Note-taking systems | Quitting Job | Train Your Brain | Successful Relationship - Best Links of the Week

Collecting string is hearing a new phrase for the first time and wondering where it came from. It’s a digging up an old anecdote that you’re convinced will resonate with your tribe. It’s the intuition that a “fleeting thought or observation” could someday lead “lead to another story, whether that’s a quick blog post or a book.”

Albert Einstein reportedly called compound interest “the 8th wonder of the world.” And over the past five years I’ve learned that showing up is way more important than being spectacular.

Name a relationship in your life where you trust someone who is inconsistent. You can’t. That’s because we don’t trust people — whether it’s in work, business or relationships — who constantly break their promises.

I’ve learned that the only way you can earn people’s trust is by consistently keeping your word and delivering on what you’ve promised.

It’s easy to fall into a spiral of consuming what I call “junk food content,” which plunges you into crazy thought patterns and anxious feelings.

We claim we invest in our health, but we neglect our content diet. As Benjamin Franklin once said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” Create an environment that facilitates falling into intellectual rabbit holes.

“If you do nothing to make things get better in your marriage but do not do anything wrong, the marriage will still tend to get worse over time,”

“To maintain a balanced emotional ecology, you need to make an effort—think about your spouse during the day, think about how to make a good thing even better, and act.”

The 80/20 rule goes like this: In your marriage, you should each recognize that your relationship is 80% about the other person and 20% about yourself. “For him, it needs to be 80% about you, and 20% about him,” E.R. tells me. “For you, it needs to be 80% about him, and 20% about you.”

It’s about putting your ego aside and being curious about the other person’s needs. A.W., whose marriage ended after 26 years, shares this learning: “Find out what makes your spouse feel loved, and do that every day.” 

Right about the time you finish your first cup of coffee, you have achieved a state of peak performance.

So now you have a decision to make. Do you want to use that peak-performance state to, say, get the most out of the podcast you’re listening to while you drive to work? Or do you want to use that peak-performance state to do something creative like brainstorming, taking an essential call, writing a perfect email, or performing your best at an important meeting?

Here’s my best advice: Time your first cup of coffee so that it has the most positive impact on your day and therefore on your career and your entire life.