#105: personal leadership
👋 Welcome to the 105th issue of Out of Curiosity, a weekly newsletter promoting ideas to help get 1% better everyday.
My name is Reza, and every week, I go through nearly 100 pieces of content (from books and podcasts to newsletters and tweets), and bring you the best in this newsletter.
I began to slowly notice that very few people knew why they thought what they thought, which gave me even more confidence that my inclination was the most reliable signal to trust. The deeper I inquired into why they were so convinced that I should do X, Y, or Z, the more I realized it was because someone had told THEM that X, Y, or Z was desirable and they assumed the person they heard it from knew why (while they had simply been told the same thing by someone else).
I didn’t think much about self-actualization or how “aligned” I wanted my life to be. I was just focused, and according to others, I was “smart.” In hindsight, I disagree that what I was doing at the time was all that “smart”—that is: not really thinking for myself, working hard just for the sake of it, aiming at things others told me to want. But I think most people’s definition of “smart” really just translates to “good at playing the games they’re positioned in the middle of.“
Share positive things you think about other people.
Take quiet weeks after social weeks.
Get a backpack you don't hate.
Smile whenever you see yourself in the mirror.
Ask a friend to do a hard thing with you.
Do not apologize for things that aren’t actually your fault.
Write out what three things matter most to you right now.
Do the 5-minute tasks the moment you think of them, don’t put them off.
👋 Until next week,
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