⛅9️⃣ Morning people are kind of savages
Also a brief Q (no A), phones from the past, and a stroll down Firefly Lane
Dear reader and subscriber,
I’m on vacation in the Northeast US and dipping down into the DC area in a little bit, so there’s plenty to be happy about this week. Enjoy your weekly dose of thrills, snuggles, and happiness.
Let’s do it, yo.
1. Morning risers are kind of savages. The last few weeks have been busy as hell. Work, life, and side hustles have simultaneously ramped up to create the perfect storm of Oh-God-Where-Do-I-Even-Start?! It’s mostly a good problem to have, but when obligations soar and the time I have to do them stays constant (damn you, Hipparchus), there are new choices to make. The things I prioritize get done and everything else gets pushed off for later. If you’ve been a reader for a little while, you know that exercising has been an extremely important part of healing and continuing to manage my anxiety. As such, sacrificing exercise is not an option, so I’ve been waking up between 5-530 am to lift and do cardio before starting work. My first morning into the gym, I was expecting to be one of the only psychos there. Instead, I stepped onto a semi-crowded gym floor full of savages, many sweating and already halfway through their workouts. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I totally get it. It’s an immediate and HUGE win for the day. I feel euphoric, happy, and have more energy to work. The best part? The hardest part of my day is done and the rest is a smooth glide downhill.
2. You didn’t ask but I answered. Every day for the last month, I’ve been answering one question on Quora. Trying something new this week and figured you might be interested in a few of the answers. Most are short and sweet, but I get into some dirty details on a few of them.
Why is being motivated so hard? is my favorite from this past week. Here are a few others:
How can I get in the mindset to change my habits in the direction of success?
How can I reduce my number of mistakes in the workplace?
What motivates you to work and stay in the company for many years?
How do you stay motivated in a negative work environment?
3. Answering the phone is exhausting. Not sure how my parent’s generation survived.
4. Walt Whitman. “Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.”
5. Weekly Book Recommendation. I don’t usually recommend books I haven’t read, but my girlfriend absolutely loves this book, Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah. I got to listen to a little bit of the audiobook in the car over vacation, and even though it’s a bit of a chick flick thing, I felt compelled to listen. There’s also a show on Netflix that we haven’t started yet but put on the Watchlist for later.
That’s all for this week’s newsletter. Hope you enjoyed it!
Best,
Jason Gutierrez