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Published Date: Sunday, August 25, 2019 Hi All! This week's newsletter is focused on three powerful breathing techniques from this Ted Talk, titled Change Your Breath, Change Your Life. These breathing techniques can be used to make us feel more balanced, relaxed, or energized by triggering the sympathetic or parasympathetic nervous systems. Water Breathing makes you feel more balanced, and can be used anytime. Simply breathe in 4 counts then out 4 counts, 10 rounds. Whisky Breathing makes you feel relaxed, and is great to use at night to fall asleep. Breathe in 4 counts then out 8 counts, 10 rounds or until you fall asleep. Coffee Breathing makes you energized, and should be used sparingly. Use it before a workout or as a substitute for a sugary snack. Do quick shots of exhales through the nose 20 times. Comment: Water breathing and whisky breathing are especially important in our modern day society given that 76% of people say their workplace stress negatively affects their relationships at home (source). Here are this week's recommended actions: Try water breathing whenever you feel off your normal state or just want to be more aware of the present moment. Try whiskey breathing at night to fall asleep. I've tried it and it really helps! Try coffee breathing if you're feeling sleepy mid-afternoon. If you think someone else would find this newsletter useful, please forward it to them. Thanks, and have a wonderful week ahead!

Published Date: August 18, 2019 Hi All! This week's newsletter is centered on the book Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. The book has so many important insights, so I'm going over the usual three bullets. IQ vs. EQ: IQ contributes, at best, 20% towards a person’s success. The rest is largely EQ. Anger: One of the best ways to rid anger is to reframe the situation positively. Depression is a low-arousal state, so exercise helps lift the mood and relaxation makes it worse. Anxiety is a high-arousal state, so relaxation helps and exercise makes it worse. Empathy requires us to be calm enough such that we can mirror the other person's physiological state (literally feeling what they feel). The artful critique focuses on the person's actions not character, is specific about what needs to change, and offers a solution for improvement. In team performance, harmony is the biggest determinant. Harmony allows every member to contribute their fullest to the team. Top performers are better at three things: taking initiative, promoting cooperation, and regulating oneself emotionally. Here are this week's recommended actions: If any of the bullets were interesting to you, I recommend checking out my blog post: Emotional Intelligence - 12 minute summary. Reflect on a time you were angry, depressed, or anxious, and identify if/how you could've handled that situation better using bullets #2-4 Think of a time you gave criticism. Identify how you could've given a better criticism using bullet #6. If you need/want to update your resume or cover letter, talk about some of the characteristics mentioned in bullets #7-8 If you think someone else would find this newsletter useful, please forward it to them. Thanks, and have a wonderful week ahead!

Published Date: Sunday, August 11, 2019 Hi All! This week's newsletter is centered around the book Influence by Robert B. Cialdini. Reading this book has changed me from an ignorant victim of sales tactics to an educated consumer, so I would definitely recommend it. Here are the chosen learning points: Companies and salespeople use psychology and your evolutionary instincts to influence you to buy things. There's 7 in particular: Contrast, Reciprocity, Consistency, Social Proof, Liking, Authority, and Scarcity. (see table below) On Liking, there's 5 factors that make people like someone: physical attractiveness, similarity, giving compliments, cooperation, and conditioning. To defend yourself against these tactics, the main approach is to identify which tactic the salesperson is using on you. Then separate the tactic from the item itself and ask if you would still want the item. For a more detailed summary of the book, check out my blog post: Influence -- 7 minute summary. If you think someone else would find this newsletter useful, please forward it to them. Thanks, and have a wonderful week ahead!

Published Date: Sunday, August 4, 2019 Hi All! Here are this week's chosen learning points: Miracle Berry: For a cool office/party activity, try the miracle berry, which makes you unable to taste sour for 60-90 minutes. Foods like lemons, berries, and pickles will suddenly taste really sweet. It costs about the same as a box of donuts but it's much healthier and super memorable. (Source) Sleep Advice from a Sleep Researcher: Get light in the morning, exercise, set a bed time alarm 1 hour before bed, write a to-do list before bed, think/write gratitude before bed. (Source) Improving Judgment: "Most people who see the world through the lens of the media tend to look for who is good and who is evil rather than what the vested interests and relative powers are and how they are being played out. For example, people tend to embrace stories about how their own country is moral and the rival country is not, when most of these countries have different interests that they are trying to maximize." - Ray Dalio Here are this week's recommended actions: Surprise your office with the miracle berry! (I linked the US amazon because there's more useful reviews, but you can easily find the same product in the Canadian amazon store). If you want to sleep easier/better, try some of the advice from bullet 2. If you read the news, try not buy into the story that "we're good and they're evil." Think about the interests of all parties to explain the objective events that are happening. If you think someone else would find this newsletter useful, please forward it to them. Thanks, and have a wonderful week ahead!

