Hey Reader,

Hope you had a good couple of weeks. Last week I had my second eye surgery and thankfully I am seeing better than I ever have.

Feels so good to get back to the routine of life like writing this newsletter.

Thanks to everyone who has reached out with their kind words and support.

This week's essay is about an interesting mindset for life that I have been considering for the past few months.

You probably heard of the saying to treat failure as feedback.

Or to fail like a scientist.

I love both of these ideas.

Better yet what if we take them one step further to create an even more ambitious mindset:

If you think about it, life is nothing more than an experiment.

Every goal. Every project. Every relationship.

Every uncomfortable situation we seem to find ourselves in.

Every experience period.

They are all nothing more than experiments for us to explore what we like and what we don’t.

To see what works and what doesn’t.

To learn what we're capable of and where we need to grow.

Put more simply, they are all vehicles for us to experience something new and then notice how it feels.

Because if you peel away all its layers, life ultimately comes down to experiences.

This mindset of viewing life as an experiment is about remembering that nuance.

Read the essay (5 min) ➜

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Real Bad Boys Move In Silence: Talking About Your Goals Is Killing Your Mojo 🤫
​Melissa Chu | 2 minutes

If you thought that telling everyone your goals creates accountability and increases motivation think again. Research reveals that talking about a goal significantly lessens your chances of achieving it.

As author Steven Kotler points out, the issue with publicly announcing your goal is that you're creating what's called a "social reality," which gives you the feeling that the goal's already been achieved.

This releases feel-good neurochemistry in your brain before you actually achieve the goal which elicits a feeling of satisfaction — and in turn demotivates you.

Whereas, when you write down or think about your intentions (see Power of Journaling entry below), there's a gap between where you are and where you want to be. The compelling need to close this gap helps you to act on your intentions.

​Read the post ➜​
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If you shouldn't talk about your goals, what should you do instead?
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The Power of Journaling To Achieve Your Goals

Patrick Grove is an Australian entrepreneur who literally journaled his way to success. He is known for spending day after day journaling in a Starbucks answering this one question:

Sounds kind of crazy? But, sure enough, he did it. By journaling, the insights came to him to start a car website which later merged with other car websites, and voila it eventually landed him his 9-figure pay-day.

It might sound far-fetched but the devil is in the details.

When you put your goals down on paper, you harness both hemispheres of your brain — the creative right side and the analytical-based left side.

Numerous psychological studies have shown that the likelihood of achieving your goals drastically increases by simply writing them down regularly.

And the more time you spend journaling about them, the deeper they permeate into your subconscious mind.

When you’re sleeping or doing a mindless activity like brushing your teeth, your mind is working behind the scenes to make your goal a reality without your conscious mind knowing it.
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Here's a quick breakdown of Patrick's recipe for journaling:

1. Journal about the future and only the future. Avoid journaling about the typical stuff in the past: what happened this weekend, the awesome vacation you took or recapping your day. Instead, answer questions like: what do I want to do today, what do I want to achieve in a year, or what will my life look like in 10 years.
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2. Focus on how you can get what you want in the future. Replace asking why you don't have what you want by asking how. This activates your brain's Reticular Activating System which serves as your brain's goal-seeking mechanism.
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3. Do the cover story exercise. Imagine that it's sometime in the distant future and your entire life story is the cover story for a popular magazine or newspaper. Journal by telling that story in detail as if you are the reporter writing it.

You can learn more in this post or by watching this video.
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100 Days Of Joy
​Charlie Bleecker | 3 minutes

This author asked herself this question and for 100 days in a row and multiple hours a day, she lip-synced. 🎤

I personally love this idea — it's how I was inspired to challenge myself to write for 100 days straight (see 100 Days of Publishing below).

The biggest takeaways from her 100-day journey:

👉 As adults, we lose sight of the things that bring us joy because we’re too focused on success.

👉 However, things that bring joy don’t need to be attached to a metric (like a dollar amount)

👉 These things are worth doing simply because they make you happy. Nothing is a waste of time that gives you energy.

What if you took that thing that you've been wanting to learn or do and just committed to it for 100 days straight?

That's a little over 3-months — imagine where you would be with that skill, project, or habit?

What's your version of lip-syncing? Find it and hit play every day.
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I recently took part in the ship30for30 writing challenge in which every day you write and publish an Atomic Essay of at least 300 words for 30 days. I've now challenged myself to do it for 100 days straight. Each week I will share a random piece I publish that week. Feel free to let me know what you think.
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How Understanding This One Nuance About Reality Will Help You Create The Life You Desire
​4 minutes

What are thoughts? What are emotions? What is physical reality? What are we?

This post serves as a simple guide to understanding the essence of who we are — which isn't as mysterious as we might think. But at the same time, this essence is what makes us more powerful than we realize in taking charge of our lives and creating our reality.

​Read the post ➜​
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Thanks for reading.
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If you have any questions, feedback, or want to share some of your own insights, feel free to hit reply and let me know. I read and reply to every email.
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​As Always, Keep Creating,

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