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- The Quest Newsletter
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Welcome to Quest, a weekly newsletter where I provide ideas to help you build a life you love — one filled with more energy, purpose, and joy.
Preview:
Quote: Shortness of Life
Useful Ideas: Starting Off, Happiness, Closing the Gap
Exercise: Intentions to Habits
Story: High Agency People
Thought: Repeat
Quote
Seneca on how we waste life:
"It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity, we are forced at last by death’s final constraint to realize that it has passed away before we knew it was passing. So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it… Life is long if you know how to use it.”
Source: On the Shortness of Life
Useful Ideas
I.
Some of you started the year off on fire. Well done.
Others of you did not.
You haven't set any goals.
You haven’t stopped the bad habit.
You haven’t started the good habit.
Good news. Tomorrow is a new day.
Give yourself grace today.
Challenge yourself tomorrow.
II.
I’m flying home from a vacation today and I’ve come to realize that the things that bring me joy on vacation are the same things that bring me joy at home:
• Sun
• Reading
• Exercise
• Quality Sleep
• Healthy Food
• Time with God
• Connecting with People
Additional thoughts on the topic:
• Happiness is more available to us than we know. It’s not on the other side of the next weekend, next vacation, or next life stage.
• Our habits and routines are worth trying to keep while traveling — even if it looks a little different.
• It’s often the simple things that bring us the most joy.
III.
Do you want to close the gap between who you are and who you want to be?
Close the gap between what you do and what you say you’re going to do.
Exercise
I’ve seen a lot of lists this week of what people want more of and less of in the new year. Some people have called them “In’s and Out’s.”
I think it’s great to have intentions for the new year but without turning them into habits or scheduling them on your calendar, many of these intentions will never happen.
If you know what you want more of and less of in the new year that’s a great start.
Review the list and determine where you could get more specific.
Want to “get in better shape?” Build a workout habit
Want to “connect with more people?” Schedule time to catch up
Want to “be more present?” Get intentional with a plan to manage screen time
Great thread here from George Mack on high agency people.
I like number 3:
“Golden question - If you're in a 3rd world prison cell and had to call someone to get you out, who would you call? That's the highest agency person you know.”
How to spot high agency people:
1. Weird teenage hobbies - Teenage years are the hardest time to go against social pressures. If they can go against the crowd as a teenager, they can go against the crowd as an adult.
2. Energy distortion field - If you meet with them when… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
— George Mack (@george__mack)
Nov 19, 2023
Thought
If you repeated this past week 51 more times, will you be where you want to be? If not, what changes do you need to make?
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Make it a great weekend.
Much love,
Beau Burns
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