32 Life Lessons From 32 Years (Newsletter 14)

This week I turned 32 (where does time go?). My 32nd year has been full of challenges, opportunities and blessings:

• Having my online business crash from 143k to 0k.
• Switching careers from audio-focused to video-focused.
• Restarting my YouTube channel.
• Starting to grow our own food and keeping chickens and ducks.
• Getting our first family dog.
• Having our first child on the way (we’re having a baby girl!).

And that was this year alone.

It’s been a wild ride, and it’s only getting better (yes, I am an optimist to my core). Reflecting is a useful exercise and one that I'd like to share with you.

More specifically, in this newsletter, I want to share 32 life lessons or pieces of advice I’ve earned in my 32 years of life. I always thought this was a cool concept, and I’m excited to write these all out. I brainstormed well over 100 and will have more to share next year with a daughter in the picture.

I sincerely hope you find value in these lessons, condensed from my life 🙂

This is a long one and more stream-of-consciousness than usual. If I had more time this week, I would have written a shorter letter (it is birthday week, after all).

Oh, and a disclaimer before we begin. You are responsible for your actions as I am responsible for mine—this is all just advice—do whatever you want to do.

1. People Understand The World Through Stories

Stories have always played a major role in human communication, culture and understanding. Our oral and written traditions pass down rich information about where we come from, who we are, and where we may be going. They let us know we’re not alone.

The Bible and other religious texts are written with stories.

Political leaders persuade the masses with stories.

We share our stories with new and old friends to connect with them.

We tell ourselves stories all day that strongly influence the lives we live.

A great story can change our view of the world, inspire us to act, make us emotional, and teach us a tremendous amount about ourselves and the universe.

Stories connect people. I found this out the hard way when, in 2023, my mostly passive income business evaporated out of thin air.

I had spent a few years building up my blog, My New Microphone, writing about how audio equipment worked.

From the very beginning, I made a point to spare people the “fluff” of sharing any anecdotes about myself and my experience. If you’ve ever looked up a recipe online, you’ll know exactly what I was trying to avoid.

And so it was straight to the information every time.

I built that site up to 350,000 monthly page views, practically all from Google search, and no one knew anything about me.

And when Google decided to change up its algorithm due, in large part, to an influx of artificially generated content, guess who lost out.

Yup, the AI can write technical information without any personal touches, too—and at a much faster rate and a much larger scale. Work like a robot, get replaced by a robot.

Having a $10k+ monthly income stripped away in a flash is a painful lesson to learn.

This is one of my many stories to share. I go into more detail in this newsletter if you’re interested.

2. Writing Is The Best Way To Organize Your Thoughts

I’ve been a “professional” writer since 2020, earning a full-time income writing on my blog. Although I’ve earned my living by publishing my writing on the internet, the most valuable aspect of my writing habit is its ability to help organize and expand my thoughts.

This newsletter is nothing but me writing down my thoughts and reflections on my life.

We have a lot of thoughts every day. The number 70,000 thoughts per day gets thrown around a lot. That’s nearly 49 thoughts every minute, not accounting for sleep. I’m skeptical of the definition of “thought” in this commonly-referenced but rarely-sourced “stat”.

Nonetheless, there’s no shortage of thoughts going on in our conscious mind—some more productive than others.

If we don’t have a way of capturing, it makes sense that most, if not all our thoughts will pass us by as fast as they come up.

Speaking our minds is one way to formulate our thoughts into a cohesive message that can be communicated. We can opt to speak with company to get immediate feedback from our spoken words.

We can record ourselves and piece together our thoughts during recording or even by editing the audio afterward.

But the best way I’ve found to capture, examine and expand on my thoughts is writing. Being able to write (or type) things out gives me something tangible to read back and develop. It also allows me to edit the expression of ideas and even eliminate poor ideas (the delete/backspace key is essential).

I keep a notepad next to me at every workstation:

• My home studio.
• The editing suites at work (when video editing).
• The mix theatre.
• The VO studio.
• Even my bedside table.

When something important comes to mind, whether it’s a task to add to my to-do, a piece of information pertaining to any present or future projects, or an idea for something interesting, I jot it down.

This frees up mental real estate to focus on what I’m doing in the moment by getting thoughts out of my head. It also builds a backlog of ideas to either check off my to-do list, reference for later, or expand upon.

Cognitive load is a theory from instructional design that says people have trouble performing tasks and learning new things if they are trying to process too much information at once. Writing reduces the load in the present while stockpiling ideas for the future.

Writing is a necessary part of my day.

Building a “second brain” in Notion has been a game-changer for me. Being able to write out and organize my thoughts has given me a tremendous amount of clarity.

“The mind is for having ideas, not holding them.” – David Allen

In addition to strict writing, build your reference documents.

• In engineering school, we were allowed to bring a sheet of paper to our exams to reference equations.
• When designing houses, I kept a reference sheet of varying snow/rain loads of different locations, building code requirements, and typical designs for different spans of joists and trusses.
• For my music production, I organize my samples, instruments and ideas.
• For video production, I organize my go-to effects and plugins for easy application.

