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    #179 Intellectual understanding vs Internalized knowledge

    Intellectually understanding that the perfect speech includes a strong opening, humor, a dramatic demonstration, rhetorical elements, and emotional appeal doesn’t mean your next speech will contain those elements right away – and that’s okay.

    You don’t have to master this today.

    Intellectually understanding the nuances and body positioning of a yoga pose doesn’t mean the next time you stand in that pose, you’ll perform it perfectly right away – and that’s okay.

    You don’t have to master this today.

    Intellectually understanding verbs, tenses, or case systems in a foreign language doesn’t mean you’ll be able to use them correctly in conversations right away – and that’s okay.

    You don’t have to master this today.

    Turning intellectual understanding into internalized knowledge and skill is a slow, layered process:

    1. Intellectually understand which things to do differently from before.
    2. Mindfully become aware of the moment when you need to do things differently.
    3. Do things differently from before.
    4. Repeat every day.
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    #195 Scarcity vs Destiny

    I go to the gym, play volleyball, run, and land on yoga.

    I speak, film, consult, and land on writing.

    I sing, dance, drum, and land on playing the guitar.


    When you’ve only ever seen one path for yourself all your life, it’s scarcity.

    When you’ve opened your eyes, explored life, and consciously decided to take the path that aligns the most with who you want to be…

    It’s destiny.

    Explore.

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    #120 A lifetime of practice ahead of you

    If you knew you’d write more words tomorrow anyway…

    If you knew you’d put your body in a yoga pose every day…

    If you knew you’d write the same song over and over again either way…

    If you knew there’d be no pressure to nail the guitar piece because tomorrow there’s another chance to play…

    If you knew you’d have a lifetime of practice ahead of you – what would you focus on today?

  • #345 Why being good isn’t relevant

    People can think you’re not good at writing, and you can still write – and love it.

    You can think you’re not good at writing, and you can still write – and love it.

    You can think you’ll never be good at writing, and you can still write – and love it.

    Because whether you’re good at something or not is nowhere nearly as relevant as how fulfilled it makes you feel.

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    #217 Inaction is not the lack of action

    If I don’t write the post I intended to write, I actively avoid the desired result of my writing.

    If I don’t do the workout I intended to do, I actively avoid the desired result of my workout (being in better shape, running a new PR,…)

    If I don’t have the difficult conversation I intended to have, I actively avoid the desired result of that conversation.


    Inaction is not the lack of action.

    Inaction is taking active action to avoid working towards the result you desire.

    The real question, then, is:

    Why do I actively avoid working toward a desired result?

    Am I worried that even if I write daily, I’ll never become a skilled writer?

    Am I worried I won’t enjoy writing anymore if I ever get recognition?

    Am I worried that writing every day will turn me into a skilled writer, but being a professional writer won’t be fulfilling?

    P.S. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that I only have a limited repertoire of examples in this newsletter, my friend

    I trust you to apply the insight to your situation.

    And maybe, when you’re pondering the question above, you’ll come to the same conclusion as me:

    That more often than not, I’m more interested in the comfort of “wanting” something I don’t have than in “taking action to get something.”

  • #27 Appreciating the meaningless melody of a foreign language

    Learning a foreign language is both a frustrating and liberating experience.

    We can focus on the frustration of not understanding the words the way we understand our mother tongue. Or we can realize that without the words, we are free to fall back on other ways of capturing and understanding meaning.

    A crying baby can be soothed by words it does not yet understand, because she senses what’s behind the sounds, lets the meaningless melody cradle her to sleep…

    Similarly, we don’t always have to know what’s behind the words, as long as we make an effort to understand the meaning behind the sounds.

    Hearing a foreign language brings us back to that wordless world the way we experienced it as a newborn, before we tried so hard to put everything within and around us into language.

    It makes us remember, there’s more to life than our words will ever allow us to express. And somehow, that’s a soothing thought.

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