Question I've been pondering:

How would you want your loved ones to describe you?

We all have at least two versions of ourself:

• Aspirational Self: How we want to think, act, and behave on a daily basis.
• Actual Self: How we actually think, act, and behave on a daily basis.

In a simple sense, the goal is to have the gap between the Aspirational and Actual Self as narrow as possible.

In my humble opinion, the gap is healthy, as it means we have room to grow.

A distorted perspective on our Actual Self is not healthy, however, as it means we don't know how much room to grow.

Try this mini exercise to uncover your Aspirational Self and eliminate any distortions in your perception of your Actual Self:

If your loved ones—partner, children, parents, siblings, friends—were asked to describe you, what would you want them to say?

Are your daily thoughts, actions, and behaviors in line with that desired description?

Be honest with yourself. Where do you fall short? What tiny changes can you make that will create the desired outcome?

The point here is to recognize that how we think, act, and behave on a daily basis is who we become in the minds of those we care about the most.

Remember: Small things become big things...

Quote on the dangers of more:

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." ― Epicurus

Never let the quest for more distract you from the beauty of enough.

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Framework to improve your standing:

Life Force Pyramid

The concept of Life Force is drawn from Dr. Phil Stutz, the subject of Stutz, a Netflix documentary on the powerful tools used by the therapist with his clients.

The Life Force Pyramid is his foundational tool for improving their lives.

It consists of three levels:

1. Body: Your physical health.
2. People: Your relationships with others.
3. Yourself: Your relationship with yourself.

Body is the base of the pyramid. Taking care of the physical self through exercise, sleep, and diet is essential to driving yourself forward in life. When you're moving your body, sleeping well, and eating whole, nutritious foods, you immediately start to feel better. You start to identify as a winner, which has powerful ripple effects.

People is the next level of the pyramid—the relationships you have with others in your world. Healthy, supportive relationships give you the hand and footholds to climb higher and back from the depths. Importantly, this level requires you to take the initiative to foster and cultivate these healthy relationships.

Yourself is the top level of the pyramid. Use journaling or walking self-reflection to connect with your thoughts and state of mind. Getting things out on paper is often therapeutic, so journaling can be a healthy practice to start. Try my 1-1-1 Method if you're struggling with it.

If you work on these three levels of the Life Force Pyramid, your life will improve. Start at the base and work your way up.

Tweet on a mind-boggling world record:

The numbers on this marathon world record don't do it justice.

Let's put this into perspective:

A very fit person can maybe run 1 lap on a track at this 4:36 pace (that is 1:09 for a 400m) before being completely gassed. An extremely fit person can maybe run 2-3 laps at this pace.

Kelvin Kiptum ran the equivalent of 105.5 laps in a row at this pace.

Look at how fast he's moving at the end of the marathon in the video below. It's mind-boggling.

P.S. I just ran a sub 3-hour marathon and consider myself extremely fit. I might go out to the track this weekend and see how long I can hold this pace. I guarantee it won't be pretty. I'll share it on Instagram if I do.

Essay with a bit of contrarian career advice:

​Career Advice​

I enjoyed this short essay because it was very different from your typical career advice post.

The author references the idea of treyf as things that he avoids, "not because I find them necessarily unenjoyable, but because they add up to something that I ultimately dislike."

He illustrates the point by talking about first class airplane seats:

"Those seats are treyf for me, not because I don’t envy extra leg room, but because I don’t envy the people sitting in them. There’s a reason the bulk of the first class passengers resemble each other...I know that by making choices designed to land me in the first class cabin, it would be difficult to avoid also inheriting the dreariness associated with its current occupants."

Interesting essay that is definitely worth your time.