One of the constant arguments I have with my parents is about their hoarding problem.
Scores of ceramic knick-knacks, $2 shirts, boxes of shoes, ornaments, and all the wacky shit you can ever imagine sprawl all over my parents’ house. So much so that even with all their space, they keep running out of it. And my response is always the same: stop with all this hoarding.
And yet a recent realization of mine forced me to see that I might have been calling the kettle a whore here.
Because after that bit of self-evaluation, it’s become crystal clear that I’m also a hoarder - just a digital one.
Pages, eBooks, notes, digital assets, bookmarks, code-bases, and draft articles.
I keep it because “maybe I’ll need it someday,” and I realized that it was some genuinely dumbass logic that led me to this Note Dilution™ or Highlighter Sydrome™.
You know, back in school? When you’d highlight a whole page because “it’s all important.” But as we know, if everything is important, then none of it is - that’s the entire point in highlighting.
So I decided to dig through my notes and find the ones worth keeping.
And one did indeed stand out.
💡 A Quote To Live By
Now, I don’t know if someone said this or if it was me paraphrasing someone, but the line read like this:
“How you live every day is how you live your life.”
And it’s perfect because it’s not some romantic and ill-advised logic like “live every day like it’s your last!” - that one’s such a pet peeve for me that I kind of want the people who believe in it to go out in a blaze of glory, because let me tell ya, it’ll be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The other quote, the better one, is more long-term.
It’s not telling you what to do or how to live your life - it’s just saying that the collection of your days is what becomes your life. It’s pure fact. It’s hard to argue.
But if we want to merge both statements to take action, I’d say it’d become something like “Live every day like you’ve got 7 years left.”
It’s long enough that you don’t have the sunk-cost fallacy of “ah I’ve got one day left, let’s find some cocaine and hookers.” And it’s long enough to prompt you to do something meaningful but considered.
7 years means a fire under your 🍑 to tick off those big items like traveling the world, building something meaningful, and having a lot of snoo-snoo with the right person.
But it also means you want to get there by making sure every day is thoughtfully considered, enjoyable, and leaves you with a smile.
🦎 For me, it’s about “change.”
If you’re like me and you’re self-improvement inclined - you’re already building yourself the best life you can. Your days are likely better than they were two years ago.
If we’re talking about me, I like writing, coding, traveling, filming, working out, and trying new things. I enjoy spicing up my routines as much as I like the routines themselves.
I already do this.
So the question morphs again, “If I had 7 years left, what would I change.”
And that’s something we all need to figure out because the answer very likely isn’t “I’d change nothing.”
But that’s the perfect answer, and our goal should be to eventually answer the question by saying precisely that.
And if you’re already there, you’re in the zone, my guy.
If not, don’t worry, we can paddle together because I’m in the same boat. 🛶
🤖 I Told A Robot To Write A Love Story Between A Cat And A Dog
And this is what I got 👇
The dog, who was tired of life in the city with his master, longs to live in the country.
The cat is excited to be moving out of the city and back to the country where she grew up.
She’s a hunting cat.
He’s a hunting dog.
From a young age, they would sneak away from their human’s house by scaling trees and jumping from branch to branch until they were too far for their people to see them.
They did the same when they moved to the country - old habits die hard.
They spent their days climbing trees and stalking prey.
The two animals became fast friends in the way only animals can be friends and eventually fell in love with each other. They would play together, swim together, eat together - and fuck.
**Edited by me for humor and other cuckery 💩
🔗 Link Dump
Interesting, helpful, and entertaining things I’ve been fooling around with lately:
✍ Rytr is the AI app for that fun little story above - it’s great for writing prompts, copy, and as a writing aid, but you’ll definitely need to edit things.
👑 I’ve been watching Loki on Disney+ lately, and even if you’re not a Marvel fan, this series has won me over by delivering into the philosophy behind meaning, fate, and human agency/free will - love this.
🛣 Here’s a recent article I wrote about why it’s hard to pick a path in life.
💯 And here are two articles of mine that have been blowing up on Medium: One’s on YouTubes Softcore Porn Problem, and one’s on The ‘No 7s’ Rule that has probably 10x’d my decision-making over the past year.
🌏 John Green follows up on his previous 8-year-old video about Ukraine with a new one - important historical and political context - highly recommend.
🖌 Just found out about BrandBird, a fantastic app for turning your screenshots into beautiful graphics that get a lot more engagement - adding that to the Twitter repertoire.
🐥 Speaking of which, here’s a tweet of mine showing screenshots of what happens when Medium picks up your article and distributes it - follow me for rambles there :)
And that’s it, ladies and gents.
I open the floor to you, join or start the discussion in the comments, and hit me with any questions/feedback :)
Talk soon,
✌ Sah