3. Each And Every Person Knows Something You Don’t

Like most young people, I went through a phase of “knowing everything”.

I graduated from university at 19, I partied a lot, my circle of friends were very critical of the system we called culture. We had it all figured out and everybody going about their “normal lives” just didn’t get it. And yet looking back, I knew nothing of the world.

If I could go back to my 16-24-year-old self, I’d tell him that wise men know they know nothing at all—and he wouldn’t listen.

And yet, even the younger version of myself knew things that you don’t. Hell, some of my perspectives then would even feel “new” to me now.

Everyone is an individual with their own unique set of perspectives, ideas, interests, values, principles, skills, strengths and weaknesses. Everyone has something you don’t, and therefore, you can learn from anyone and everyone.

Being open and able to consider multiple perspectives is a big part of critical thinking. My advice (primarily to myself) is to not cut off the potential source of these perspectives. Respect the viewpoints and teachings of others.

In fact, people with different beliefs and worldviews can offer you paradigm-shifting advice. Even if they don't mean to teach you, you can pick up information from them by observing and listening.

I understand that, as human beings, we’re tribal by nature. However, writing off others' opinions because you don’t agree with them on most things is not benefitting you. I see this when politics are involved and it’s a major peeve of mine.

4. Personal Branding Is The New Digital Economy

I’ve been a “creator” in the digital economy since 2017 with my very first blog (Arthur Fox Music). I started my first successful blog in 2018 (My New Microphone), which began replacing my full-time income with passive income in 2020.

This, admittedly, was due in large part to the pandemic and people flooding to the internet for everything, but I digress.

We were living the good life. I’d research audio equipment, write detailed information on how it works, supplement the content with “best of” lists, and earn money through advertisements and affiliate marketing.

Google showed my content to searchers, and nobody had to know anything about me. It was perfect.

We moved to Australia for a bit, came back to Canada and bought a house, got married, and vacationed in Nevada and Arizona and then Chile and Argentina.

That all came to an end in 2023 when Google rolled out its “Helpful Content Update”. Within a month, traffic dropped off the map and we were living off of savings.

After a significant amount of frustration and anger, I can look at this with a clear head.

No one wants to follow a glorified search engine with a face on it—that’s what My New Microphone was. I wasn’t truly creating something of much value.

But with personal branding, I can talk about my interests, attract like-minded people (like you reading this), and exchange value with you.

People connect with people, and connection is one of the most valuable things in the world.

I can solve my own problems, which will likely translate to helping you solve your problems, and deliver value to you in doing so.

By the way, now that I’m putting myself out there, I have so much more respect for those who earn a living “being themselves” on the Internet. It’s intimidating and hard work, and those who do it well and provide real value to people have my respect.

5. Be Nice. The World Is Small

Your reputation precedes you. I’ve worked in media for nearly a decade, first as an audio engineer and now as more of a “jack of all trades”.

Whether it was through employment or freelancing, I had to build up my reputation as someone who

1. Did good work.
2. Was reliable.
3. Was easy to get along with (I’m glad I got into this industry at 22 rather than 19)!

Every producer (or anyone who was responsible for hiring people) I met and spent enough time with eventually shared the following sentiment: “I’d rather work with someone who does a good job and who I can get along with than someone who does a great job and I can’t stand”.

And if you do great work and can get along with people, you’ll be set.

Of course, there are times to stand your ground—I’d never suggest being a pushover (that’s worse than being a prick, in my opinion).

Rather, what I’m saying is learning to act co-operatively in the workforce, understand social dynamics (make a joke, take a joke, know when to speak and when to listen), and not be outwardly unpleasant go a long way in life.

6. Psychology And Physiology Are Bidirectional

I won’t get into the arguments for and against dualism (the philosophical concept that the mind is separate from the body, and therefore mental phenomena are not physical in nature and vice versa).

However, from my experience, the body (what I’ll call physiology) and mind (what I’ll call psychology) are deeply connected and influence each other. Our thoughts and emotions influence our physical body and vice versa.

For one, our brains are literally part of our body. Beyond that, there’s growing scientific research around the gut-brain axis, a two-way communication between the digestive system and central nervous system.

In other words, they're connected physically and chemically.

Here are a few things I’ve noticed in my life:

• If I want to feel more focused, exercise and a clean diet are a must.
• If I want to feel more confident, it’s often as simple as standing up straight with my shoulders back.
• Injuries, especially neck and back injuries, lead to poor focus and lower confidence.
• Too little sleep leads to poor focus and irritability (the body can’t support the mind).
• Too much sleep also leads to poor focus and irritability (the mind is trying to make up for lost time to keep everything in balance, which leads to stress—this is something I have to work on).
• If I’m feeling low-energy, exercise is a near-instant remedy.
• If I eat too much, I get mentally sluggish (energy is going toward digestion rather than mental focus).

As a kid, I believed that I was my brain that just so happened to have my body. At 32, I know that to be false.

7. We Are A Part Of Nature, Not Apart From Nature

As humans, we love our right angles, constant temperature, machinery, computers and other technology.

It can be easy to forget that we are part of nature, as we work away on our computers or workshops, commute in our cars or via bus or train, only to retire for the night in our beds.

