Each and every Friday — I outline a few of the articles and/or books that I have read over the last week or two that are worth taking a look at.
Same As Ever: A Guide To What Never Changes by: Morgan Housel
Every investment plan under the sun is, at best, an informed speculation of what may happen in the future, based on a systematic extrapolation from the known past.
Same as Ever reverses the process, inviting us to identify the many things that never, ever change.
With his usual elan, Morgan Housel presents a master class on optimizing risk, seizing opportunity, and living your best life. Through a sequence of engaging stories and pithy examples, he shows how we can use our newfound grasp of the unchanging to see around corners, not by squinting harder through the uncertain landscape of the future, but by looking backwards, being more broad-sighted, and focusing instead on what is permanently true.
By doing so, we may better anticipate the big stuff, and achieve the greatest success, not merely financial comforts, but most importantly, a life well lived.
Go here to get a copy of this great book: https://a.co/d/4fJoAMv
13 Proven Habits of High Performers
Here is what top performers do differently compared to the majority of people:
1. They win the morning.
High performers know how critical the first hours of their days are. They are aware of the power of a proper morning routine and create one that supports their lifestyle. They don’t leave the success of their day to chance but instead take control of it.
“Morning is an important time of day, because how you spend your morning can often tell you what kind of day you are going to have.” — Daniel Handler
Some of the most famous and effective morning routines are rituals like meditation, exercising, journaling, or reading.
These are primarily well-known due to the bestselling book Miracle Morningby Hal Elrod, where he describes his Life Savers:
Silence (meditating or breathing exercises)
Affirmations (writing down or speaking out loud powerful mantras)
Visualization (focusing your mind on how you achieve your goals)
Exercise (some sort of movement for the body, even if it’s just two minutes)
Reading (no further explanation needed for this one, I guess)
Scribbling (journaling and writing down your thoughts)
However, you could also go for more exceptional morning rituals, like scraping your tongue or dry brushing your skin — it’s totally up to you. What matters is that in the long run, your mornings make your life easier.
2. They embrace challenges.
People who perform well do so because they are not afraid. They don’t fear challenges but instead embrace them.
Growth only happens through change. Thus, high performing people don’t shrink back from difficulties. They are great problem solvers and take valuable lessons from each challenge they face.
As Duke Ellington put it:
“ A problem is a chance for you to do your best.”
I know so many people who fear challenges and give their best to stay in their habitual circumstances. If that’s you, it’s okay, but you can’t expect any growth there. Growth, whether on a personal or professional level, happens whenever we kick our butts out of our comfort zone and fight our fears.
Go here to finish reading this post: https://medium.com/the-ascent/13-proven-habits-of-high-performers-398691bbd9ed
Stoicism and The Law of Attraction: The Ancient Truth About Manifestation and Magical Thinking
“The things you think about determine the quality of your mind,” the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote. “Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.”
Does that mean Marcus Aurelius and the ancient Stoics believed in the Law of Attraction, as popularized by Rhonda Byrne?
The Law of Attraction was made popular by The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. The Secret has been translated into 50 languages and sold over 35 million copies. It was made into a movie in 2006 and the two combined have grossed well over $300 million.
Oprah Winfrey gave it perhaps its biggest endorsement on The Larry King Show, saying, “The message of The Secret is the message I’ve been trying to share with the world on my show for the past twenty-one years.”
Byrne was then on The Oprah Winfrey Show, where we learn the story of how reading The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles led to her writing The Secret. When asked about the title, Byrne told Oprah, “we really needed to contain the knowledge in a couple of words and ‘the secret’ is the law of attraction.”
What do you mean by that? Oprah asks.
“The law of attraction,” Byrne responds, “is the most powerful law in the universe. It is the law by which we are creating our lives. So whether we realize it or not the law of attraction is working all of the time. Now clearly, if you don’t know what the law does then then you can’t be creating the life you want. The law of attraction says that like attracts like. What we do is we attract into our lives the things that we want and that is based on what we’re thinking and feeling.”
The law of attraction (LOA) is the belief that the Universe creates whatever it is you focus your thoughts on.
Oprah’s not the only famous advocate. When he was promoting the movie The Pursuit of Happyness, Will Smith talked about how he felt connected to the character, based on a man named Chris Gardner who went from homeless to becoming a millionaire. “We both believe, wholeheartedly, that our thoughts, our feelings, our dreams, our ideas are physical in the universe…That we are going to command and demand that the universe become what we want it to be.”
Go here to finish reading: https://dailystoic.com/law-of-attraction/
Do You Suck
Want to know the truth?
I suck.
There, I said it.
I’m not talking about myself as a human. We’ve talked a lot about identity in this weekly letter.
“Chris, your self-talk is sooo ick right now… omgaaawd.” (valley girl voice)
I’m talking about the skills to pay some bills.
To grow in business and work requires learning new skills.
- Leadership
- Marketing
- Sales
- Strategy
- Decision making
- Asset allocation
- Content
- Writing
- Ads
- etc
The problem in learning new skills is we’re faced with our weaknesses.
We don’t like to be seen as weak or sucky at something.
The #1 Reason we don’t “succeed”…
Our fragile Egos.
The thing separating us from where we are to where we want to be…
FAILURE.
Go here to finish reading: https://chrisaevans.beehiiv.com/p/suck
Hope you enjoy these articles and books. Have a great rest of your Friday an amazing weekend!