Greetings from Austin, Texas,

I’ll be staying in Austin for at least the next month, and potentially even longer. It’s a nice break from the sub-zero weather back in Minnesota.

Let’s dive in!

🍎 Two types of learning

I breakdown the things I want to learn into two categories:

1. Things I can't help but learn about. These are topics that consume my curiosity, and I can't keep my mind off of them. I'll be intensely focused on these new things for days/weeks/months. Once I lose interest, I simply stop spending any time on these curiosities.

2. Things I know I should learn that may not be as fun to learn. For me, these are things like History, classic fiction, and language learning. For these items, I plan out what I want to read/learn a year in advance, then breakdown what I need to do into small daily increments. I’m always happy for having spent the time learnings these things, even they were challenging in the moment.

🐕 The dog on the nail

There’s an old story that goes like this:

A man walks by his neighbor’s house every day and sees a dog sitting on the front porch. The dog is always whimpering.

One day, the man asks his neighbor, “Why is your dog always whimpering, is something wrong?”

The neighbor responds, “He’s always sat in that spot. One day, a nail came loose in the floorboard. It hurts when he sits on it, just not bad enough for him to move somewhere else.”

I think of this story often. It’s easy to get comfortable with things as they are, but sometimes we need to realize that it’s time to make a change.

🎶 Favorite song I discovered in 2020

This song was my personal anthem for the year. I highly recommend listening to this song while thinking over a big idea on a long walk.

🤔 The perfect day

What if you had to live the exact same day over and over again for the rest of your life?

How could you make the most of this day? How could you make it fulfilling?

Once you answer these questions, consider how you can incorporate these answers into your actual routine.

Thanks for reading and talk to you next time.

Best,

Isaac