68: Notes To Self

Yoooooooooooo, it’s Luke!

Been dancing a lot recently. Got me feeling nicey let’s go! Also, I want to dedicate this newsletter to Tyrese Haliburton…Pacers in 6.

That said, here is your weekly dose of 5 noteworthy ideas & things I learned about last week. Click on the blue links to dive further on that topic.

1. Completely Break Your Screentime (Freedom)

Right now, I am trying to go through my Twitter bookmarks to find a sweet photo to start this newsletter.

But I can’t. It’s 7:13am.

And from 9pm-4pm every day, I can’t access any social media.

The only workaround is to physically call Freedom.to’s support center.

Which is just annoying enough that I don’t do it.

So it stays blocked, and I won’t ever find myself in a shitty late night doomscroll again.

LFG!

(to do this, use the “locked mode” in Freedom)

2. On Helping Your Friends (Me)

Unsure where I read this quote, but I thought it was a good one. Especially for those who like helping others :)

“If you want to understand someone, figure out the narrative they tell themselves about themself.

If you want to change your behavior, change your narrative.

If you want to change someone else’s behavior, offer them a more compelling narrative they can tell themselves.”

3. 27 Pieces of Advice on my 27th Birthday (Jackson Dahl)

A few resonant quotes in this one:

• “Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls, and interesting people. Forget yourself.” - Henry Miller

• “It may be lucky, but it’s not an accident.” - Chris Sacca

• “People are hard to hate close up.” - Brené Brown

4. A Friendly Reminder (Me)

Think of a good friend whose known you for over a decade, but the friendship is slowly fading from distance / circumstance.

Maybe you haven’t chatted in over a year.

Got someone in mind?

Now, I dare you to call them this weekend and catch up.

5. Relish In The Little Things In Life (About Time)

I was reminded of one my favorite movie’s About Time at a bar room lecture series on Tuesday evening*.* Similar to David Foster Wallace’s This Is Water speech, it reminded me embrace the little things in life, smell the roses, and truly live every day.

One quote from the father to his son (both of whom can time travel) smacked me in the face:

“Here’s the secret to happiness. Go about and live each day normally - the stresses, the immediate reactions, etc.

The first time with all the tensions and worries that stop us from noticing how sweet the world can be.

But the second time, noticing.

And at the end of the day, go back in time and re-live it.

But this time, deliberately take notice of the little things. Enjoy them. Enjoy the good & bad. Enjoy the beauty of the day.”

Obviously, I can’t travel back in time. But, I can live every day as if I’ve deliberately come back to this day to enjoy it.

As if it is the final day of my extraordinary, ordinary life. We’re all traveling through time together. Every day of our lives passes by no matter how hard we try to slow it down.

All we can do is our best to relish in our remarkable lives.

• To look around.

• See the greatness in the big, the small, the mundane.

• Notice the beauty of strangers and their interactions.

• Watch the patterns of nature play out in front of our very eyes.

Remind ourselves that everything we see today was not there for hundreds of thousands of years.

Only in this moment. Nothing we see now looked the same just a few decades before.

It’s a miracle that we get to see this view. Better yet, look at the person next to you. The odds you both end up in this very moment is so unbelievably small, it’s basically a miracle.

You want to be happy & flourish? Then relish in the little things.

Thanks for wanting to know more today than you did yesterday! If you liked this edition, send it over to a friend who would like it too 🤝 

Cheers,

Luke

PS: you can find more rabbit holes here & my writing here.