One Quote:

"He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature." - Socrates

The endless quest for more will paradoxically leave you with less.

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

(Share this on Twitter!)

One Framework:

The Mood Journal

Life is filled with highs and lows—we all ride the wave up and down from one day to the next.

When we get too high, we're prone to getting knocked down. When we get too low, we find it impossible to get back up.

As I mentioned in this week's deep-dive newsletter, one of the common traits of high performers is that they find a way to reduce the amplitude of their personal wave.

Mood Journaling is a simple, daily practice that can have a dramatic long-term impact on our ability to reduce the amplitude and manage our personal wave.

How It Works

Every morning, right when you wake up, grab a small pocket notebook and pen.

Note: I keep mine on my bedside table so I can do it from bed.

Ask yourself one tiny question:

On a scale from 1 to 10, how do I feel right now?

Don’t give yourself time to think about it—go with your gut reaction. Write down a number (and be honest!). For clarity, assume 5 is a baseline neutral point.

Once you've written down a number, ask yourself two quick follow-up questions:

1. Why do I feel this way?
2. What is driving these feelings?

This is the most difficult part of the exercise, but it’s also the most critical.

Ruthless honesty is key.

I spend 3-5 minutes on these as I attempt to deconstruct the reason I am feeling great, good, neutral, or bad on any given morning. The idea is to break down your mood and understand the drivers of positive or negative swings in your personal wave.

After you’ve collected enough data (usually after one week), zoom out and review the trends:

1. What is consistently making me feel bad? Are there people, projects, or activities that are creating negative energy in my life on a consistent basis? If so, these need to be eliminated, reduced, or delegated.
2. What is consistently making me feel good? Are there people, projects, or activities that are creating positive energy in my life on a consistent basis? If so, these need to be amplified.

By deconstructing the atomic level of *how you feel*, you can start to take deliberate action to reduce the amplitude and trend in the right direction.

Amplify what improves your mood—eliminate what harms it.

Action Item

My challenge to all of you: For the next week, try this morning Mood Journaling exercise. It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes each morning, especially once you get the hang of it.

At the end of the week, zoom out and identify a few trends.

If you learn something interesting (I'm betting you will), send me an email or tweet at me @SahilBloom with the findings of the exercise.

I'd love to hear from you and see the positive impact it has on your life!

Special thanks to Kurt Lin, an extraordinary entrepreneur and friend, who first sparked my thinking on the Mood Journal and got me started with it.

One Tweet:

This is a very interesting thread on Van Gogh and the rise of impressionist art in response to developing photography technology.

It prompted me to think on a question:

What other examples exist of a new or developing technology that has driven a fundamental shift in the way artists create?

The first example that came to mind for me was the shortening of song lengths to appeal to the shorter attention spans of the social media algorithm age.

Artists are creating shorter songs focused on catchy, viral verses that will get more streams and drive more revenue. Lil Nas X is probably the most famous example of an artist pioneering this strategy and movement.

I'm curious: What other examples can you think of where artists have adapted to a new technology movement?

One Article:

​Why four scientists spent a year saying no​

These four scientists formed a peer group that would gather regularly to discuss their work. They used each other to pressure test their decision making on whether to take on various opportunities. They all wanted to be more rigorous about what they took on.

In May 2021, they decided to attempt a challenge for the group to collectively say no to 100 opportunities.

They documented the process and had several interesting insights:

• Tracking & Gamification: The deliberate tracking of the decision process for each opportunity naturally led to more "no" execution, as it meant they could escape their "yes" default. The gamification of it (via the challenge) further enhanced this benefit, as they each got a point when they would say no to something. I liked the idea of gamifying the process. If you're first starting out on your journey to say no more effectively, try to keep a scorecard for yourself and see what happens.
• Create a Question Framework: Having a simple set of questions that you ask yourself about each opportunity is helpful as a "razor" for getting to the right answer. "Does this help with my 1-2 core priorities right now?" is my favorite. I liked the addition of "Does this bring me joy?"
• Practice Makes Perfect: The more you say no, the better you get at it. Create a comfort challenge where you say no to 10 things in a single week. This will get you comfortable with it quickly and eliminate the mental and emotional hurdle going forward.

Great article and a nice complement to my recent piece on the power of no.

One Podcast:

Magnus Carlsen: Greatest Chess Player of All Time (Lex Fridman Podcast)

I've never gotten into playing chess, but have been obsessed with studying its great players since I first read about Bobby Fischer as a kid.

This discussion with Magnus Carlsen, who is widely considered the greatest player of all time, was exceptional.

Two particularly interesting insights:

• Life is a Series of Informed Guesses: The biggest life lesson learned from playing chess was on the skill of making informed guesses on the basis of available information. This effectively applies to every arena of life, as we constantly have to make the best possible decision with incomplete or imperfect information. Being successful is just about considering the probabilities of various potential outcomes and choosing accordingly.
• Inaction as Action: Strategy often goes beyond finding a way for you to win. Sometimes, it's about letting the opponent find a way to lose. In these instances, inaction can be the optimal course of action.

Listen to it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.​

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