We are spending most of our time people who we work with. Do you want to be around teammates who are not willing to help what you are trying to achieve? Of course not. Most of the time you can not change people’s attitudes. But, you can change your environment.
I think five-person around you make you healthy, happy and wealthy. You are pretty much average of your circle. Be careful who you talk or sharing your time with.
I checked my phone today and found I have 36,832 Photos since January 2016. That’s an insane number. If I took 1 picture per day, it’ll take me 102 Years to complete this project.
Why that many pictures on my phone? I probably thought I’ll check out those pictures later. Seriously? 36K pictures? If I spend a second for each of them it’ll take me 10 hours.
Every moment of our life is great. But, we only take a picture of nice moments. ( I didn’t check out but most likely 99% of my 36,382 pictures were good times:) We want to remember those good days. That makes sense.
Curios, How many pictures on your phone?
Sometimes we all need “Alone” time. This time is only for you. You should be yourself with your thoughts.
No rush, no timeline. Just listen to what your inner voice is telling you.
Keep all your dreams for you.
Stay in the moment.
Minimize your media time. Be curious about your story instead of other people’s Instagram Stories.
Start with going to your bed without your phone.
Do you need to set an alarm to get up early?
Buy an alarm clock or set your alarm with your phone and leave your door open.
I am promising you, you will feel amazing.
It will be two benefits:
a) You will have more “alone time” before you go to bed
b) You won’t check your phone right after you get up.
You don’t have to go to the woods to stay there for a couple of weeks with yourself. Start small. Start today!
“It isn’t necessary that you leave home. Sit at your desk and listen. Don’t even listen, just wait. Don’t wait, be still and alone. The whole world will offer itself to you”. Franz Kafka
I have been walking into the forest last 4 weeks at least 3-4 times per week. Most of the time I left my phone at home. Try not to distract from anything.
According to Dr. Qing Li from Japan, Forest Bathing (shinrin-yoku ) helps you ease your stress, relax and think more clearly.
What’s Forest Bathing? Pretty much: Feel the forest with your five senses. Listening to the birds, Looking different shades of greens and branches, Smelling the fragrance of plants, Tasting freshness of air with every breath and Touching the trees or laying down on the ground.
I was mostly going to the forest for hiking. After today, I’ll stop more and take a longer bath in the forest:)
Start with version 0.1 then Iterate!
Later what do you need to do?
Iteration!
Anyone can do it! If they keep iterate it.
Here’s the gift for you guys to remind yourself to “Iterate”. Post-it and remind yourself whenever you are in doubt are you iterating enough or not?
———
Note: I launched an Instagram page for doodles which are inspired by my daily newsletter post’s titles. Check out
Our minds like an antique shop. We constantly thinking past, present and future. We need to breathe and focus the moment.
Best way to do: Just follow your breath. Sit do nothing for 15-20 seconds. Then, follow your breath one to two minutes.
Don’t start too hard for meditation. Slowly increase the time. Mindfulness means being present. Awakening your mind. It means you are asking yourself “ Am I awake now? “
We have always opinions for others. Why? Because we can clearly see what’s going on them. Based on our limited observation still make sense where that person should go. Why don’t we do the same exercise for ourselves? Because we know too much about who we are.
Books are great for example for leading people. It is a general opinion. You can apply whichever works for you. Most of the time writers who wrote great books or touched lots of people’s lives, they are still struggling with their own problem. (In Turkish, we have saying “Terzi kendi söküğünü dikemez” it’s pretty much similar meaning to English one “the shoemaker’s son always goes barefoot “)They need a guide or coach to open literally their eyes.
Leading your own life is an ongoing process. You can’t figure out easily yourself. Best way to start: Surrounder yourself with great people and book.
Today is the 101st day. It’s pretty much for me 101 for Writing: Introduction to Writing.
I did a little bit of research on why courses called 101 or other numeric terms? It seems a relatively new standard. It started in the late 1930s at the University of Buffalo. Later then adopted by other schools.
Somehow 101s were always my favorite courses back in the college. I always an honor student till college. At College, somehow I thought College is not for only studying it is for socializing, reading, exploring and starting your own things. It was obviously so hard for me to keep up them all together. So, I graduated 2.08 but full of experience and completed my biggest course Life 101. That course everyone gave themselves their own score.
It doesn’t matter how much experienced in any field or studied master, Ph.D. still we are taking 101 courses in our lives. Such as Marriage 101. I believe the first 2-3 years of Marriage is an Introductory Class for Beginners:) Same for Startups. Most likely your first startup will be your 101. Or starting new hobby or learning cooking. It will be always 101s in your life as long as you are adding new skills. That’s awesome. Don’t sweat on it. Enjoy the process. Because, You can’t skip the 101 courses to take the next ones. That is mandatory. Also, you are learning the fundamentals.
Today is the 100th day of my daily writing journey. And, I want to share what I have learned this first 100 days. It might be helpful for others who want to start:
You need to read in order to write– That’s pretty simple. I started to read more. Now, I am reading most of the topics I want to learn and enjoy it. That means you need to cut some of the daily distractions such as too much TV, Social media, etc.
Publish it– It does not matter how bad it is. Just keep writing. Somedays you feel more proud of what you write than other day vise versa. That’s alright. This is a process.
Be accountable -You should promise yourself but you should also promise to others you are going to write for them every day. That makes you drive and write it.
Write for yourself -It doesn’t matter who is reading or not. Stop checking who received an email or read it. Just write for your own pleasure.
Stop counting day– Every day is a new day. Don’t worry about what you are going to write about tomorrow. You will find a topic as long as you are breathing.
Again, the best day to start to write is: Today. So, don’t delay it. Thank you for all who encouraged me by reading my posts, giving me feedback publicly or privately. I’ll keep day numbers on my journal probably till I’ll publish 1000th one. So, if you are annoyed my daily emails, please disable yourself. I won’t get personal:) You can always come back or check aykut.substack.com from time to time. If you already liked it and want to stick around, keep sharing your thoughts either public comment or reply daily posts.
I feel we all completed the first chapter of my daily writing journey. I want to end this Churchill’s famous quote: Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
————
You can read Top Posts out 100 Posts in here
