expand here and there, listening and responding without judgement.

In today’s day and age, having a person like that to speak with is crucial. They give you an opportunity to express yourself without the existing knowledge a family member or friend will have, as they sit outside of these circles.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a barber. It can be the postman/woman, the local shopkeeper or the nail technician. Everyone deserves to have a person like that - they are worth searching for.

✅ THREE: 10 Stoic principles for 2022

10 of the best from some of the world’s smartest minds, in visual format for your viewing pleasure (feel free to save this and come back to it):

✅ Two Recommendations:

📖 Book - The Power of Geography

The Power of Geography by Tim Marshall - As expected, this was an absolute banger. It’s very satisfying when you have big hopes for a book and it ends up fulfilling them. This is the follow up to Prisoners of Geography, which is equally as good - both are a fascinating intro, or reminder to some, of the geography of various countries across the world.

Prisoners focuses on how a country has come to be in terms of geopolitics and demographic based off the limitations of it’s geography (i.e. rivers, mountains, deserts). Power is more forward focused - looking at the potential of a country, from impending wars, financial gain and changes in borders (amongst much more). Make sure you read the paperback versions - it’s much easier to keep referring back to the maps of each country at the start of each chapter.

⚙️ Tool - Paid Time Off Planner

I made a paid time off tracker (that you are welcome to make a copy of) to help me plan out my holiday across the year and make sure I’m not going over my allowance. It isn’t sexy, but it it’s definitely handy.

It also has bank holidays in there - don’t forget about the Queen’s Jubilee! 👵🏻

💬 And finally, one quote

Hopefully this was useful! Feel free to hit and let me know your thoughts.

Thanks!

If you found this interesting and useful, feel free to subscribe. I send emails like this every Tuesday - see you next week 👍🏼

In the meantime, you can find me on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, and have a look at what I’m reading on Goodreads.

Bonus: Photo of the week 📸