Let me be Frank...

Hey y’all, and welcome to my first newsletter. It feels a bit weird to be sending out a newsletter in 2022 but anything worth doing feels weird initially. Right?! I’ll be writing through a lot of different things and hopefully get to a point where I can start focusing on what matters most to y’all.

✍️ Quote of the week:

“You will learn by reading, but you will understand with love.”

🎶 Song of the week:

Sheesh! by Surfaces

📖 What I’m reading:

Everybody Writes by Ann Handley. As you can tell from this newsletter I’m trying to start writing more in 2022. It’s one of my major goals. So even if this newsletter doesn’t get a huge following as I expect, I do think it will help me collect my thoughts throughout the week.

👓 Top 3 learnings:

Home gyms don’t work for me. I’m a person that likes to be around other people. I’ve tried to make it easy for me to work out at home. I’ve purchased dumbbells, benches, a Peloton, and treadmills. All to make it super easy for me to work out in the comfort of my own home. The past year has shown me that I still love going to the gym. I like being around other people that have the same goals as me, whether it’s running, lifting, or just overall losing weight. Being around fit people propels me to be fit. James Clear said in his book Atomic Habits:

"One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where your desired behavior is normal behavior.

New habits seem achievable when you see others doing them every day."

This isn’t to say gyms are better than another form of working out. So remember that this works for me. I would advise finding something that makes it easy for you!

Fiber/Protein Cookies - Cookies are my Achilles heel. The more chocolatey and chewy they are, the more I can’t resist. So much so that my wife calls me the cookie monster because if we have some cookies around the house they’ll be gone in a few days. So I’m leaning into that fault and trying to bake my own cookies that are packed with protein powder and fiber (oatmeal + psyllium husks). Last week I finished the book Fiber Fueled and learned a lot about soluble fiber and how it’s used in weight loss and support insulin levels. The fiber in the cookies combats the insulin spikes from the sugar and the oatmeal makes me feel fuller longer.

Plankton is dumb - I was rewatching Spongebob Squarepants with my daughter and realized Plankton should not have focused so much on the Krabby Patty Secret Formula and should have focused on selling all the gadgets he invented trying to steal the secret formula. The cloning machine would have put Sandy to shame and would have made him richer than Mr. Krabs.

🤑 Crypto:

I had a friend reach out to me to say his portfolio is down 23%. My reply: “markets go up, and markets go down”. Whenever I read headlines that read “Bitcoin is down 50% from all-time high” I remember that it’s all relative. Remember when Bitcoin was down to $400 in 2014 and they said it was over? Or when Bitcoin was down to $4,000 in 2018 and they said it was dead. The only thing that could really cause a huge meltdown is a black swan event such as a war with Russia (although Russia is accumulating BTC) or a major exchange hack from a company like Coinbase or Gemini. I don’t know where the market will head in the next few weeks as it seems the rocket ship is running out of fuel but I try to keep in mind that real wealth is created in your “time in” the market, not “timing” the market.

🎲 3 things I’ve been enjoying this week:

1. Normcore Mesh Puck - I’ve started using this puck this week to get a more of an even extraction on my espresso shots. It takes some getting used to but it’s made my shot far more even.
2. Peatos Chips - As someone that grew up on Funyuns and Cheetos these chips hit the spot. They have more fiber, more protein, and no sugar, syrups, or oils in them. They come in onion, spicy onion, cheese, spicy cheese, zesty ranch.
3. Canon Ivy - I’ve recently started journaling and keeping up with a habit tracker. At the end of every day, I write down the habits that I’ve accomplished that day. At the end of every week, I write up my learnings, feelings, and end with a picture that I print that I can look back on. This way I can start to catalog my weeks and it gives me a reason to look back on the weeks before.

👴 Dad thoughts

Kids are so emotional and that’s fine. They kick, they scream, they cry. One thing I keep in mind is that their mind doesn’t know how to comprehend the things they desperately desire. That could be watching another episode of Pokemon, or having the second lollipop of the day. Kids need structure and guardrails and they’ll try and test them every time they see that they can be moved. That's not their fault, we as adults do it too.

Have a great weekend!

📬 PS: Please do reply to this email if you have anything to add / any questions. I quite enjoy replying to comments/emails as a source of procrastination from revision.

📬 PPS: Please hit the reply button and let me know what you thought of this email if you have a spare few seconds. I'd love to hear your thoughts on what was useful about it and what could be changed. Thanks <3