Some of the freest, happiest people I’ve met were the hiking guides in Patagonia. Their work days were spent exploring nature, hiking up mountains, through short forests and around lakes, and spotting wildlife in the process. And if you’ve never been to Patagonia, the changes in weather throughout the year and within a day will give you plenty of different looks and experiences.

We don’t have to spend our lives as hiking guides. We don’t even have to hike (though I love hiking and my wife even has a great hiking blog at Hikers' Movement).

But spending even a few hours a week in nature can provide us with immense benefits in both mental and physical health (remember they are deeply connected).

This has been true for me. When I'm consistently spending time outdoors, I feel calmer, more focused, more tired by bedtime and more rested by morning, and healthier overall.

My wife and I traded the busy city life for a house in the woods—we can’t even see our neighbours through the trees.

In the winter, we’re snowshoeing in the forest on our property. In the summertime, we’re out on the many beautiful trails in our home province.

8. Memories Bloom

Even the toughest times can be looked back upon with a smile.

It’s been my experience that no matter how hard the present may be, there will be a time in the future when I can reflect and find the good in the situation.

Whether it was the lessons learned, the good parts interspersed within the “bad”, or the art I created as a result. It could even be the distortion of memory that makes things seem better than they were at the time.

Perhaps I’m an optimist and other people don’t experience this. I can only speak for myself. Nonetheless, my understanding that memories “bloom” has been invaluable in my life.

It’s this belief that has made it so bad times don’t seem as bad as they’re happening anymore.

9. You Attract Success Into Your Life

“You can have more than you’ve got because you can become more than you are. Success is not something you pursue. It’s something you attract by becoming attractive.” – Jim Rohn

All our lives we’re told to pursue things.

• Our goals (whether they’re truly ours or only assigned to us).
• Success (often material—the house with the white picket fence).
• Relationships.
• Status.

Yes, we need goals to frame our world and conscious action toward achieving those goals.

However, I’ve found the pursuit of goals to be exhausting and short-lived. There’s this sense of urgency and desperation. It leads to burn-out, superficial results, and counterproductive activities to offset the hard work and focus during the pursuit.

Sure, we do learn from doing the actions involved in pursuing, but I don’t find it as effective or efficient as attracting success into our lives.

We only really have control over ourselves. We can strive and strive and strive for external success, but that’s not for us to decide.

However, if we can become successful internally, we’ll automatically attract success externally.

10. Practice Stoicism

“You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realize this and you will find great strength.”—Marcus Aurelius

I came across stoic philosophy in my early 20s.

I’m not a big philosophy nerd (I save that for music production and music theory), though I am certainly interested in different life philosophies.

Stoicism is the only one I’m mostly aligned with (though practice is more difficult than conceptual agreement).

Without diving too deep (I’ll eventually do a deep dive in another letter), here are the core tenets of stoicism that resonate with me:

• We cannot control the external, only the internal.  
  • Good and bad things happen outside of my control all the time and I do my best not to stress them either way. I do, however, take them into account in controlling my own thoughts, actions, opinions, decisions and responsibilities.
• True happiness comes from within (our virtue) rather than the outside world of things. Notably, the four cardinal virtues are:  
  • Wisdom: having knowledge that informs proper action in the world.
  • Courage: among many other things, is to hold to my principles, even when others get away with or are rewarded for disregarding mine or even their own.
  • Temperance: having self-control, knowing that abundance comes from having what is essential.
  • Justice: to do no harm to others and to act for the greater good of humanity.
• Progress over perfection.  
  • The art of living is about continual improvement. Not perfection.
  • We should listen to our emotions, but not necessarily act upon them (having wisdom). We should also work toward eliminating toxic emotions by acting productively in the world.
  • “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good” is a great quote to sum this point up.
• Live according to nature.  
  • God (the Universe) is not transcendent of or above nature, but rather synonymous with it. We are each part of nature and should align ourselves with it through our roles in family and society.
  • This tenet has led me to study evolution, which helps me frame my diet, exercise, seasonal activities, and more.

Each of these points goes much deeper and is easier to talk about than to actually act out in the world. I’ve likely diverged from the original thinking quite a bit, but this is largely how I’ve understood and implemented stoic philosophy in my life.

11. Your Network Is Important For Success

I’m a professional audio engineer. I’ve worked in radio, TV/internet broadcast, film, TV, advertising, video games, and pretty much everything else (and in nearly every role) that has an audio component.

I’ve observed something in these industries that extends to practically every other industry as well:

• The client has the money.
• The producers earn the money.
• The technicians get their small share of the money.

In a more corporate structure, this would be:

• The company has the money.
• The officers and managers earn the money.
• The employees being managed get their small share of the money.

I’ve worked with brilliant technicians (audio, video, lighting, costume, makeup) who drive around in beat-up Civics and Corollas.

I’ve worked with producers who drive around brand-new Audis and Mercedes.

This is not a judgement. Just an observation.

In high school, I didn’t enroll in an Entrepreneurship class.

For one, I went to a very small school and the prerequisite courses for civil engineering happened in the same course slot.

