100 Pushups for a Wii
Austin got covid in Austin
Welcome
GM! January has been quite the month: traveled to Portland, OR for my cousin’s wedding, traveled to Austin, TX for a work trip, contracted COVID after dodging it for 2 years, achieved my goal of 10k+ Twitter followers, wrote about my 9 y/o self doing 100 pushups to win a Nintendo Wii, invested a scary amount of time and money into DeFi, and made over $2,200 in side-income!
Nonetheless, I have a ton of great stuff to share with you all.
TL;DR
Bitcoin as the Basis of Everything by Jason Lowery
Physical Health
As a freshman and sophomore in college, I would go to sleep at 2 AM, wake up at 6 AM, and go to the gym by 7 AM; if you don’t believe me, ask my roommate. I was kind of nuts (still am). During this time, I’d fall asleep in class, I couldn’t focus, I was always in a bad mood, and my performance in the gym suffered.
Want to know why?
I was averaging 4 to 5 hours of sleep every night! My dumbass-self thought I was crushing it because I was getting good grades and lifting every day, but in reality, I was suffering inside.
It wasn’t until I started prioritizing my sleep that everything started to change: I was alert in class, my mood improved, and I started hitting PRs in the gym. I got a ton of flack from the dudes in my fraternity house, but it was well worth it.
If your sleep is suffering, and you find yourself often in a bad mood, here’re 9 Tips for Better Sleep by yours truly.
Mental Health
“We punish ourselves for not knowing. We always complain about what we could and should have done, and how much of a mistake it was that we did that thing, that unforgivable thing. We beat on ourselves for being so stupid, regretting our choices, and lamenting the horrible decisions we make.
“But here’s the reality—that’s what life is. Living is the journey from not knowing to know. From not understanding to understanding. From confusion to clarity. By universal design you are born into a perplexing situation, bewildered, and you have one job as a human: figure this shit out.
“Life is learning. Period. Overcoming ignorance is the whole point of the journey. You’re not supposed to know at the beginning. The whole point of venturing into uncertainty is to bring light to the darkness of our ignorance.”
—Will Smith
There is nothing that scares me more than running too far in the wrong direction. This is why I think writing is so important.
Writing lets me see what I like and dislike, so I can “figure this shit out.” Life is too short to not be cognizant of the things you enjoy and the things you hate.
Be introspective and reflect on your life frequently. Soon enough, you’ll find yourself on the right path.
Social Health
Social events are often focused on alcohol. This year, I’m making a commitment to socialize around other things rather than drinking. I’m committed to more date nights and trips focused on trying new things and experiences, rather than going to the bar.
The issue is that it’s so easy to go to the bar. You text your friends, “Hey, we’re going here tonight.” And everyone just shows up.
It’s much more difficult to plan other events, however, this article, Beyond Happy Hour, by Nat Eliason, provides a great framework for replacing happy hour.
Vocational Health
Your vocation is your work; it’s not only your job, but also everything you do on the side as well: writing a newsletter, running a side hustle, etc.
Your vocational health is how you feel about your work:
Are you challenged?
Are you engaged?
Are you mentally stimulated?
One of the most impactful skills in helping me improve my vocational health is writing. Writing has helped me figure out what I should and shouldn’t work on.
Life presents you with 14,000 opportunities. It’s your job to sift through and find the good ones. Writing is a tool for that.
Here’s a guide on How to Write Effectively, written by the dude who pushed me to develop a writing habit, Dickie Bush.
Financial Health
My goal is to invest ~$500/month on bets. Bets are speculative investments that I think will increase in value over time.
One of my largest bets is on crypto, but most recently I’ve narrowed that down to DeFi (decentralized finance). As I am writing this, I am realizing how little I understand about DeFi, despite spending 100+ hours reading about it over the past month.
If you’re interested in learning more about DeFi, I highly recommend checking out this awesome thread of threads, How to do Defi, by Route2Fi.
I think coming to grips with not knowing everything and doing what you can to learn a bit more each day, whether it be in regards to business, methodology, current events, etc, is HUGE. Great article!