#026 ✰ Who wouldn't want to be 10% happier
Ha, that's what I thought!
Good day to you!
I hope this email finds you well.
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. 👉 We want to be the tool that empowers your future materialistic decisions.
Out
What’s your relationship to meditation?
I wrapped up the last pages of 10% Happier by Dan Harris, few hours ago.
To me, it is a pertinent advocacy for meditation, aiming at the most skeptical, down-to-earth of us all ; an invitation to see what to expect from a meditation retreat ; as well as practical tips to get started meditating, stick in time, and the huge benefits from it.
4 quotes I liked, across the book:
The present moment is all we've got.
We live so much of our lives pushed forward by these "if only" thoughts, and yet the itch remains. The pursuit of happiness becomes the source of our unhappiness.
The brain, the organ of experience, through which our entire lives are led, can be trained. Happiness is a skill.
The biggie [about meditation] is the ability to respond instead of react to your impulses and urges.
I really enjoyed reading his retreat journaling, day after day, for ten days. Ever since a friend of us had came back from this “life-changing” experience (you know, the one where you can’t talk nor glance at anyone), couple of years ago, joining one has been (hiding really well) in a corner of my mind. In his book, Dan goes bullshit-free into what seems to have been the worst and most revealing time of his life. (I couldn’t help but update my things to do before you die list after reading the book 🙃)
But. But I had a hard time relating to the guy, Dan Harris. I liked that he seemed genuinely open about his dark sides, and transparent about every stage of his journey towards meditation, but maybe it is the TV world or the run for public recognition (on-air time), I don’t know, it didn’t stick. Until the moment he becomes less skeptical (midway through the book), I wasn’t into it. Maybe because I am not that skeptical about meditation, after all.
The first time I consciously tried meditation was at the end of November 2017. I used (and have been using) the Oak app ever since. I did not exactly know what to expect, but I was looking for a way to let go of the things I could not impact (someone else’s mindset, a decision over an application).
As I read again in Dan’s book “there is no reason to be unhappy over things you can’t impact, and there is no reason to be unhappy over things you can”. Sounds stupid, right?
But I thought I could use some help. For about eight months, I was consistently doing my five minutes daily, first thing in the morning. It tremendously helped me deal with the exciting, overwhelming (is there a stronger word?!) hustling environment that is Techstars, it made me enjoy it even better.
Then I became inconsistent (a recurring challenge of mine, I might come back to that one day) and now I am only meditating here and there, when I feel like it. I actually feel like I could use some more.
I am no longer skeptical, I won’t read it again, who needs it?
📫 💝 Anyway, I am happy to send over this book (hard copy) to someone who could benefit from it. You might want to relate to the author, i.e. workaholic, recognition-seeking, constantly moving, afraid of words like yogi or chakra, but who could definitely use a bit of wisdom to feel calmer. Somehow I must have sounded like this person during my Founders interview with the Techstars crew two years ago because that’s the book they picked for me.. 🤔🤯😅 If you feel like this person (or more like me), wave here! 👋
What’s new in the app 📱
Have you started to play with lists yet? Here are some use-case examples:
things you’re ready to give / offer (clothes that you don’t wear anymore, gear for an activity you stopped doing,..)
your favorite readings of all time (who knows, some friends might be looking over at you for inspiration)
your collection of vinyls, comic books (so that your next Xmas present comes right on point without having you to ask :))
your skateboarding [Kev] or backpack [Max] equipment (so that friends eager to start skateboarding or buy a commute backpack can have an idea of the reliable brands you’re using)
your “check-list” items for a specific kind of trip (camping, climbing, you name it)
…
Well, the way we see lists => opportunities to start conversations. You might be surprised at what you, too, can discover and learn about your friends!
What’s now? We’re working on a new flow, a new experimentation: we want to guide you towards one daily, simple action: document if you acquired something today, and get the full history over time. You will still be able to document your possessions as you please.
In
Books
10% Happier by Dan Harris [thanks Julie P]
The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick [thanks Matthieu R] is for those of us launching their product (hi 👋 ) and… falling in the trap of asking irrelevant questions to their (potential) (non) users… what.. me? Yep. 🤓
Have a beautiful weekend! 💆🏻♀️
Mathilde