For two, I wasn’t interested in the popularity contest—the popular kids sold the most stuff every year, without fail. I was smart (so I thought) and would make my money being either an engineer or architect, not a “popular” businessperson.

In university, studying civil engineering, there was an incredibly annoying kid on the same floor as me. I’ll spare the details, but other than what a general ass he was, I remember one other thing from him. A one-liner that, once I actually considered objectively, rang true:

“Engineers work for businessmen, and it’s not the engineers making the money.”

Engineers are among the most technically proficient people on the planet.

Businessmen understand the power of networking, influence and money.

Engineers are fantastic at solving problems.

Businessmen are fantastic at finding the right (profitable) problems to solve.

They understand the importance of having a network of people to do business with and who have the money to make things happen.

And because they’ve built up their network and skills, they earn more money.

You can judge this as being good or bad. I see it as a difference in skills and the reality of the world (and I do my best to function within reality).

But this is not only true of business owners. Even as freelance technicians, we get calls for jobs largely based on word of mouth (our network and how we’ve worked with others in the past) versus our portfolio (the results of what we’ve done).

Of course, we need both, but networking is key in nearly every line of work.

We’re tribal/social creatures, so this comes as no surprise.

A brief tangent on the note of having people to do business with:

An engaged audience is key for this new digital economy. The more people who interact and gain value from my content, the greater my financial reward.

If you do great work, are easy to work with, and can find people to work with or sell to, you'll be set.

“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”—Zig Ziglar

12. Walking Is As Close To A “Cure-All” As We Can Get

I’ll keep this one as simple as walking is:

Want to lose weight? Walk.

Want to improve your overall health? Walk.

Want to clear your mind? Walk.

Want to connect with Nature? Walk.

Want to see the world? Walk.

Want to meet the neighbours? Walk.

My aim is 10,000 steps a day. When I reach that goal, I feel a hell of a lot better about myself and the world than when I don’t.

13. 10,000 Iterations (More Than 10,000 Hours)

The “10,000-Hour Rule” has been popularized and oversimplified to the point of semantic shift.

Malcolm Gladwell brought this idea to the masses with his book Outliers.

As the proverbial pendulum swings the other way, the “debunking” of this rule is now equally as common with a simple web search.

Anders Ericsson first brought forth the idea of “10,000 Hours” in a publication where he shared his findings that top performers at Berlin Music Academy had 10,000 hours of practice by age 20.

In an interview with The Psych Report (now Behavioral Scientist) (source), Ericsson states “We don’t think there was anything magical about 10,000 hours. The point that we were trying to make was that even the most talented individuals, in order to reach the highest levels, spent tremendous amounts of time working and practicing by themselves”.

Nothing you do is going to be great the first time.

There are few things I’ve done for more than 10,000 hours.

• Running sessions (VO and ADR).
• Playing guitar.
• Producing music.
• Lifting weights.
• Hiking.
• Writing.

I still don’t believe I’m an expert in any of these fields.

“The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.”—Aristotle

10,000 hours doing the same thing over and over will get you good at doing that one thing.

But if that thing is pointing you away from your goals, it’s not much use.

If you do the same thing you've always done, you'll get the same results you've always gotten, even if you do so for 10,000 hours.

Rather, the best way to continually improvise is to continually iterate on your process, making it better and better.

Experimenting with how we do things is the best way to learn what works and what doesn’t work. Double down on what works—you’ll do just fine!

14. Resentment Is Poison

“Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die”—Saint Augustine

In my 32 years, I’ve noticed a clear distinction between people who hold grudges and people who allow themselves to let things go.

Those who hold grudges bear this weight that others can feel.

I stay away from resentful people. They’re awful to be around and will undoubtedly eventually resent me. That’s not a game I’m interested in playing.

What a person says about others says more about that person than it does about the others.

I’m by no means perfect in this, but I try my best to not be resentful.

To forgive but not to forget.

Mind you, I rid myself of the situations and people I would otherwise feel resentment toward. This is easier for some than others. We all have different life circumstances to deal with.

There are a few hard lines that warrant this in my opinion:

• Cheating.
• Stealing.
• Physical abuse.
• Ongoing psychological abuse (I’d argue that most psychological traits are unconscious and we all partake in this to some degree—it’s when it’s chronic that it’s a real issue).

If we can learn to let the sh*t go, we can live much freer lives.

15. Fasting = Healing

Fasting is one of the oldest religious practices in human history and is still practiced worldwide today. There’s immense wisdom to be found in that.

Autophagy is the recycling of old and damaged cells in the body. It’s a natural way for us to rid of toxic material in the body while salvaging the good stuff and strengthening our existing healthy cells.

Autophagy begins kicking up at around 16-18 hours of fasting, which is a big reason I do intermittent fasting.

In 2019, I began experimenting with extended fasting. I had been suffering from digestive distress and decided to test my own remedy. I’m fairly skeptical of the healthcare system when it comes to general health (perhaps a topic for another letter), so I often do my own experiments and research.

I started with OMAD (one meal a day), then one meal every two days, and eventually got to 72-hour fasting windows.

