Sharp Pencils
Hello friend,
This Monday, it seemed like it was high time to start writing you again. That said, these emails will look a bit different going forward. In the past, I've primarily shared about leadership ideas in this newsletter.
While I will still share some leadership content with you, I have quite a few other subject interests I'll be exploring like creativity, music, relationships, the art of writing, fitness, books, and most likely a few other subjects I'm especially passionate about.
My first hope is that you will enjoy these emails, and they will at least cause you to reflect, think, or try something new. My second hope is that these emails will provide an interesting conversation with someone over coffee or a dinner. With that said, we'll begin with the first subject.
Sharp Pencils
The city I reside in is one week out from the first day of school. I remember my mom taking my sisters and I to get a new notebook for school. First, the 1 subject notebook, later the 3 subject notebook. I was waiting for the day I would get the 5 subject notebook like my older sisters not knowing that would only mean more school.
We had a pencil sharpener in our living room. First, it was the crank by hand type of pencil sharpener. Later, we got a machine pencil sharpener. Push the pencil in. It begins to cut away the softness, and bring the pencil back to being sharpened.
Dull points instantly sharpened.
Why did we sharpen the pencil? It makes the writing easier.
A sharpened pencil writes better words.
Bench, Squats, and Deadlifts
Last month, I hit new maxes on bench press and barbell squats. No, I’m not going to drop the stats here. Not happening.
Not yet, anyway.
These are traditional olympic lifts. They will challenge your body, and if you push yourself, you’ll certainly feel sore after. Why do it?
The better question is, "Why wouldn’t you do it?"
Build muscle today. Wake up stronger tomorrow. Only 24% of Americans engage in strength training 2x per week.
How's Your Sleep?
Dr. Daniel Amen, a renowned psychiatrist and brain health expert, suggests that individuals need to get around 7-8 hours of sleep per night to adequately "rinse" the brain. This duration is generally recommended for optimal brain health, allowing the brain to go through the necessary processes of repair, detoxification, and consolidation of memories.
The average young adult in America gets just 5.7 hours of sleep per night. The outcome of less than 7 hours of sleep per night are heart disease, stroke, diabetes, mood disorders, and obesity.
I wasn’t getting enough sleep, but like most people, I thought I was averaging 7-9 hours. I got an Oura Ring to track my sleep, and discovered a lot of nights I thought were 7 hours of sleep were 5 hours of sleep. The nights I thought were 8.5-9 hours of sleep were 7 hours.
What I’m learning through the brilliant analytics of Oura is I need to make sleep a priority, or the things I call priorities will be disrupted.
How is your sleep lately? How might better sleep change your day?
In Praise of One Energy Drink
Now that we've talked about sleep, let's talk about your energy today. (This is not a paid advertisement.) That said, I drink a lot of ZOA. So do a few of my friends. It’s not that C4, Monster, and Bang aren’t good…actually it is that they PALE in comparison to ZOA (which you can pick up at a Costco or 7-11 close to you... and Amazon will ship it directly to you.)
It’s not because ZOA is the official energy drink of Dwayne The Rock Johnson. Well, maybe it is. Or maybe it’s because it’s the cleanest tasting energy drink I’ve found. While I’ve cycled through the flavors, my current favorites are in order:
Would you consider yourself an energy drink person, do you stick to coffee, or stay away from all caffeine?
Quote I'm Reflecting On This Week
"Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny." - Aristotle
Sharpen your pencils. Sharpen your mind. Lift some weights. Get better sleep. Drink some ZOA (before 1pm). Have a great week!
Much love,
David