Categories
Volume 4

#416: Deeper conversations

Photo of a Think Clearly handwritten newsletter created by Mathias Jakobsen
Photo of a Think Clearly handwritten newsletter created by Mathias Jakobsen

Meaningful Conversation

Hello  amazing!

Omri  reached out to me via instant chat:” How can I have more meaningful conversations?”  Here’s one way to begin.

People

1. It’s not for everyone. Make a list of 5 to 10 people you think might be interested in going deeper.

Place

2. The place you meet has a big impact on the conversation. Draw a place that you think would be ideal. Find an actual place that is a bit like that.

Topic

3. Personal topics are good. Take them to extremes: highest ambitions, biggest fears, death.

Try it!  Practice. And hit me on chat to let me know how it goes.

With love,

Mathias

Categories
Volume 4

#414 Is your endless to-do list sucking out your energy?

Photo of a Think Clearly handwritten newsletter created by Mathias Jakobsen
Photo of a Think Clearly handwritten newsletter created by Mathias Jakobsen

 

Hello amazing!

How do you handle an endless to-do list? If it sucks the energy out of you, here’s a way you can try:

  1. Take your list or rewrite it from memory (good practice- see what is top of mind).
  2. Sort into three buckets based on best fit.

Bucket A: “Could do” (Don’t worry)

Bucket B: “Should do” (Do later)

Bucket C: “Want to do” (Creates energy)

3. Don’t worry about bucket a schedule time later for items in bucket B. And pick one item from C and enjoy doing it. Use that energy for bucket B.

With love,

Mathias

Categories
Volume 4

#413 Should you quit your job?

Photo of a Think Clearly handwritten newsletter created by Mathias Jakobsen
Photo of a Think Clearly handwritten newsletter created by Mathias Jakobsen

Hello amazing!

A friend recently asked me for advice on whether to quit this job. Stay in the well-known with good and bad or jump into the unknown.

I offered this quote from illusions by Richard Bach:

Don’t turn away from possible futures before you’re certain you don’t have anything to learn from them.

Whether my job is frustrating (it is!) I always come back to this: there is so much more to learn.

With love,

Mathias

Categories
Volume 4

#412: Create a fictional character for yourself

 

Photo of a Think Clearly handwritten newsletter created by Mathias Jakobsen
Photo of a Think Clearly handwritten newsletter created by Mathias Jakobsen

 

Hello amazing!

Imagine you are an actor and executive producer for a new TV show, and you can have the writers create and shape the fictional character to be exactly the way you want to be. Which character do you want to play?

  • Lead character or support?
  • How does he/she look? What does he/she wear?
  • What main character attributes do you want to have?
Reminder

You don’t have to be realistic- you don’t even need to try to become –? like this fantasy character. Just enjoy creating and imagining. See where it goes.

With love,

M ❤️

Categories
Volume 4

#405 How to change your beliefs (and live the life you want)

378a0fee-e888-419a-9411-547823e9553c

 

Hello amazing!
You are always free to believe anything you want to believe. Anything! Even if it directly contradicts the so-called “facts.” Their are people still don’t believe in climate change and santa claus, despite piles on evidence. Here’s how you do it:

1. What do you want to believe?(Key to happiness here. Your choice!) For example, I want to be beautiful I have beauty so why not believe I am?
2. Do you currently believe that? If not, then what exactly do you believe about the chosen topic? e.g. I believe that I am of pretty average physical appearance. (The “fact”).
3. Use creativity to invent supporting theories and beliefs that explain away any inconvenient “facts” and make it easy to believe what you stated above. e.g. “Real beauty comes through the way you smile with your eyes.” That makes it easier to believe for me. (Get creative!)
4. Lastly, if you truly believed what you stated in 2) then how would your actions and behaviours be different? For me, I would walk with better posture, and smile more. Begin acting this way, and quickly your new belief will be real.

Repeat until you’re satisfied.

With love,
Mathis

Categories
Thought on ideas

#404 Think Clearly: The freedoms of a lead singer vs a backup singer

Audience: WU HUUU!

The star:  oh yeah!

Backup singer: PU-BI-DUB

8d431277-5d8f-4b5b-acda-71aa8d6437f7

Hello amazing!

Who is more free:  the main star of the show or the backup singer? The greatest performers Live in a world that constantly tells them that it is their show: their face is on the poster. But to do a great show, they must know in their hearts that what really matters is how much they can live: give back to the audience. For the backup singer it’s opposite: publicly it’s not about you, but privately you can simply enjoy yourself in the song. This is how I currently feel at Hyper Island, where I work: because it’s not “my show,” I get to enjoyed it a lot. Where are you in your work right now? Where would you Iike to be? Why?

With love ❤️

Mathias

Categories
Volume 4

#403 Aspiring to be super-human (and not a robot)

349c2ed3-3cd9-40c4-9231-87f1dc11a7c0

Hello amazing!

I aspire to be super-human!

But sometimes I misunderstand my own intention. Super-human is not about being above or beyond the qualities that make us human:

  • Limits: physical, mental and emotional
  • Feelings and emotions
  • Warmth, love and care
  • Learning and growing
  • Creativity.

Without these we become efficient like robots. At least for me, super-human means more of all of the above. Not less. What kind of human do you aspire to be?

With love,

Mathias.

 

(Traduction française disponible)

#403 FR

Categories
Volume 4

#402 Can you avoid negative productivity?

4787d001-4c4d-4342-976e-791e7537dc1c

Hello amazing!

We talk a lot about being productive and efficient: get sh-t done. But in creative work, I think the biggest risk is not low productivity but negative productivity. That is, when what you do create more distracting work for you(and others). And you would be better off if you just stopped. This week, try to notice if you get into negative.

With love.

Mathias

 

(Traduction française disponible)

#402

Categories
Volume 4

#401 Perfectionism and true aspiration

fcb467a3-3ee7-44fe-876e-f0624e26731b

Hello amazing! And welcome to 2015. I recently found myself beating myself up for not living up to my own standards. Why? I kept telling myself that I need high standards to grow. What was missing was a perspective of time. Without time there is no aspiration, just perfectionism = focus on always being not good enough. Give yourself time.

With love,

Mathias

Categories
Volume 3

#306 Two loops for learning and growing

e59e0179-1941-419d-8160-dd01f695fb92

 

Hello Amazing!

Are you balancing your doing and thinking?

Try to map your everyday activities onto the two-loop model above. Which of the two loops is more dominant? In order to learn and grow, I think it is essential to have a mix of activities that stimulate both loops. Simply reading new stuff is not enough- but getting caught in unreflected, perpetual doing also limits you. Look at your loops. If you could add one new activity, what would it be?

With love,

Mathias

Nov 25, 2014

Categories
Volume 2

#213SPECIAL Special edition: Thank you!

HELLO AMAZING!

A few times a month, you and roughly 1800 others receive this newsletter in their inboxes. To me this is absolutely incredible, and I want to thank you for investing a little bit of time in me, in this newsletter and in yourself. In order to show my appreciation and to remind myself what 1800 people looks like I have drawn a picture of you all. Actually it’s too drawing because I couldn’t fit you all on one page. See pictures below…

[Aside]: As always, let me know if I can help.

Special Exercise: Assess Your Impact

1. Grab your notebook and a pen

2. Prepare a page 5 by drawing a beautiful frame along the edge

Draw all the people who are affected by your work

If you have 100s or 1000s, just draw stick figures

If you have your fewer, try adding details. Names, how you know them. Give them a face.

Look at each person remember that they are each real people.

With love,

Mathias