I made sure to drink electrolytes in my water to not dehydrate myself.

The hunger pangs go away whether we address them or not.

I felt great focus and periodic euphoria.

My gut issues went away (and stayed gone after I started eating “normally” again).

And I could still train in the gym and Muay Thai, though my lifts went down and I dropped a few weight classes.

Now any time I'm feeling off for an extended amount of time, fasting is a tool I take into consideration. Sometimes it's hydration, sleep or time in nature that will do the trick—other times, it's the simple (though not easy) process of fasting that heals the body.

16. Food Is Spiritual

During my time doing prolonged fasting, my meals became much more conscious. I planned them out to ensure I was getting enough protein and fat, and not so many carbs to spike my blood sugar too high.

Eating became about what it’s supposed to be about: nourishment. Instead of something to do when feeling bored, unfocused or “just because”.

When I ate, I sat down and took my time. I wasn’t slamming a calorie-heavy drink or fast food on my way to work.

This started me down a more spiritual relationship ship with food.

My wife and I started growing our own vegetables shortly after. The time and care that goes into growing your own veggies really makes you appreciate them.

Now we have ducks and chickens, a full garden, and fruit trees.

Animals are a big step up. Tending to them is a daily practice. We care for them and they provide us with eggs and, in some cases, meat.

Fishing and hunting are also big parts of the culture where I live, which has recently piqued my interest.

Taking part in these activities and indeed this way of life has connected me much more deeply to food than a supermarket ever could.

It also makes me appreciate the supply chains. In my research of food, I began feeling pretty upset about all the hormones, pesticides, insecticides, and processing (along with poor soil and living conditions) in the system.

It’s still deeply upsetting, but I can understand that we need to feed a lot of people on the planet and that this is part of that system.

Growing your own food is very challenging (especially doing so organically in colder climates). I’m very grateful for the local shops that can provide food for me and the community.

Furthermore, food can be medicine or poison. I’ll leave it at that- I’m sure you can figure out what's poison versus medicine.

17. Choose A Woman (Or Man) Who Chooses You

I put this one at 17 since my wife and I started dating in 2017. I love my wife, she’s my biggest fan and most sincere critic. In other words, she helps keep me on track. We help each other.

Similar to my belief that we attract success into our lives, I also believe that we must attract our significant other into our lives by becoming the right person for them.

I never clicked with the whole “pickup artist” or “game” or most dating advice online. It all seemed so manipulative and predatory.

I did, however, resonate strongly with David Deida’s book The Way Of The Superior Man, which features a chapter titled “Choose A Woman Who Chooses You”. Here’s an excerpt:

“If a man wants a woman who doesn’t want him, he cannot win. His neediness will undermine any possible relationship, and his woman will never be able to trust him. A man must determine whether a woman really wants him but is playing hard to get, or whether she really doesn’t want him. If she doesn’t want him, he should immediately cease pursuing her and deal with his pain by himself.”—David Deida

My wife likes to joke around that she “stalked me”, showing up to multiple gigs in a single week (during my days playing in Blunt Cousin).

At that point, I was single and had dedicated myself wholeheartedly to self-improvement. We clicked immediately and have been inseparable ever since. Her feminine beauty fuels my soul each and every day.

18. Become A Deep Generalist

Allow me an oxymoron for a moment.

To be a generalist is to have many genuine interests and develop skills in those areas.

To go deep is to move beyond the fundamentals and build advanced skills and understanding of a topic.

Deep generalism isn’t about being the best at everything you do. Rather, it’s about building a map of fundamentals across each of your curiosities that all interconnect with each other. It’s about uncovering the universe by understanding the links between as many parts as possible.

I fell into the “specialization trap” when working on My New Microphone. I shied from learning anything but online business and audio equipment. If it wasn’t having to do with growing the business, I lost interest. And to that extent, I suffered.

I’ve re-ordered my life and have been much happier since that venture failed. Sure, the income was great, but I believe I can contribute to myself, my readers and the world much better by becoming a more well-rounded individual.

I’m not saying don’t specialize. Becoming an expert can be deeply fulfilling. I’m only suggesting not to cut yourself off from other interests to only focus on your area of expertise.

I love this quote from Robert A. Heinlein that sums this up nicely:

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”—Robert A. Heinlein 

19. Nothing Is Permanent

Life, itself is impermanent.

The good, the bad (or what we label as “good” and “bad”), and everything else is only temporary. This goes for external events and internal events.

The Persian adage of “this too shall pass” is an important one to remind ourselves of in times of trouble, and even more so in times of success. Life comes in seasons and if we are ill-prepared or unexpecting, these shifts can throw us off the path.

“It is not impermanence that makes us suffer. What makes us suffer is wanting things to be permanent when they are not. We need to learn to appreciate the value of impermanence. If we are in good health and are aware of impermanence, we will take good care of ourselves. When we know that the person we love is impermanent, we will cherish our beloved all the more. Impermanence teaches us to respect and value every moment and all the precious things around us and inside of us. When we practice mindfulness of impermanence, we become fresher and more loving.”―Thich Nhat Hanh

As morose as it might read, it’s somewhat comforting to know that I’m mortal. Nothing is as serious as finality, and I can find joy in knowing that nothing, including my life, is permanent.

