The Wisdom of Habits

 

You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results.

You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.

Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you want to become!

Self-control is a short-term strategy, not a long-term one.

Imagine changing just one word: You don't "have" to. You get to.

Never miss twice. If I miss one day, I try to get back into it as quickly as possible.

Until you work as hard as those you admire, don't explain away their success as luck.

source: Atomic Habits, via Michael McGill @mcgillmd921

Twitter wisdom

 

I'm not building a bank account, I'm building a business.

The bank account is just a side effect.

Wise words on twitter this morning.

Building a better Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

The best advice I've seen on building a better MVP.

From Menlo Ventures. Read the entire story here

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It’s commonly believed that the top two reasons startups fail is because “there’s no market need” and “they ran out of cash.”

These reasons, however, (and many more listed) are mental gymnastics to avoid a plain truth: startups fail when they don’t build a simple solution to a problem many people have.

Many startups fall into the trap of building toward a “mission” rather than a minimum viable product (MVP).

Your mission is your baby. It’s the North Star that got your people on board and inspires them daily. However, solely focusing on your mission is the same as being unfocused.

Read the entire story here

The Purpose of Life

The purpose of life is not to be happy.

It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate,

to have it make some difference that you have lived, and lived well.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Product Invention

Product Invention is a magical process, a dark art. 

Here is how Jason Fried (37 Signals/Basecamp) describes it:

I'm often asked how I know when an idea might make a good product.

First, I never know. It's always a guess, a bet. I'm just trying to do what I can to increase the odds, to beat the house.

But more specifically, it's always a feeling. It's never a number. It's never a quantity of yeses. It's never about early feedback. It's never about research.

What does this feeling feel like? It feels like gravity, like magnetism.

An idea starts somewhere. Low density, like interstellar gas.

And often times it just stays there. Particles too far apart to attract one other, forces too weak to bind. Just a set of disparate ideas, no product to be had.

But sometimes, a few things start to come together. Excitement, insights, concepts start to spin. Potential begins to orbit the idea. And then the initial idea grows. It gains mass. And more and more things are attracted. Concepts tie together, cases become clear. And then... Snap! Stuff begins to snap into place. Pulled into the core by a force that feels like gravity. A strong magnet. Snap! Ah, this could work with that, and that feature begets this one. Flows materialize. A name might even be pulled in. Snap!

That's when I feel like I'm on to something. It pulls.

CEO/founders = 4x more depression

We're not meant to sit and look at screens our whole lives. 

The good news is that there's a work-around:

Harvard Study Says 

Just 35 Minutes of Daily Exercise Can 

Help Keep Depression at Bay

I've kept this post short so you can use the extra time to Do something. 

I really dislike the entire concept of "Exercise" so I find ways to make it more interesting. The first way to enjoy "Exercise" is to reframe the entire concept. I prefer to re-frame it and call it something like "Build a healthy body". Now that's something I can relate to. 

"Exercise" gets a bad rap when it's talked about in reference to the pain of exercise being a good thing: "Pain is weakness leaving the body" and "No Pain, No Gain" and so on ad nauseam. I much prefer to do it until it feels good rather than until it hurts. That way, I'll do more of it... because it feels good!

Chatter: The Voice in our head, and how to harness it

 

You're not alone...

You know that voice in your head, the one that keeps asking what if questions and doesn't give you a moment's peace, especially when you're trying to get some sleep or do some real work or just trying to relax... you know, like all the time!

This book is about that voice, and some real research that has been done and what it tells us that we can do about it, and even make it work for you instead of holding you back, causing anxiety, lack of confidence, etc.

I found this book by accident; it's not something I would normally read. But I was drawn in by the writer's conversational style. 

There was a time in my life when the voice in my head was just as described, and I was spiraling downward, finally ending in divorce, bankruptcy, and cancer. That was a time of some serious chatter going on. 

I knew that my survival depended on ending the habitual negative thinking. I escaped that negative voice in my head and started back on the road to success. Some of the things I did are mentioned in the book, so I can validate a lot of it. Additional techniques are mentioned, based on new research.

If you have been wishing that voice in your head would just shut up and play something more productive, then this book is for you.

The Absolute Importance of Sleep

Matthew Walker is Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and Founder and Director of the Center for Human Sleep Science.

Sleep helps us in so many ways, even in building effective habits.

Many suggestions on how to get the best sleep, all based on good science. Check this video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwaWilO_Pig&ab_channel=PowerfulJRE

EZchecklist™ Update, January 2021

Get the latest news 

on the continuing development of EZchecklist™ 

and make 2021 the best year ever!

 

✅

The EZchecklist™  Update, January 2021

Chamath Palihapitiya: contrarian VC at Social Capital

Chamath Palihapitiya, billionaire founder/CEO at Social Capital

"You are being programmed."  re: the dopamine addiction that is intended to hook you into increased engagement and dependence, by the social media companies, such as Facebook where he was an early executive.

There is a lot to learn from this hour long video interview at Stanford in 2017. Take notes, it goes fast. 

After the video, check him out on Quora.