#057 ✰ Big goals or small habits
Is that another newsletter about freaking resolutions?!
Hey there 👋 I’m Mathilde. We are Objet. We explore the intersection of consumerism, myth, satisfaction, desire, taste, joy, meaning and pride. Not specifically in that order. To brag at your next dinner, Objet is the french word for 'object' and should be pronounced 'OB-JEH'.
Happy 2023!!
Towards better purchasing decisions and a healthier relationship with our surroundings 💜
Hope you’re in good shape. It’s this time of the year when I wake up at 6am, renew my Asana Rebel subscription and do 5 sessions of 30min yoga (at 6am of course), run weekly, eat Miam for breakfast (how come you don’t know what a Miam is?), go to bed early, read a book before getting asleep,… and hope this lasts forever. Towards better habits! Remember this? 👇
If you get 1% better each day for one year, you'll end up 37 times better by the time you’re done.
As I am, as we are, getting wiser with new year resolutions in general (avoiding as much as we can the trap of 0 lose -1 win games), I can’t help but use this time of the year as a trampoline into 2023. Unlike many people, it seems, I enjoy it. (A part of me always felt half-frenzied on a trampoline.)
I especially like the quiet time beforehand, when all of a sudden, noise stops. A cherished moment to pause and think without feeling that you’re falling behind.
So before rushing into any kind of over ambitious resolution, we do a ‘retro’. How can you be wiser this year without learning from what just happened? For the 5th time in a raw, on December 31st 2022, Kev and I sat down to reflect on the positive and negative moments of the year that has just passed. (We’ve used a frame from Tim Ferris that’s working just fine). Its been helping us make room for the (small) things that make us happy ; and set up boundaries for the rest.
Earlier this week, Kev, Max and I did relatively the same about Objet. Our highs, our lows, and what we’ve learnt from them. And so in 2023, we are committed to emphasize on the following 🥁
focus
Protect our time working on Objet, at all cost.impact
Obsess about the most impactful actions (let go of the rest) and hold each other accountable for doing so.consistency
Ship what we have to ship. Regularly. No excuses. Towards an always more intense pace.talk to always more users
Video calls are great. But in-person discussions SO MUCH BETTER 💕
We regularly spend time in Paris, and wanna do more of NYC this year (last time was in.. 2020 😱, a week before Covid hit ), if you’re in this or that city, reach out 👋. Excited to meet our users, connect with ambitious entrepreneurs and any other souls interested in the future of commerce!prepare meetings
Come up with ideas thought and articulated beforehand, cause this is when we’re 100x more efficient and action-driven.real holiday
I think it’s quite common for entrepreneurs to turn down the idea of holidays ; “resting is dying”. Meanwhile, grey zone sucks cause you ain’t efficient nor resting. So all in for a few, off-the-grid-well-deserved holidays.
Survey time!
I am preparing an article about how people currently deal with turning their ✨wishes✨ into actual purchases. Feel free to participate to this 1 sec survey 😉👇
Cool reads.
📰 About anti-resolutions yet easy to implement habits. Love this one, particularly:
Say ‘I don’t know’ at least 10 times a day. That will disqualify you for a career in politics but make you a better person.
📰 About avoiding ‘finish line’ goals (= you either win or lose), and the power of ‘unlesses’:
When you set a goal, creating a list of kill criteria gives you the unlesses that you need to be more rational about when it’s the right time to walk away.
📖 Essentialism, by Greg Mckeown
No more yes. It’s either Hell Yeah! Or No.
📖 Atomic Habits, by James Clear
Forget about the goal (result), focus on the system (process).
Winners and losers have the same goal.Decide who you wish to become and prove it to yourself with small, repeated wins. Act like the type of person you’re trying to be! E.g. “No thanks, I am not a smoker” instead of “No thanks, I am trying to quit”.
It’s often not a lack of motivation but a lack of clarity
”I will do [habit] at [when] in [location]”It’s less about self control than about being the the architect of your environment. Surround yourself with the right culture, reduce friction.
Automaticity : habits form based on frequency, not amount of time.
Ask How many repetitions vs How fast!Rule = Never miss twice. The first mistake is not the one that kills it, it is the repeating one. Rebound quickly. Reaffirm your identity.
Main threat is not failure but boredom.
Be well and pumped up.
Til next time,
Mathilde
