Hi!

This marks the beginning of 4-snippet-Sunday!

I am excited and interested in what the future will hold for this newsletter.

My goal with this newsletter is to:

1st: Collect everything I learn from the greatest thinkers (dead or alive)

2nd: Synthesize the most life-changing habits, ideas, and resources I found and deliver them to you, in an easily digestible format every Sunday.

I promise I will do the best I can, to bring you the best insights every Sunday.

Now with that said….

The 4-Snippets Of The Week

• The Only Way To Build Willpower

• Secret Social Superpower

• How to Guarantee Your Routine Is Optimized

• Are You an Impostor?

Feel free to jump around! Read only what stands out to your curiosity!

1. The ONLY Way to Build Willpower

Willpower is one of the greatest character traits you can build, but most people misunderstand the process of increasing it.

Most people associate doing hard things with willpower. But, doing hard things is necessary, but not sufficient for building willpower.

If doing hard things doesn’t increase willpower, what does?

There is an area of the brain (called the anterior midcingulate cortex), which is responsible for using and increasing willpower. You can develop this brain region (make it physically bigger), by doing things you truly don’t want to do.

If you do hard things (e.g. going to failure at the gym), but you enjoy the activity, and don’t feel that inner pain/resistance pulling you away from doing the task, you are not building willpower.

You can do ultramarathons, or study for 12 hours straight every day, but you won’t increase your willpower if you don’t feel that inner discomfort.

Now, just to make the willpower-building process more miserable, if this brain area is not stimulated (we are not doing things we don’t want to do), it shrinks, and our willpower decreases.

You can be a top-level athlete or a navy seal, but if you slack off, your willpower will decrease.

Here is an actionable guide to follow for (guaranteed) willpower increase:

1. Set high goals.

2. Do the thing that is required to achieve that goal.

3. Especially do the thing when it’s hard.

This snippet was synthesized by David Goggins x Hubermanlab podcast: https://youtu.be/nDLb8_wgX50?si=NYLYhg1uJW5p26ES

2. Social Superpower

You, me, (and everybody) are on a scale of narcissism.

Some are highly narcissistic (on the lower end of the spectrum), and some are healthy narcissists (on the higher end of the spectrum).

Because we are all narcissists (at varying levels), we all desperately crave attention. We need attention and validation from others, both physically and psychologically.

This deep desire for attention is the main motivation behind our actions.

But, there is a common approach people make when trying to gain attention, that is ineffective, makes them undesirable in social situations, and decreases the quality of their relationships.

That approach is looking inward, and trying to receive attention, by always turning the focus on themselves (usually reverting the conversation to themselves, and never paying attention to others).

There is another approach, which unfortunately is less used, which is looking outward, and developing empathy (deeply concentrating on the other person, and paying genuine attention to them).

By looking outward, you will receive more attention since you will be desirable to be around, you will develop better relationships, and you have an increased quality of life.

Choose your attention-seeking approach wisely!

This snippet was synthesized based on The Laws Of Human Nature Book (by Robert Greene):https://www.amazon.com/The-Laws-of-Human-Nature-audiobook/dp/B07HGJGP7G/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=laws+of+human+nature&sr=8-1

3. How to Guarantee Your Routine Is Optimized

It’s hard to judge, whether our daily routine is truly producing the results we want.

We see habits others do and find ‘productivity hacks’ on the internet, we use them in our routines, and we think they will produce the same results as they did for others.

Or simply, we do the habits that developed without any conscious planning.

But, no matter how we came up with our routines, we think that we are performing optimally, and our routine is dialed.

However, our perception of our performance is clouded by our daily fluctuating emotions and the cognitive biases we have about our performance.

Having the simple habit of evaluating our habits with data eliminates all the guesswork about our productivity and performance and gives us a tangible guideline for optimizing our day based on our biology and psychology.

If you want to optimize your routine, based on your preferences and biology, do this:

• Make (or stick) to your daily routine

• At night, evaluate, how the habits you did impact your performance and wellbeing.

  • Evaluate them on a scale of 1-10, and add some additional comments.

• Always experiment, and try out new habits

• Overtime, construct your routine that is on average 8 or above in points

This snippet was inspired by George Mack’s Twitter post:

https://x.com/george__mack/status/1748974232241836152?s=20

4. The Difference Between Impostor Syndrome and Experiencing Something New

If you feel like an impostor, you are one.

Let me explain…

Feeling like an Impostor (aka ‘Impostor Syndrome’) is when you pretend to be something you are not.

For example, if I were to get hired by a company to do public speaking gigs, without any skills or experience in public speaking, it would be normal for me to feel like an impostor…. Because I would be. I would do something which I suck at, and frame it (or lie) like I am good at it.

But, if I were to get hired for that job, with prior work and/or experience in public speaking, without me pretending to be better than I am, I wouldn’t feel like an impostor. I would be worthy of the role because I did the work. Instead of feeling like an impostor, I would feel the experience of doing something new.

So, the takeaway is this: If you feel like an impostor, you are one. You don’t have the experience and skills. So get the experience and the skills, and be worthy of your position.

If you have the skills and experience, you are worthy of the position you are in. The feeling you have then, is not impostor syndrome, but just the experience of doing something new.

This post was synthesized by Alex Hormozi on the Modern Wisdom Podcast https://youtu.be/DgkROIko_sM?si=orhCTBBR-5naxqFs

Bonus Podcast Recommendation

I you want to be entertained by crazy stories and laugh your ass off (while learning some crucial life lessons), check out Joey Diez on the Joe Rogan Podcast.

I am genuinely addicted to these. The stories Joey tells are Tremendous (also, his book is great).

Hope you found value!

Truly grateful to have you here,

Beni