I curate articles from around the web that present an interesting perspective or helpful information at the intersection of technology and wellbeing. Each of these articles were featured in my September 2020 newsletter. I send out an update twice a month along with some notes on my latest work. Sign up for my newsletter here.
SEPTEMBER I
Last week, San Francisco was covered in a blood red sky and the air quality was deemed extremely unhealthy. This photo was from 11am with the entire day clouded in an eerie darkness.
Thankfully that has cleared up after a long week of dirty air which left my throat soar and wondering if it was a COVID symptom. Breathing is life… our prana or ch'i. When it’s obstructed, like with bad air quality, it impacts our entire physical and mental health.
And it's just not just what we are breathing. How we breath also matters. It is a topic I’m deeply engrossed in right now as I’m currently writing a piece on breathing for the next newsletter to share with all of you.
I’m writing the story in live stages so participants in the productivity program Building A Second Brain can learn how to take small packets of information from sources such as Kindle, Twitter, journal notes, online articles, audio snippets, podcasts, and just about anywhere you consume information, then distill, create, and share it.
A month ago, I was selected to be one of 20 mentors to guide around 100 people through the Second Brain productivity system program. It’s some of the most highly rewarding work I’ve done. And it all starts with some questions, 12 of them in fact.
One of the first exercises in the course is to identify your 12 favorite questions or problems. It’s a practice that traces to Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Richard Feynman:
“You have to keep a dozen of your favorite problems constantly present in your mind, although by and large they will lay in a dormant state. Every time you hear or read a new trick or a new result, test it against each of your twelve problems to see if it helps. Every once in a while there will be a hit, and people will say, “How did he do it? He must be a genius!”
It’s your 12 favorite questions that help with information overload. It’s your filter through which you seek out content, connections, and perspective. It illuminates your purpose.
This isn’t a one-time exercise. It’s one I like to revisit at least every year as the new year approaches. Each time you refine and examine what really interests you, peeling back the layers of your curiosity.
Take some time and write down your 12 questions. Then, live the questions.
Compete to Create
Keep your eye on the future, focus on now, not others.
Distinguish meaning from achievement.
Embrace radical authenticity.
Three keys from Dr. Michael Gervais, resident sports psychologist for the Seattle Seahawks among his impressive list of clients. He also hosts one of my favorite podcasts, Finding Mastery.
In this Forbes article, Master These NFL Winning Secrets To Thrive In Uncertainty And Reach Your Highest Performance, he talks about those three keys that he and Seahawks' coach Pete Carroll practice to bring the best out of the people in that organization.
We all get off track on occasion, and I really liked this from Gervais on how he addresses it:
"We approach them and say, ‘OK we see this thing, but we both know that’s not who you are. How do we get back to that unique talent that’s really you?” So rather than chiding someone in shame, they invite them back to the authentic person they want to be."
That's solid advice for interacting with others and for talking to yourself.
"We play old tapes that reinforce self-limiting beliefs, which causes us to fall back into old patterns of behavior, leading us away from living into our unique strengths and being our authentic selves. A vicious cycle. Then we need to return to first principles, remember who we are and the meaning for which we live, re-calibrate and regain our focus."
You can read the full article here.