At the same time, being consciously aware of the end is a great way to prioritize things in life. If we only have a set amount of time, what’s really important?

The present is the only time in existence (at least in our three-dimensional reality). The past is made of memories andthe future is only a concept. Of course, the past and future are important, but only in as much as they influence the present moment.

20. Focus On Results Produced, Not Time Spent

This was an important lesson I learned while studying entrepreneurship. It seems so obvious now, but it wasn’t at the time.

Perhaps it was the Protestant work ethic that states the “lowly” workman has a noble vocation which he can fulfill through dedication to his work. I was raised, albeit somewhat half-heartedly, as a Protestant.

My father worked hard, and without a college degree, gave us a damn good childhood. He was home enough to help raise us right, and we always had food on the table, were able to play hockey, and do whatever other hobbies we were interested in.

And I had a great childhood. I was completely happy with this system. There’s no problem with this way of life.

Of course, the economy is different now, and definitely different from that of my father’s father and his father. On one hand, it’s tougher to rely strictly on hard work to get ahead. On the other, it’s never been easier to leverage technology to earn more.

When I got into online business and “working for myself”, this work ethic quickly led to burnout. I found myself overdoing it without any hard “closing time”.

The odd thing was, however, that by consciously forcing myself to work less and rest more, I was able to produce the same quality and quantity of work.

At a job, taking less time for equal or better results might lead to an increased workload (often without a comparable increase in wage). When working for yourself, it’s a golden ticket to the good life.

Work less and earn more is a great motto to adopt. Focusing on results rather than the time spent working is a great way to put that into practice.

21. Life Is About Purpose, Not Happiness

Happiness is a fleeting emotion and not a state I strive for.

For happiness to exist, we need opposing emotions (let’s call the main one “sadness”). If we were happy all the time, we would cease to be happy. It has no meaning without a separate point of reference.

“Sunny days wouldn't be so special if it wasn't for rain
Joy wouldn't feel so good if it wasn't for pain”—50 Cent

I’ve found that chasing happiness, itself, is counterproductive.

First, it can easily be confused with pleasure, which leads to hedonistic behaviours and outlooks.

Second, chasing anything means that something is lacking in the now, and since the now (the present moment) is the only time that actually exists, chasing happiness is a surefire way to not be happy.

Happiness is great. It’s a sign that things are going well. But it’s ultimately fleeting. It comes and goes the same way all other emotions do.

So the all-too-common advice of “do what makes you happy” comes from a helpful place, but is flawed in my opinion.

I much prefer living with a purpose and devoting myself to that purpose. It gives direction and challenge, allowing us to find “happiness” even through the most challenging times.

And our purpose will change as we move through life, hopefully becoming more and more aligned with who we trulyare. It’s in this process of uncovering deeper and deeper purposes that I, personally, experience the most true happiness.

22. Gratitude = Happiness

Speaking of happiness. If you want to be happier, practice more gratitude.

I have a habit of writing down 5 goals and 5 things I’m grateful for every day. It’s a simple habit that frames my mind for action (toward the goals) and happiness (because of the good things in life).

The reason this works gets back to the point I made earlier on “chasing” happiness.

Chasing means there’s a lack in the now.

Being grateful means we have an abundance of the good in the now, which is ultimately happiness.

23. The Gym Builds Character

I was involved in sports as a kid, namely hockey (yes, I’m Canadian) and soccer. As an adult, I got into Muay Thai and boxing. But the only sport I’ve ever truly devoted myself to has been weight training.

It started as a fun hobby with friends in high school, and who doesn’t want to be ripped in high school? It was something to do that didn’t involve partying, and felt great. I never really took it that seriously, but I started to develop the habit.

Then I started my university career and dedicated most of my time to study. Engineering school demanded a lot, and I didn’t bother showing up to class much, so I spent a lot of time reading and studying in my room. In this phase of life, partying came before training, and I felt it in more than just the physical.

My mood was low, my grades were low, partying was never that much fun, and I put on the dreaded “freshman 15”. In many ways, it was a spiritual and physical low point.

I graduated from university with my diploma in civil engineering at 19 years old (the legal drinking age in my province) and continued partying for the next bit. I lived in a 3-bedroom apartment with 7 other people and basically got nothing done.

I had enough after about 6 months and was out of there, back home with my parents after 8 months. I started working under an engineer designing truss, wall and floor systems. Having nothing better to do after work, I started hitting the gym hard.

I cleaned up my diet, my sleep, and my partying. I got deeper into philosophy and music production. I gained more confidence and made new friends. I built character that has stayed with me to this day.

The best part about the gym is that you begin seeing results pretty quickly. The newby gains are real and it’s this progress that built my confidence in other areas of life. The big benefits of getting into the gym are:

• The discipline of sticking to a workout regimen.
• The strength and bodybuilding aspect.
• The energy outlet (kept me out of trouble).
• The paths of study concerning the human body (exercise, nutrition, sleep, etc.).
• The mental clarity that comes from it.
• The people you meet.
• The confidence that comes from breaking personal bests and pushing through the pain during exercise.

