10 surprising habits that changed my life

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Hey, hope you're well. So my eyes are still sensitive to light but I'm recovering well.Thank you for your prayers.Here's your digest for this week. Hope you find these, inspiring and encouraging.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

10 Surprising Habits that have changed my life

(approximately 5 min read)

To spare you the pain of reading an endlessly long newsletter, these next 3 newsletters will be dedicated to 10 surprising habits that have changed my life. I’ll cover 3 this week, and the rest in the coming weeks.This is not intended as a 10 step program by any means. But I do think it might be helpful to list out some habits and practises I’ve implemented and continue to.From emotional to spiritual to financial, they continue to prove helpful in virtually all facets of life.Some you might have heard before, and others maybe not.Take what you will and apply it to your situation.With that said, here are the 10 surprising habits that have quite literally changed my life….well the first 3.(in no particular order)1.) Audiobooks/Podcasts over Music

I’m an artist so l love music…I make it, I listen to it…if I don’t listen to music for a long period of time, I literally feel lethargic, drowsy, and just blah…ask my wife and she’ll tell you.But a couple of years ago, I started substituting some music listening time with more podcasts & audiobooks.It’s crazy the amount of knowledge and information there is out there for the curious mind.You can learn anything you want to learn, either for the purpose of implementation, staying informed or just feeding your mind with knowledge of new things and opportunities.So as someone who’s on a constant quest to keep growing and stewarding the gifts God has given me, I’ve found it life changing to take on the attitude of continually learning.And one of the easy ways I do that is using some of my down time (i.e. driving, house chores) to listen to something educational, as opposed to just listening to music.There’s absolutely nothing wrong with using your downtime to relax with music (I do that too), I’m simply obsessed with redeeming and optimizing as much of my time as possible.Consequently, I substitute some music for audiobooks and podcasts.

2.) Video games

I touched on this in a previous newsletter and Youtube video, so I won’t discuss it too much here.Basically, being obsessive about goals, personal development and growth is great, but has it’s challenges.Namely, it’s almost impossible to turn off one’s brain. So we need “intentional distractions”.These are things that by nature help us take our brains off a given task and focus on something else that’s hopefully relaxing.Good intentional distractions have 3 qualities;

• You genuinely enjoy doing it

• You have no stakes attached to it. It cannot be something that you measure or for which you have benchmarks and target and goals. It’s just pure joy.

• It’s healthy for your mind and body

Intentional distractions have a lot of benefits including relaxing your mind, not to mention powering your creative subconscious mind to increase your productivity when you do go back to the task.At any rate, these distractions are individual to everyone, so for me, video games do this.Scheduling times to play video games is a practise I’ve done on and off for years.3.) Engaging in Deep Work

I have to shoutout Cal Newport for this one. A few years ago, I read his book “Deep Work” which articulated what I knew to be true, but didn’t understand.Deep work is the idea that like an airplane, the mind takes a while to reach optimal efficiency and creativity (i.e cruising altitude).At the start of a workday it is not uncommon to find yourself frequently distracted. Between emails, social media, YT, phone notifications, coworkers/family members, not to mention the wandering mind, we as humans find it difficult to focus.Before you know anything, hours have gone by, with very little to show for it.Cal discussed how every time you’re distracted from a task, it’s like stopping the engine. When you return to the task it’s like starting the engine again.Now imagine trying to drive/fly somewhere doing this…starting the car and stopping it every few minutes.YOU WOULDN’T GET ANYWHERE.So it is with the mind.Our brains need prolonged focus before all the neural connections can start firing properly; before we reach that zone of optimal creativity and efficiency.And if you’ve ever experience that zone, you know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s AMAZING! (I’m there right now as I’m writing this).Ideas are flying and your brain is synthesizing that information so quickly. It’s empowering.After a period of deep work, when you come out of it, it’s refreshing. Plus you can look back and see just how much you accomplished during that focused time.The key is pushing past that initial period of the wandering mind and unhealthy distractions. The same way a plane has to push past the drag of air resistance before it takes off.So here are some of the things I do to achieve deep work.

• Put my phone on Do Not Disturb

• Put on my noise cancelling headphones

• Start my favourite productivity playlist (this is non-lyrical, techno music).

• Minimize (or close) any unnecessary windows or tabs that aren’t relevant to what i’m working on. So the only tab/windows open are the ones I’m currently working on.

This habit of deep work has quite literally been revolutionary for me and is one of the secrets to my efficiency.

I’ll leave it there for now.

Excited to share the rest with you in the coming weeks.

VIDEO I ENJOYED THIS WEEK

Christians get THIS wrong about money

ICYMI, I just released this video that attempts to give you a framework with which to balance godly ambition and contentment, especially as it relates to finances. Seems to be gaining some traction on YT. Please watch and share if you find it helful.Watch by clicking the image.

SONG I ENJOYED THIS WEEK

I Am | Maverick City Music x Kirk Franklin

The other night, I couldn't sleep. Not sure why, but I woke up at about 3AM (after 3hrs of sleep) and was awake for the rest of the night. Too tired (and eyes too sensitive) to do anything "productive", I started playing some black gospel music. God bless the Spotify algorithm for recommending this. Listen now by clicking the image.

That's it for this week.Love you,ShopéP.S. New song coming in September/October. Pre-save all my future releases HERE. You'll only ever had to do this once.P.P.S. Don't forget to my latest YT video If You Feel Lost - Watch This (How To Find Your Purpose)

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