Welcome back to another newsletter. As always, the format is simple:
- The latest from me
- Ideas I’m thinking about
- Resources that are upgrading my quality of life
Let’s get into it.
The latest
I’m so excited to announce the return of my podcast! I just posted the first episode back on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts covering my biggest mistake on YouTube so far. It ended up being a massive deep dive (yap session) on how perfectionism, creative ego and overthinking destroyed me over the past couple of years, and how you can avoid these mistakes in your own creative pursuits. For my fellow creatives, I think this will be very useful.
I’m still pretty damn rusty so please bear with me as I get back into the swing of things, but I’m really excited to have a low lift platform where I can casually talk with almost no editing, and hopefully just spit raw gold.
As for the actual format, while I have some ideas, I don’t have total clarity on what this podcast will look like. Instead of sitting on the sidelines trying to figure it all out in my mind however, we’re going to get back in the game, test out my ideas and let those experiments guide us so we can find a format that’s useful for both you and I (while being aligned with my mission).
All I know for sure though is that this podcast is going to be way different than you may remember if you were a listener back in the day. And this time, we’ll have clips available on YouTube so you don’t have to watch the full episode if you don’t want to.
Insanely excited to be back.
Ideas
Stop taking everything so damn seriously. Yes, things matter. But probably not as much as your mind says it does (especially if you’re a type-A person like myself who’s focused on maximizing everything). Take things just serious enough to apply the necessary pressure to do what is required of you, but not so much that it becomes crippling and stops you from doing what you need to do.
Replace your next unnecessary judgement with a lighthearted laugh. Laughing with the ridiculousness of life keeps you happy, healthy and sane.
Start your day with your most important action. Identify the most important thing you can do daily to move you closer to your goals, then do that while you have the most mental clarity and energy. Repeating this every day creates incredible progress over time on what matters most. (P.S. this assumes your magic zone — aka the time you are most effective within — is first thing. If it’s different, apply this same concept to your magic zone).
Commitments expand your capabilities. Your level of commitment is correlated with what you’ll get out of yourself. Take light night commitments for example. I used to have a habit of shutting off early, buying into the idea that I don’t have it in me to work much in the evening because of a tired mind. But since adding later commitments into my days such as afternoon group calls, evening meetings and training sessions at around 7/8pm, I’m now forced to stay “on” at a mental and physical level for longer than I otherwise would need to. These commitments give me no option but to make decisions and choices that keep me performing longer than I otherwise would if left to my own devices and comfort.
Working and doing things even when you’re tired is a superpower. Obviously, do your best to get a great sleep and make sure you do whatever you can to optimize for the benefit of your health, happiness and performance. But what do you do on the days when you don’t sleep well? Do you do what’s required? Do you do your best? Or do you mail it in like every other mediocre person on planet earth?
Don’t stop when you’re tired or uncomfortable. Keep going longer than you think you can. The part of your mind that seeks comfort will rationalize ways to opt out far earlier than is necessary. The tiredness doesn’t last forever, it’s usually just a temporary dip. Think of it like a test of your commitment. If nothing else, stay just 5 more minutes and watch what a difference this makes.
Focusing on service is one of the best ways to alleviate anxiety and imposter syndrome. I learned this from Andy Frisella and Ed Mylett a few years back, but it’s been extremely helpful recently with consulting calls. My mindset of: “how can I help?” (quite literally spoken aloud at times, too) takes the pressure off of me “performing” and instead shifts the focus to how I can be of service — how I can let source work through me and how I can help the people I’m with.
“Startups mostly don’t compete against each other, they compete against no one giving a shit.” —Justin Kan, cofounder of Twitch. Tremendous quote from 2015 that a decade later, I still think about often.
Using AI to generate writing for your brand is a fool’s errand. We want to read writing that reflects the ideals and values of people or companies, not AI’s. Taking this route is the fastest way to kill your brand (save for committing atrocious acts), but marketers are too greedy and think too short term — they live in quarters instead of decades. Take these newsletters, for example. They aren’t written with AI and never will be, because you’re here to read my takes, not a robot’s. The only AI I utilize in this process is Grammarly to catch grammatical errors and improve my writing from time to time, and Chat GPT once in a blue moon to rewrite something if my sentence structure is straight garbage… but I always re-write things in my own words, using my own mind. You won’t ever see me generate content with AI, just to help improve pre-existing content created through me, because I’m not short-sighted, lazy or retarded.
Resources
Peaceful piano on Spotify. I absolutely love putting this playlist on shuffle right now and playing it in the background while I write or edit.
32 degrees t-shirts. In the winter, I got 4 black long sleeves from 32 degrees and absolutely loved them, to the point where they replaced my old H&M black t-shirts except when I was training. Now that it’s spring, the long sleeves are about to be too hot for me, so I got 9 black t-shirts to match lol. If you have a longer torso like me, you likely understand how much of a struggle it is to find reasonably priced, slim-fit shirts that are long enough to cover the torso. Yet somehow, these shirts cover all 3. I’m amped. Shoutout to my Mom for getting me hooked on this brand lol. What would we do without women who care more about our style/appearance than we do? Lol. (P.S. you can likely get these at your local Costco instead of going online, if that works better for you)
Jordan Peterson vs. Destiny. I thoroughly enjoyed this. We need more conversations across the political aisle, and I loved that they only attacked ideas — no ad hominem. Of course, I side with JP on almost everything (especially the COVID part lol) but I respect that Destiny is willing to talk to people on the other side, he clearly thinks through his positions and hasn’t fallen prey to the cult of progressivism. He’s just a guy who happens to have more liberal positions. And that, I can appreciate.
Knock2’s Room202 Finale set. I’ve known of this young lad for 5 years now, yet this was the first set I’ve ever listened to from Knock2 and it didn’t disappoint. I’m on a big Knock2 kick right now and I’ve already listened to this set 4x as I love the upbeat vibe. On repeat of recent: What’s The Move, dashstar* VIP, Make U SWEAT! and Rock Ur World. Shit is gr8.
Appreciate you guys.
Until next time, be well.
—Josh
