📚 I Met James Clear from "Atomic Habits", 3 Life Lessons, and more.

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👋 Hey everyone,

Instead of a book summary this week, I’m sharing 3 life lessons.

If you’re looking for a book summary, here are 3 recent ones you may have missed:

• “Drunk Tank Pink” by Adam Alter

• “Tiny Experiments” by Anne-Laure Le Cunff

• “Life In Three Dimensions” by Shigehiro Oishi, PhD

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⭐️ 3 Life Lessons:

1) Walking More Can Change Your Life (I’m Serious)

I know this is going to sound silly but going for a walk every day can change your life (it changed mine).

It’s a daily habit that has helped me feel better mentally and physically.

How?

Our bodies evolved over thousands of years to live in nature with fresh air and natural light—not in climate-controlled boxes with artificial lighting and sedentary activities.

Today, the average person spends 90% or more of their time indoors. In comparison, our ancestors spent 90% of their time outdoors.

The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (known as the father of Western medicine) once said, “Walking is man's best medicine”, and today we have the science to back this up.

Walking 10,000 steps a day can lower your risk of:

• Premature death by 50%

• Dementia by 50%

• Type 2 diabetes by 44%

• Obesity by 31%

Walking 10,000 steps per day has also been shown to reduce your risk of cancer, depression, and even sleep apnea.

I even got a walking treadmill to help me hit my walking goals.

You’ll get additional benefits from walking if you do it first thing in the morning since viewing sunlight ‘wakes up’ your brain and body for the day.

That’s why the first thing I do every morning is drink some water and then go for a 30-minute walk outside while listening to a podcast or audiobook.

I follow this routine regardless of the weather–it doesn’t matter if it’s raining or snowing,I always feel much better afterward.

If I still can’t convince you, here are a few quotes from people much smarter than me that might:

• "A sedentary life is the real sin. Only those thoughts that come by walking have any value." –Friedrich Nietzsche

• "I don't feel particularly proud of myself. But when I walk alone in the woods…all is well." –Franz Kafka

• "I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it." –Søren Kierkegaard

I know it sounds too simple to be true, but set a goal of going for a walk every day for a month and your life will dramatically improve.

📖

2) Sometimes The Shortcut Is Not Taking Any Shortcuts

Most of the time when people learn that I read 70+ books a year or have a large social media following, they ask me the same question: “What’s the hack?”

When I tell them that unfortunately, there is no hack, they suggest there must be a big speed-reading or social media secret that I’m not sharing with them.

But there isn’t. The secret to almost any accomplishment is usually hard work and consistency, that’s it.

It took me 2 years of posting content to get 10,000 followers on Twitter and Instagram.

Similarly, it took me 2 years of consistent posting to get to 20,000 followers on LinkedIn.

My secret? I committed to posting every weekday and replied to EVERY person who commented on my posts.

It was a grind, but it worked.

I’ve noticed this stays true no matter how successful you are in life.

Recently I talked with a New York Times bestselling author and, foolishly, asked what hacks he used to make his book a bestseller.

He pulled out his phone and laptop and showed me:

• A list of 100+ podcast interviews he did

• A spreadsheet of 100+ content creators he reached out to

• An album of 100+ videos he recorded for everyone who preordered his book

And this isn’t an outlier pattern. Every bestselling author I’ve talked to has told me a similar story of personally reaching out to every person they know (and hundreds they don’t) and working countless hours to sell their book.

And that’s the real shortcut to success: Doing the hard work that everyone else is avoiding.

📖

3) There’s Power In Being The Planner

People love getting invited to activities, but hate planning them.

The majority of people are passive–they wait to get invited to events, parties, networking events, etc.

That’s why there’s massive arbitrage in being the planner.

If you’re the planner, you’ll have the power to choose who to invite, what activity to do, when to do it, AND people will appreciate you for setting everything up.

It’s a win-win-win-win situation.

And truth be told, it doesn’t take much effort to plan an event. All you need to do is reach out to people, not be afraid of rejection, and coordinate a time and place.

For the past few months, I’ve made it my mission to be the planner.

One of the best things I’ve done recently is plan author dinners in New York City.

I figured if I could organize a dinner for authors to hang out together, we could all network and learn from one another.

So I started messaging authors I knew (and ones I didn’t) and organized a dinner for all of us to meet and talk about the art and business of being an author.

I’ve only hosted these dinners twice so far, but I’ve already met several bestselling authors including James Clear (author of “Atomic Habits” which has sold 20+ MILLION copies)!

But being a planner isn’t just about planning networking events, it’s also a great mindset to have when it comes to friends and family.

In the past few months, I’ve planned:

• A fun board game night with my cousins.

• An exciting go-karting day with several close friends.

• A gym workout and catchup session with an old friend.

Make it your goal to become a connector. Be the person who brings people together and your personal and professional life will become 10x better.

PS: I’m currently planning author dinners in:

• New York City 🏙️

• Austin, Texas 🇺🇸

• Toronto, Canada 🇨🇦

• London, United Kingdom 🇬🇧

If you’re an author who lives in or near one of these cities and wants to join our next author dinner, reply to this email!

✅ Actionable Advice:

1) Set a daily goal to walk 10,000 steps every day for 30 days.

2) Stop looking for a shortcut and do the hard work that’s required.

3) Plan one social event for this month: Plan a family get-together, a fun activity with friends, or a networking event with your peers.

💎 Weekly Gem:

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I started taking LMNT after listening to Dr. Huberman’s podcast about using salt to optimize your mental and physical performance, and it’s been a game-changer for me.

It’s helped me stay hydrated, clear my brain fog, and reduce muscle cramps while working out.

I’ve also heard a lot of people drink LMNT to overcome jet lag and hangovers.

The best part? It doesn’t have any sugar, yet tastes great. I recommend the watermelon or orange flavor.

Use my link here to get a free LMNT Sample Pack with your first order.

Your opinion matters!

Please let me know what you think so I can create better emails for you.

You can also reply to this email–I read every response.

Thank you for your support,

Alex W.