Hey friends 
Here are the Doable ideas, Reflections and Mindfulness to try out this week.
Doable ideas 💭
Experiment every week. 🔬
Document observations, make variations and test hypotheses.
You not only learn more about yourself, but also make life more interesting.
Here’s what I’m experimenting (ongoing):
📲 not using Instagram
🥗 slow carb diet
🏋🏻♀️ working out at different times with different conditions (fasted vs. fed)
What gets measured gets managed. 🤓
Reflections 🪞
In what areas would you benefit from setting clearer boundaries?
Mindfulness 🧘🏻♀️
This is how I live with intention:
Every quarter I revisit and redefine my core values.
They are the foundation of my quarterly goals and experiments – usually they don’t differ much from my principles, but they shine the path for sprints (i.e. achieving specific, definite goals).
This quarter, I made it my mission to bring energy, excitement and intention to every aspect of my life. So I:
✈️ Went on a spontaneous trip to see friends in Melbourne
💪🏻 Set up diet, workout and sleep routines to make sure I always showed up at my best
💛 Paid attention to what I looked forward to every day and started saying no to things that no longer served me
Clarifying my core values every 3 months brings intention in a few ways:
1/ It keeps me on track with yearly direction
2/ It makes me feel okay with prioritising certain areas in particular periods
3/ It allows me to experiment different ways to achieve same outcomes
Reaching my full potential is part of my definition of success. Hence through honouring my principles and values I am able to show up as my best self and offer more to the world.
Well, I feel like I’m already winning by being unapologetically myself (i.e. going against the society script) 🤷🏻♀️
July Recap 🔬
Last month I tested more task batching on both macro and micro levels in an attempt to reduce distraction, time getting ready and task switching costs.
Learnings on productivity and creativity:
1/ I need accountability. If I knew I would be meeting up with friends in 2 hours, I could easily get some deep work done before the gathering. Same applies to working out with a partner, co-working at a cafe with a friend, or even scheduling my PT session after work. I would have easily “written the time off” if there was no obligation or accountability.
2/ Stimulate creativity via environment and playlists. I started going to different cafes and food courts on the days I needed to write. I generally work better when I’m outside hence tweaking the environment worked for me. I also switched between different playlists (currently cycling through deep house and foreign language pop playlists) to create different work vibes. There you go, my secret of getting at least this weekly newsletter, monthly 2,000 word article and a long-form video published.
3/ The importance of physical and mental warmup. Similar to warming up before a workout, it’s crucial to get into the right headspace and physical condition. For both my day job and filming it is essential that I warm up my vocal cords properly and get into a clear headspace to make good decision and improvisation, whether verbally or musically.
What I’m Working On 💪🏻
Projects for August based on life areas:
💼 start new contract – navigate (new, again) work schedule
🎨 increase YouTube upload to 2x per month
💪🏻 3x proper form pull-up
💛 expand love & gratitude
Pretty much a “baby step” month.
Stay tuned to more YouTube videos. For now, check out my latest upload on how I claimed more time, energy and attention so that I can focus on what I genuinely care about in life 🙂
Ideas Worth Pondering 🧠
“A paradox of life is that the greatest returns come in the long-term, but the opportunity cost of moving slowly is huge. Long-term thinking is not slow acting. Act fast on things that compound. Never let a day pass without doing something that will benefit you in a decade.”
– James Clear
If you enjoyed that, please share with others.
Whenever you’re ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:
- Claim your peace of mind with these handpan guided meditation soundtracks.
- Work 1:1 with me to improve your health and wellbeing with music therapy. No waiting list!
Be awesome x
Venus