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This week, I’m riffing off James Clear’s weekly newsletter to see if I can get back into writing more consistently. Without further ado, here’s my version of Clear’s weekly 3-2-1 newsletter.
I find this idea especially relevant as I find myself hurtling towards the end of my first year in college. I recall coming into UW with things I wanted to accomplish and working backwards throughout the year to achieve them and writing a brief reflection about the experience once it was over. Rarely have I found myself going back to those reflections and valuable insights as I being my approach to new and familiar challenges– this is something I want to see change.
For the first few months of college, I disliked the need that many people, including myself, had about the constant need to be busy and occupied with something all the time. The time I had to spend on things I didn’t care much about felt oppressive, and I complained about ‘the grind’ often without doing anything to change my circumstances. Realizing that I was completely responsible for the conditions I was creating let me ruthlessly cut down on the activities that I didn’t care about, or I felt no longer served me.
I’ve written a lot about self-help on this blog, but one way or another there’s always been some level of apprehension towards the practices I put into my own life. Recently, I’ve been trying to opt into self-discovery– joyful act of uncovering who you are through slow and intentional progress. Where self-help practices are prescriptive and homogenized, self-discovery is a more compassionate progress where you try and make sustainable change that aligns with your values rather than the values of others.
“… I ask myself, how am I complicit in creating conditions I don’t want?”
Source: Jerry Colonna on the Tim Ferriss Show
“Sometimes, magic is what happens if you put more time into something than any reasonable person would do”.
Source: Ali Abdaal’s Twitter Thread
What is something that I can quit today that would make tomorrow better?
Until next week,
Jonah