Published Date: Sunday, July 28, 2019 Hi All! This week's newsletter features wisdom from Jay Shetty, a former monk whose mission is to make wisdom go viral. Here are this week's chosen learning points: Conflict Resolution: A relationship fight should not be "Me vs. You". It should be "Us. vs. The Problem." (Source) The Rule of 100: If you knock on 100 doors, maybe 2 or 3 will open. For example, the rejection rate for online job applications is 98%. Being scared of rejection stops us from knocking, and not knocking stops us from success. (Source) Defining Success: "If you let someone else dictate your failure, you'll let them dictate your success as well." - Jay Shetty Here are this week's recommended actions: The next time you're in a relationship fight, focus on not attacking the other person and instead stating the problem clearly and then attacking it with your partner If you are on a path of rejection, write each one down. Use the rule of 100 to put the number of rejections you've had into perspective. Identify if your feelings of success or failure are coming from the inside or outside. If outside, then figure out your own internal criteria. If you think someone else would find this newsletter useful, please forward it to them. Thanks, and have a wonderful week ahead!

Published Date: Sunday, July 21, 2019 Hi All! This week's newsletter is focused on productivity. Here are this week's chosen learning points: Distractions: It actually days 20 minutes to deal with a "quick distraction" (like an email) and then to come back to your task and get back into your previous focus. (Source) Goal Setting: Instead of having daily goals that are unrelated to adjacent days, we should have 1 big weekly goal and ~3 daily steps towards that weekly goal. (Source) Brainstorming: "The goal [of brainstorming] isn't to get good ideas. The goal is to get bad ideas because once you have enough bad ideas, then some good ones have to show up." -Seth Godin Here are this week's recommended actions: When doing work that requires focus, prevent or ignore distractions like email and phone notifications until you are ready for a break or finished. Set 1 big goal for the week and daily steps or sub-goals. If there's a question/problem you're trying to solve, get paper and write down as many ideas as you can think of. The goal is quantity not quality. Eventually, you should get some good ideas. If you think someone else would find this newsletter useful, please forward it to them. Thanks, and have a wonderful week ahead!

Published Date: Sunday, July 14, 2019 Hi All! Here are this week's chosen learning points: Bad Habits Trivia: Cracking your knuckles isn't actually bad for you. Chewing non-sweetened gum isn't bad for your teeth and can increase concentration. But biting your nails is bad because it increases the chance of skin infection under the nails. (Source) 70/30 Rule for Online Dating Profiles: 70% of your profile about you, 30% about what you're looking for. People usually don't do the latter. Consequently, they don't even know what they're looking for and so end up attracting the wrong people. (Source) Icebreaker Questions: When on a date, we shouldn't just ask icebreaker questions. We should also ask deeper questions but in a fun or interesting ways. Here are some examples (Source): Who's the most fascinating person you've met? What are you best known for among your friends? Where would your family be most surprised to find you? What's been the most significant plot twist in your life? If you unexpectedly won $10,000, how would you spend it? What's the most spontaneous thing you've done? Here are this week's recommended actions: If you crack your knuckles, you can keep on cracking! If you like to chew gum, make sure you chew unsweetened ones. If you bite your nails...maybe chew unsweetened gum instead. If you use online dating, update your profile as per bullet 2. If you're going on a date (first time or not), try using some of the questions mentioned. If you think someone else would find this newsletter useful, please forward it to them. Thanks, and have a wonderful week ahead!

Published Date: Sunday, July 7, 2019 Hi All! Here are this week's chosen learning points: Success: The two obstacles to success are ego and blind spots. We need insightful people that offer different perspectives to cover our blind spots. To attract those people, we need to drop our ego. (Source) Unconscious Mind: To leverage your unconscious mind, ask yourself a hard question at the end of the work day. Then don't consciously think about it. The next day, revisit that question multiple times and jot down potential solutions. You'll reach a break-through much quicker than always consciously thinking about the question. (Source). Happiness Proverb: Joyful people say, "I'll help you!" Annoyed people say "You help me." -Chinese Proverb Here are this week's recommended actions: Identify the people in your life who offer you different and insightful perspectives. Have a conversation with them about a problem that's been on your mind. Try leveraging your unconscious mind for a hard question. Ask someone how you can help them. If you think someone else would find this newsletter useful, please forward it to them. Thanks, and have a wonderful week ahead!

