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Hey all, Welcome to this week's second edition of 2x2! I debated if the bonus edition from earlier t
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Hey all, Welcome to this week's second edition of 2x2! I debated if the bonus edition from earlier this week on Tuesday should be the ONLY edition or an extra. I opted for the latter. Hope you enjoy this Fridayâs newsletter, and I hope your weekend is a good one! Check this out
1: Two Purposes for Reading Non-Fiction: Deep OR Wide
Piggy-backing on the 2x2 from earlier this week, consider that not every single book you read has to be fully absorbed. You can opt to either (a) digest it for later use; or simply allow the book to (b) spark ideas (related and unrelated) to the topic. In short: feel free to go deep OR to go wide. (Via [Bryan Harris]( 2: [100 ways to slightly improve your life without really trying](
Tip #8 is totally my jam â I wish there was a way to do this completely hands-free with Siri. And #43 is one of my favorite ways to [eliminate small decisions](. Something to think about
1: Alternative Ways to Spend 5 Minutes of Awkward Downtime
Last week, as our latest Focus Academy cohort was wrapping up, one of the members asked in the Slack group about how to spend time during the âdown momentsâ of his work day when there was roughly 5 or 10 minutes with nothing to do. Perhaps youâve experienced just such an awkward window of time like this â such as in-between Zoom meetings or something. And so, allow me to suggest a few ways to spend those few minutes... - If you Use Day One scroll through your Day One timeline and read a previous journal entry.
- Browse some old photos and memories.
- Launch Day One (or any other journal you have) and log how youâve spent your time so far for the day. Doing this for a few weeks can also be super helpful for getting a perspective of where your time and energy are being spent.
- Write down 3 new ideas. These could be articles you want to write, business ideas, places you want to visit or photograph, topics you want to research, date ideas for you and your spouse, gift ideas for a friend, etc. These ideas never have to to be acted on â the point isnât to generate a to-do list, but rather to exercise your mind. Ideation and creativity are muscles, and the more we exercise them the stronger they get.
- Send a text message to a friend or family member to tell them how awesome they are.
- Stand up and do some stretching / body movement. 2: Boredom is Good (not bad)
Speaking of ways to spend that awkward downtime, one of the reasons to consider avoiding email and social media is that it can help you to reduce the amount of ânovel stimuliâ that you let into your day-to-day life. (This was a main takeaway from [my interview with Cal Newport](.) When you have a strong baseline level of noise in all the little moments of your life, it makes it more difficult to focus on the task at hand when youâre doing deep work. Because, in short, youâre training your brain that boredom is bad. Donât train your brain to think boredom is bad! My 8-year-old is convinced that being bored is the Worst Thing Ever. But boredom is fine! If we âejectâ every time we are bored then it will, in turn, hinder us from being able to focus for extended periods of time. * * *
â Shawn P.S. Next week my team and I will be on our week-long sabbatical break. This is, I believe, our 30th sabbatical since [starting them in early 2017](. [In-Depth App Training for Power Users]( To unsubscribe, click [here](. Blanc Media, 714 Main St., Grandview, MO 64030, United States
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