10 Ideas For The Interested This Week - For The Interested

10 Ideas For The Interested This Week

“If you have no critics, you’ll likely have no success.” — Malcolm X

There will always be haters.

But just because you hear them, doesn’t mean you have to listen to them.

Your work speaks for itself.

If somebody doesn’t like what they hear, that’s their problem.

Now, on to this week’s ideas…

1. TWO SECRETS TO CREATING CONTENT PEOPLE LOVE

“The best content changes the lives of the people who consume it. Reading a blog post or watching a video may not completely transform someone’s life, but it should move them measurably closer to their goal.”

I spend a lot of time thinking about how best to provide value to an audience through content and this post is about one of my recent realizations.

I share two secrets to creating content people love and explain why the most valuable content helps people get from point A to point B.

2. 13 LIFE-CHANGING HABITS TO TRY EVERY DAY

“Ask yourself: How often am I unreachable? The answer is: Not often enough. Build some of this time into your daily practice. You’ll be better for it. And the world will not notice, I promise.”

You won’t be able to change your life until you learn how to change a single day of it — this post can help you get started.

Ryan Holiday suggests 13 life-changing habits to try every day including to prepare for the hours ahead, think about death, and find a way to connect to something big.

3. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU COMMIT TO AN EMAIL-FREE MORNING FOR FIVE DAYS

“Finally it was 11:00, and I had my first important realization of the week: I had 20 emails, and zero were urgent.”

Do you check your email first thing in the morning? Probably, since just about everybody does these days (most people also check it second, third, and fourth thing in the morning).

Fast Company details what Kelsey Manning found when she vowed to stop checking email in the morning for a week.

Her discoveries include that the emails she gets aren’t nearly as urgent as she convinces herself they are and that being purposeful with how you spend your newfound non-email time is as important as making the decision to stop checking email in the first place.

4. HOW TO SET EMOTIONAL BOUNDARIES AND STOP TAKING ON OTHER PEOPLE’S ISSUES

“We’re afraid that if we clear set boundaries for ourselves, the people in our lives will begin to resent us. However, learning to communicate boundaries effectively is necessary for healthy relationships.”

Here’s a question for you: How much of your stress is actually inherited stress from the people around you?

Tiny Buddha offers three ways to set emotional boundaries including how to protect yourself from other people’s “stuff,” communicate your boundaries in clear ways, and be patient with the process.

5. WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO REVISIT YOUR NOTEBOOKS

“Almost every writer will tell you how important it is to keep a daily diary or notebook, but very few emphasize how important it is, if you want to publish, to have a system for going back through those personal notebooks and diaries and turning them into public writing.”

Whether you keep a diary or just jot down random notes in your phone, there’s a lot of value to be found in the process of maintaining a notebook.

But Austin Kleon points out a key element of keeping a notebook is often overlooked — he explains why it’s important to revisit your notebooks.

He uses examples ranging from Henry David Thoreau to David Sedaris to illustrate how people maximize the value of their notebooks by revisiting them in interesting, systematic ways.

6. HOW TO USE SMART EXERCISE TO STAY YOUNGER LONGER

“Instinct tells us that playing bridge and doing the crossword are good for the brain, but workouts also improve cognitive function, although the process is poorly understood.”

Not all workouts are created equal.

The Guardian shares scientific research that shows some exercises are more helpful than others when it comes to feeling younger as you get older.

The suggestions include to incorporate 10–20 minutes of high intensity exercise per week, avoid fad diets, and always stretch after exercising.

7. WHY MEN SHOULD CRY AT MOVIES

“Crying at movies has become, for me, a quasi-ritual act, an opportunity to let a piece of art disarm my defenses and remind me how to, well, feel — to sit with a moment and be empathetic and vulnerable, to react without an agenda.”

Any men looking for an excuse to unleash the water works during their next trip to the cineplex will want to read this one.

In the New York Times, Kevin Lincoln explains why men should cry at movies and compares doing so to “emotional bodybuilding.”

He calls it “excellent practice for comprehending your emotions and welcoming them back into your life, maybe for the first time since childhood.”

8. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ONLY FOLLOW 88 PEOPLE ON TWITTER

“I cannot add anyone without removing someone. Every single time, it is a hard exercise to go through. But over time, the 88 have become more and more valuable. It’s like starting with raw sugar and ending up with pure addictive cocaine.”

Over on my Twitter account I regularly narrow the number of people I follow and each time I do so my feed gets better.

So this Avinash Kaushik post about what happens when you only follow 88 people on Twitter makes total sense to me.

He explains how doing so reveals the value of limits, makes your feed more consciously diverse, and forces you to be intentional about who you choose to give your attention.

9. 15 SIGNS YOU CAN TRUST SOMEONE

“Individuals who are worth your trust know they don’t have all the answers. They look for ways to learn and improve themselves constantly, and through that process, they’re willing to share the resources and facts they find.”

If you have trouble figuring out who you can trust, this post can help.

Inc. breaks down 15 ways to tell if you can trust someone including to look for people who show gratitude, are consistent, and are respectful when it comes to time.

10. HOW TO GET OVER YOUR FEAR OF SELF-PROMOTION

“The truth is you hate self-promotion because you don’t believe the work you do provides value to people. Because if you believe your work provides value to others, you will want as many people as possible to experience it and won’t feel bad promoting it. The promotion of work that provides value is a generous act, not a selfish one.”

It’s easy to feel uncomfortable about promoting your work, but it’s vital to learn how to overcome that discomfort.

In this post I explain how to get over your fear of self-promotion and point out your discomfort is often rooted in something that has nothing to do with promotion itself.

WHERE I FOUND THIS STUFF

I discovered some of this week’s ideas from the newsletters of Postanly, Community.is, Austin Kleon, and Connect 4 Insight — they’re awesome and worth your time.