#016 ✰ A healthy routine

If you can't do the little things right, you will never be able to do the big things right.

Good day to you!

I am excited to reconnect!

I am hoping this message finds you as rested, optimistic and determined as I am.

As you know, our mission is to help people free themselves from rampant consumerism, so that they can dedicate more time, money and bandwidth to be and build.

Know people who feel the pain of having too much stuff + are curious, value knowledge? We’d love to talk to them!

Thoughts

It felt great to take a break from writing this newsletter. I needed to read, read, read. And there were never enough time for this in my daily routine. I managed to catch up on many good articles and books I had been recommended.

From now on, I want to be intentional in making space to fuel the machine, to “protect the asset” that is our body and mind.

Why wait till January 1st to take resolutions (that I never manage to stick to). Instead, inspired by the Readings section below, and many more articles I’ve read recently, here’s how I want my day to look like, starting now:

• TREAT: start with time for myself [I can’t insist enough on start]
  If the first thing you do in the morning is that thing that feels -damn- good to you, no one (or nothing) can possibly steal it from you. It’s done. And from experience, it’s an easy way to start on a positive note (instead of, say, browsing your emails). In my case, this means doing yoga, or swimming while I have this chance (this month).
  How many times have I told myself (and heard others say) that days are too short, I don’t have time for myself? Waking up 30” earlier is often up to us. And when it’s still dark and every one else’s asleep, there’s no better time to just be.

• SLEEP: sleep 8 hours every night
  Not more, not less. (I can’t wait to dig into the book Why We Sleep, I’ve heard so much about it lately.)

• READ: read one to two books a week, whether on paper or Audible.
  If you have a favorite, please shoot me an email with why you like it so much.

• THINK: keep our Brain Sanity Thursdays going.
  On that day, every week, Max, Kev and I are trying to stay away from our computer/phone and spend time doing everything else: read, talk, debate, dream, think, you name it. It’s been a great source of ideas, inspiration, adjustments, laugh. I couldn’t recommend this enough to teams who can afford it. Yes, we could be ticking more tasks. But thinking when?

Those of you who know me personally might wonder wtf I am quoting a military (a military asked me once “…are you a pacifist then"?” as if I was part of some sect, it was quite enjoyable to answer “how can this be otherwise?”), yet talking about routines, army nailed down some, and this admiral made a point:

September Triangular Challenge 🥁

Talking about routine, here’s a new one we’re offering you. 📣 Starts today!
We’ll be following the same rules as the July one [read more here]

Goal ➤ Have too much stuff? Know what too much is.

How it works ➤ It starts easy. You document one thing on the first day of the month. Two things on the second. Three things on the third. So forth and so on. Until September 30th. If you’re competitive, this will lead to a total of 465 items recorded by the end of the month!
❗️ are excluded digital possessions (Kindle books,..) and consumables (wine, cosmetics, food,..)

Where ➤ use the app (completion status, daily notifications and a Tips page are new and here to help!) ; 👉 here to receive your invitation, if you don’t yet have the app

When ➤ from September 1st to September 30th, every single day

Reward ➤ a digital book -or physical one (+1 stuff 🙃)- of our selection 🤓

What’s new in the app 📱

Here’s a resume of the past 3 weeks:

• we enabled notifications to help you keep up with your challenge

• we have a new picture crop

• there’s now a Tips page to guide you through our documenting method

• we have a new on-boarding, when you open the app for the first time

• you can set a currency by default

• you can filter your stuff (per feelings, gift or not, second hand or new, picture or not)

• you can see how many stuffs you added every day

• you can add your own brands directly from the app

• you can play with your stats (Stats page) by adding or removing tags as you wish

• we have a new Android version (10+)

Thank you Julie, Luc, Johanna, Theo, Louis-B, for sending constant feedback 🙏

Readings

I am starting this section to share the best of what we’ve been reading lately.

Book

• Essentialism, Greg McKeown
  A guide to help us discern the trivial many from the vital few, in every aspect of our lives. Can’t recommend this book enough (the kind I’ll have to read twice a year to adjust my life decisions accordingly). “Focusing on the essentials is a choice. It’s your choice. That in itself is incredibly liberating”.

Article

• The Tail End, Tim Urban [must-read ; 5 min]
  About the time we have left (illustrated!), and what we want to do with it. Still gives me goose bumps.

Quote

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. Seneca

Have a beautiful day! 🌾

Mathilde