At 32, I’m not maxing out my deadlifts at every opportunity (though they are still my favourite exercise). But I still exercise regularly, and even the toughest days are deeply enjoyable (during the workout and especially afterward).

24. Shallow Purposes Make For Great Starting Points

I’d be lying if I wrote that I didn’t get into the gym for shallow reasons. Being cool and looking good were definitely driving factors.

And I think the gym is a perfect example of how shallow purposes make for great starting points.

I got into the gym mostly for vanity reasons. I was always small for my grade (4’11 and 95 lbs on my first day of high school) and I wanted to put on weight to hold my own. I also wanted to look good to impress the girls in my school.

Those purposes are shallow, sure, but they’re totally normal and I even encourage them. As we grow, it can be easy to discount such shallow reasons. But in reality, we have to dive through the shallow to reach the deep.

In the gym example, these shallow goals were strong enough to get me started.

Once started, I realized how much deeper weight training could go. My reasons and goals changed from vane pursuits to creative exercise challenges, to nutrition experimentation, to mental health, and even to the philosophy of exercise.

25. Life Comes In Seasons

Life is cyclical in nature. We breathe in and we breathe out. We sleep, we wake. The sun rises and the sun sets. Theseasons of winter, spring, summer and fall repeat.

Life also has its seasons. We won’t act, feel or be a certain way forever, nor will we trend in the same direction forever.

Furthermore, our loved ones are also experiencing their own seasons and we all are affected by collective seasons.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of always striving for more and more and more, only to fall even harder when we stagnate or move backward in our goals.

Each season of life comes with its own responsibilities, challenges, goals and achievements. The ebb and flow of life is what makes it interesting. We should expect these ups and downs in everything from productivity, creativity, health, relationships, wealth, and overall contentment/happiness with life.

26. Find Mentors In Everything You Do

Finding mentors is easier than ever with the internet. I hope to be a mentor to as many people as possible.

For the longest time, I was that stubborn young man who knew everything. That stifled my potential for far too long. It wasn’t until I began trusting and actually seeking others for help and guidance that my life started moving forwardtoward my goals.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have spent time with great people who have mentored me in real life. Though, unless you’re paying for lessons, acting as an apprentice, or otherwise have access to your mentor(s) regularly, this can be a bit difficult. People are busy, especially people who are specialized in their skills.

Fortunately, we have tonnes of books to choose from from a wide variety of mentors. For any topic you’re interested in learning about, there are likely a few books on it. Years of experience can be condensed into relatively few pages. A good book can radically change your life.

And, of course, we’re spoiled with the Internet and all the free and paid content available. There are so many creatorssharing their knowledge and perspective on your interests and potential interests.  I include myself in this and have courses and ebooks available as well as my website and YouTube channel.

27. Language Opens Your World

Language is a tool for pointing to things in the universe. The greater our vocabulary, the greater our ability to understand and interact with everything.

I’ve found this to be as true of English, French, coding, mathematics, music and even body language.

Having a strong grasp of language makes complex ideas easy to comprehend, recognize and anticipate.

It’s also obviously a means of communication.

I’ve made plenty of friends by being entertaining with the English language. I’ve been able to negotiate and work alongside my French peers. Math has helped me help others with both simple and complex problems and informed my peer group at university (fellow engineering students). Most of my closest friends and I have bonded over music. Coding and body language haven’t played as big a role in my life personally, though they’ve been on the periphery of my interests for a while.

As an added bonus, living in Canada, where French is an official language, I’ve been blessed to be bilingual. It’s gottenme opportunities over harder workers and smarter peers simply because I understand French.

28. All Systems Tend Toward Entropy

Energy is required to keep things running smoothly. It’s not enough to build our systems. We must maintain them.

Entropy is the degree of disorder or randomness in the system. The second law of thermodynamics (I first learned this in university) states that entropy always increases with time.

The easiest example I can think of is a room in a house.

As a kid, my bed was never made (it was easier to get into and out of that way), and there were always Legos on the floor (they were easier to play with when they were already out). I couldn’t do that today. It's not OCD, it's the understanding that entropy in one area of life affects all other areas.

Let’s take my home studio room more specifically.

I have a few maintenance tasks in place in my bedroom studio:

• Clean my desk before filming (a few times per week).
• Sweep the floor weekly.
• Declutter weekly.
• Organize my hard drives weekly.
• Return books to my bookshelf monthly.

If I didn’t do those things, my room would be alright for a week or two, but the dog hair, coffee mugs and dust would start piling up. Furthermore, my hard drives would slowly get more and more disorganized until finding my files would become unmanageable.

This is also true of the mind with what I call “mental entropy”. We’re all naturally curious creatures, but continuously filling our minds with information without organization will lead to overwhelm.

That’s why I note things down, whether it’s in English, drawing, or audio. It’s a great way to utilize language to keep my mind organized and reduce entropy.

Understanding this universal law helps me to understand the necessity for organization.

29. Create The Art You Want To Create

This is essentially an extension of “Be the change you want in the world”.

