--- Cheers to the second edition of _Weekly Wondering_, a sacred time where I share the resonating links, reflections and learnings from my past week to influence your next one ;) ### **✨** In My Life With my fluctuating short-term priorities and wide range of interests, I’ve somewhat used this week to continue exploring what I want to focus on. I checked off my tasks but failed **miserably** on my daily routines, which I’m not upset about as it was traded for novel experiences not possible from strict scheduling. Looking back, I think it’s nice to switch between weeks of focused outputs with weeks of exploration. I just wished I overcame writer’s block and wrote more, so I guess that will be the focus of this week: brand development and writing, with a hint of coding and learning 🙂 I’ve also started to dip my toes into building a chrome extension in preparation for any startup ideas ;) ### **🔗** Links to Thinks After learning nothing from my Medium and Twitter browsings last week, I turned to some longer-form media to explore new ideas and insights. 🧠 **Building a second brain** has revolutionized my life. If you haven’t already, you should start leveraging the countless tools online to outsource your mental load. I’ve started to read Tiago Forte’s book to fill my gaps, and I found his [summary](https://fortelabs.co/blog/basboverview/) to be a good place to start! ✍️ **To improve your thinking skills** and actually retain the information you consume, check out Tiago’s book summary workflow. Despite reading and taking notes for over 60 books, his in-depth explanations and reasoning for summarizing content left me with some key takeaways and a new perspective on how to take notes. 👨‍🦲 **I’ve shaved my head recently** to finally not care about external opinions, a statement to express my true self and work towards self-actualization. The path is still a bit unknown, but Dan Koe’s [post on the topic](https://thedankoe.com/how-to-finally-stop-caring-what-other-people-think/) has given me some further resources to check out. 🧬 Andrew Huberman, my favorite neuroscientist, talked about the behavior of [[Dopamine]] and how we can best leverage it in Jocko Willink’s podcast. 🌌 **I was a late bloomer** and finally watched [[Everything everywhere all at once]] Riddled with irregular comedy, psychedelic visuals, and philosophic exploration, the 2 hours felt like a day-long voyage into the human condition. I’m not a fan of movies, but this blew me away. No words came out of my mouth for the next 10 minutes as I just existed and absorbed the myriad of thoughts and intricacies. ### **🚀** Trying New Things 💪 **I decided to join** a “tough love” group, and am currently in my third week. How tough is tough? You get kicked for not achieving the weekly goals you set out to do, for not checking up with your assigned buddy, or for posting your goals/reflections late. Although I finished the projects I set out to do, I failed my daily routines miserably, so I’ll be getting a strike for not completing my goals. If you need next-level accountability for any non-negotiable tasks coming up, I’d highly recommend you to do something similar; either join the [discord group yourself](https://discord.gg/6T3BG4nHbb) or just set up high stakes with someone you trust. 🤑 **I paid for [Readwise.io](http://Readwise.io),** an app that lets me review my previous highlights from the books I’ve read to resurface old ideas. I used to be quite stingy with my money and would normally overlook monthly subscriptions, but refreshing myself with these ideas can be worth much more than the energy and time I spent earning that money. Continue to find ways to invest in yourself and your money. ### **🤔** Food For Thought Much like my subscription, how can you spend your money not for self-pleasure, but for self-advancement? Are you going to boost your energy levels by buying an eye mask for sleep, or possibly level up your skills and knowledge through books or courses? Alternatively, is there a spending habit you should be cautious of? I’m not sure what to do with my cash from work, so feel free to share any cool ideas you have with your money :D It’s 1:30 AM and I’d like to sleep, so I’ll see you next week ;)