In The Know #63: Personal Legends, Practices vs Habits & The Value of Going Deep
Hi friends,
Slightly delayed again this week, but better late than never! K and I recently escaped for our first trip away from Ava to celebrate our anniversary, and it was even better than we expected (which was a high bar!). Parenthood is a beautiful thing, but it can definitely feel like a grind with the never ending logistics and routines, so it was super nice to have a few days in a beautiful place with literally nothing on our calendars.
It’s a long weekend for many, so I hope you’re able to enjoy that extra day off with as little on your calendar as possible.
Jamie
✨ Beautiful story I recently rediscovered — The Alchemist, by Paulo Cohelo
I first read The Alchemist in university, and when I saw the anniversary edition at an airport bookstore last weekend I was immediately drawn to it — it felt like an omen of sorts. It’s a short and beautiful read about discovering and following your destiny, or “Personal Legend” in the parlance of the book. Highly recommended if you’re in need of a little inspiration and want to reconnect with your purpose.
🧐 New and insightful personality test — Principles You
I love reading about and trying various psychological frameworks and personality tests, and this one was suggested on a podcast between sports psychologist Michael Gervais and Ray Dalio, the famous investor and founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund. Bridgewater is famous for employing Dalio’s principles of radical truth and transparency, and they use personality testing as part of their management and training programs. The test is comprised of >100 multiple choice questions where you respond along a spectrum of agreement/disagreement. It took me about 10 minutes to complete but I thought was one of the most informative profiles I’ve ever done. It assesses your leading archetypes, and breaks down feedback into insights about how you prefer to think, engage with others, and apply yourself. If you’re interested, my leading archetype was the Strategist, followed by the Shaper and the Growth Seeker. Give it a try, and if you’re comfortable, please reach out and share your results!
💪 Short podcast about the value of practices vs habits — Farewell Podcast — The Coach Up: We’re Talking about Practice(s)!
I thought this short (9 min) podcast with performance coach Brad Stulberg had some great insights on the value of cultivating regular practices in your life, as opposed to focusing purely on daily habits and routines. The premise is to have 3 things in line with your values that you aim to do each day, week, and month. Provided you design your lists in accordance with your values, if you can complete around 75% of them, you will inevitably end up in a pretty good spot in your life. Examples he mentions in the podcast include:
Daily — 45-90min of movement/exercise, deep work block of 60-90 minutes, don’t fight sleepiness at night (go to bed when tired).
Weekly — hang out with friends, 24 consecutive hours without screens (a “digital sabbath”), a long walk (2-3 hours)
Monthly — spend a full day outside with kids, uninterrupted 60-90min block of solo time for reflection, attend a community gathering
Anyway, I thought it was a cool framework that I’m going to try to apply to my own life. I think Stulberg’s suggestions above are a great starting point, but I’ll inevitably make a few tweaks to make it my own.
❝ Quote of the week — “The disease of our times is that we live on the surface. We’re like the Platte River, a mile wide and an inch deep. I always say, 'If you want to become a billionaire, invent something that will allow people to indulge their own Resistance.' Somebody did invent it. It’s called the Internet. Social media. That wonderland where we can flit from one superficial, jerkoff distraction to another, always remaining on the surface, never going deeper than an inch. Real work and real satisfaction come from the opposite of what the web provides. They come from going deep into something—the book you’re writing, the album, the movie—and staying there for a long, long time.” ~Steven Pressfield
What a beautiful quote!