29 | Digital Detox and Building a Personal Brand with Newsletter and Podcast

Hi :) How are you doing today?

Last weekend, I drove up to countryside with my friends and stayed in a cabin for 2 days. There was no signal, so I didn’t touch my phone or laptop at all.

I have to admit, I underestimated how nice a “digital detox” feels.

Usually, my phone controls my behaviour and mood. For instance, whenever I get a notification, it interrupts my action and makes me check my phone. And sometimes what I see on my phone changes my mood too (e.g. reading shitty news makes me annoyed).

But, when I was in the cabin, I felt I was fully in charge of my behaviour and mood for the first time in awhile. It was peace of mind that I hadn’t experienced for months.

If you feel like you’re not in charge of your action and mood because of constant emails, notifications or zoom calls, I highly recommend a “digital detox”. Go somewhere in nature with your friends or family and don’t check your phone for 1-2 days. It’s so refreshing.

1) New video “How to Break Bad Habits" is up!

It’s about how I overcame my phone addiction😅

2) Added more reading notes to my mind garden!

Here are the best articles, books, podcasts, tweets I found this week in Mind | Money | Relationships | Health.

It’s a long list, so I’d recommend using a read-later service like Pocket Instapaper or mymind.

I love this idea by David Perell.

When people want to get to know you, they try to find your blog, newsletter, Youtube channel or podcast first. And if they find your work interesting, they will reach out to you and sometimes offer opportunities to work together.

I believe this is the best way to manufacture luck for yourself.

It doesn’t have to be podcast. It can be a simple blog where you write about what you like, your experience etc. That’s good enough to attract like-minded people and convey what kind of person you are.

Speaking of podcasts, my friend Reza introduced me to this free course about how to start your own podcast.

I’ve watched a few videos on this course and they are all very helpful. I’d recommend taking it if you’re interested in starting your own podcast!

As someone who started a newsletter only a few months ago, I found this episode of Venture Stories so useful!

There is a lot of great advice as to how to grow your audience with newsletter like this one:

This article by Nat Eliason made me rethink about my saving/investing strategy.

In a nutshell, he argues that if you want an early retirement, you should be saving or reinvesting 75% of all increases to your income.

That’s a lot! But I guess it’s a good heuristic.

I liked this thread about why you’ll be better off if you assume always strangers will like you.

Essentially, there are two types of people 👇

Here, it’s argued that you are better off as a cooperator:

As a result of being a cooperator all the time, you are guaranteed to find lots of good people compared to defectors.

So, what should we do to become a better cooperator?

Similar to a saying that goes “To be interesting, be interested”!

I ordered some Moringa tea a few weeks ago and been drinking it every evening. I really like it so far.

It tastes nice and has many health benefits 👇 Highly recommended!

If you liked this issue, please share it with your friends on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook☺️ I’d be extremely grateful.

Thanks!

Shu