Life is short, and art is a powerful tool for self-expression. Why not use it to its fullest? It helps you find out who you truly are and gives you something that is uniquely representative of every part of your being.

Early in my career, I helped build a fairly extensive library of stock music. It was a great experience to learn how to write, record and mix songs quickly. However, it all lacked passion and creativity.

To me, stock music isn’t “real” art—it’s a commodity.

As an artist, it’s far more fulfilling to create art from your legitimate being—your mind, body and soul, than to create in any other way.

Of course, imitating has its place, especially when learning. But to truly become an artist, I believe it’s paramount that you tap into your infinite creativity and, in the case of music, develop your unique sound.

30. The Fundamentals Account For Most Of Our Success

The Pareto Principle, otherwise known as the 80/20 Rule, states that for many outcomes, 80% of our results come from 20% of causes.

It’s kind of taken for granted as a general rule at this point and actually holds true in many cases if you’re interested in researching it yourself.

While this may not apply directly to the fundamentals of every subject, it paints the picture.

If we can master the fundamentals of anything, we can become successful in that thing. Not only does this give us a strong foundation to build upon in the specific subject. It also gives us connections to the fundamentals of other subjects—it’s amazing how many dots we can connect when we look for them.

I’ve found this to be true of both general knowledge and of tools/technology.

And so now, whenever I want to learn something new or expand my knowledge on a certain topic, I focus on the fundamentals. Find mentors (whether in books, real life or through online courses) to teach the fundamentals they, themselves, have mastered.

I never used to do this, believing I was “too smart” or “too creative” to be taught by someone else. I didn’t get along well with my university professors and I wasted so much time “teaching” myself music production through trial and error.

31. Social Media Is What You Make It

I used to think social media was toxic.

I’d scroll for a half hour and most of my internal dialogue was something along the lines of “I don’t give a f***, next” on repeat.

Combine this with the data farming and overbearing advertising, and I had all the reasons to quit social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) in 2018.

I still used YouTube quite a bit, but I found it to be more easily programmed to feed me content that would benefit my life rather than act as a distraction.

Today, the algorithms are pretty sophisticated. They feed us more of what we’re interested in. They’re based on human psychology, designed to give you more of what you want (whether you’re explicit about what you want or not).

Of course, this is not only designed to improve your experience on these apps/sites. It’s also done to keep you on the platforms for as long as possible (if you’re not paying for the product, then you are the product).

Again, I'm not trying to pass judgement. I'm only providing my perspective.

Sure, I could open up X from a new account and be inundated with political theatre. However, if I spend a bit of time working things out (blocking what could be deemed “toxic” and only interacting with what I’m genuinely curious about, then I’ll get more of what I want).

Most people are on some form of social media, and it’s a powerful tool for connecting with like-minded individuals.

Like everything else in life, it is what you make it.

32. Do The Thing To Have The Power

“The law of nature is: Do the thing, and you shall have the power, but they who do not the thing have not the power.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Inertia is the natural tendency of objects in motion to stay in motion and objects at rest to stay at rest.

The mental inertia I feel when learning something new or starting a new project is real. Motivation can only get us so far in our efforts, and this saying helps me overcome that initial resistance to get myself into action.

Currently, I’m applying this to Adobe After Effects by taking on a freelance project. This will frame my actions and, in seeking the knowledge and skills required to complete the project, I will learn many of the fundamentals of the software.

You don’t gain mastery by reading about it. You gain it by doing.

“You are what you do, not what you say you do.”—Carl Jung

“If you live it, you know it”—T. Harv Eker

Recap

Alright, that’s a long one. Before I sign off, here’s a quick list of the 32 lessons I’ve learned in 32 years:

1. People Understand The World Through Stories
2. Writing Is The Best Way To Organize Your Thoughts
3. Each And Every Person Knows Something You Don’t
4. Personal Branding Is The New Digital Economy
5. Be Nice. The World Is Small
6. Psychology And Physiology Are Bidirectional
7. We Are A Part Of Nature, Not Apart From Nature
8. Memories Bloom
9. You Attract Success Into Your Life
10. Practice Stoicism
11. Your Network Is Important For Success
12. Walking Is As Close To A “Cure-All” As We Can Get
13. 10,000 Iterations (More Than 10,000 Hours)
14. Resentment Is Poison
15. Fasting = Healing
16. Food Is Spiritual
17. Choose A Woman (Or Man) Who Chooses You
18. Become A Deep Generalist
19. Nothing Is Permanent
20. Focus On Results Produced, Not Time Spent
21. Life Is About Purpose, Not Happiness
22. Gratitude = Happiness
23. The Gym Builds Character
24. Shallow Purposes Make For Great Starting Points
25. Life Comes In Seasons
26. Find Mentors In Everything You Do
27. Language Opens Your World
28. All Systems Tend Toward Entropy
29. Create The Art You Want To Create
30. The Fundamentals Account For Most Of Our Success
31. Social Media Is What You Make It
32. Do The Thing To Have The Power

I hope you’ve found this educational, inspirational or entertaining. I’ll make next week’s letter a bit shorter, I promise!

‘Til then,

-Art