Published Date: Sunday, June 23, 2019 Hi All! Here are this week's chosen learning points: Career Decisions: According to Derek Sivers, in the beginning of our careers, we should say yes to everything because we need to build up experience and we have the time. Once you are established and time becomes scarce, the decision-making method should change to a "Hell Yes!" or a "No." Otherwise, we'll let too many mediocre things fill our lives, such that when the occasional amazing opportunity comes along, we don't have enough time to give it the proper attention it deserves. (Source) Be Mindful of Drift: According to Gretchen Rubin, drift is when "Instead of making mindful decisions for yourself, you go along with other people's wishes for you, or when you take the path of least resistance, or you choose the choice that feels like the least commitment." We should figure out, for ourselves, what we want for ourselves. (Source) Evaluating Product Reviews: When deciding whether or not to buy a book (or anything with hundreds+ online reviews), filter the reviews to the 3 star reviews first. Don't bother with the 5 star or 1 star reviews because those tend to be too one-sided. (Source) Here are this week's recommended actions: Answer this Yes/No question: "Am I drifting in any areas of my life right now?" Identify a book you've been thinking of buying. Go look at the 3 star reviews on Amazon. Scroll to the bottom of the reviews to find a hyperlinked text saying "See all XXXX number of reviews." Click that to access a filtering system that allows you to filter for 3 star reviews. Another option is to filter for all critical reviews and then look for 3-star ones. If you think someone else would find this newsletter useful, please forward it to them. Thanks, and have a wonderful week ahead!

Published Date: Sunday, July 16, 2019 Hi All! Here are this week's chosen learning points: Morning Routines: The morning should actually start the evening before, when you decide for the next day what to wear, how you'll feel (yes you can decide that), and your major goals. (Source) Encouragement: One important thing we don't do enough in relationships is proactively telling the other person what's great about them. (Source) Active Listening Technique: All you get to do is paraphrase what the other person said and then add "Is there more?" There will always be more, so do this 2 more times. By the end, you'll find that instead of wanting to win the argument, you realize the other person is coming from a place of hurt, which helps bring out your compassion. (Source) Here are this week's recommended actions: Each evening, decide what you'll wear the next day, how you'll feel, and 1 goal for the next day. Tell someone what's great about them. If you're in a difficult conversation, try the "Is there more?" technique. If you think someone else would find this newsletter useful, please forward it to them. Thanks, and have a wonderful week ahead!

Published Date: Sunday, May 12, 2019 Hi All! Here are this week's chosen learning points: Career Focus: According to Jim Collins, in our career, we should find our "hedgehog area", which is the intersection of three things: 1. What you're passionate about, 2. What you're naturally talented at, 3. A money-making model. I thought it was a more straightforward version of the Ikigai model. (Source) Money and Happiness: Those who are happy with their money habits save 20% of their net income. They also spend 10-25% of their net income on personal growth. (Source) Saving Money: "Do not save what is left after spending. Spend what is left after saving." -Warren Buffet Here are this week's recommended actions: Reflect on your hedgehog area and whether your current career trajectory leverages it. If not, reflect on possible career trajectories that do. Set up a system to automatically save 20% (or whatever you can; the habit is most important) of your net income, such as an automatic monthly transfer from your checking account to your savings account. If you think someone else would find this newsletter useful, please forward it to them. Thanks, and have a wonderful week ahead!

Published Date: June 9, 2019 Hi All! Here are this week's chosen learning points: Saving Money: Instead of saving a little bit here, a little there, pick areas where spending is important or very joyful to you and spend extravagantly on those areas, but cut back mercilessly on everything else to make up the difference. (Source) Workplace Satisfaction: A workplace is fulfilling if you feel connected to a bigger purpose, you like the people, you can be yourself, and you have growth opportunities. (Source) Negotiations: Use the Wish-Want-Walk method to be less nervous and more prepared for negotiations. Be clear on your wish (best-case scenario), your want (realistic case), and your walk scenario (unacceptable case). Seems obvious but most people don't do it. (Source) Here are this week's recommended actions: Identify areas where you will not cut back money on (e.g., health, education) and areas where you'll cut mercilessly (e.g., entertainment, clothes, indulgences). Try the wish-want-walk method. It can be informal like with friends or formal like at work. If you think someone else would find this newsletter useful, please forward it to them. Thanks, and have a wonderful week ahead!