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Make your world small

I enjoy Joe Rogan’s podcast because he talks to a lot of interesting people. I don’t listen to every episode and I’d venture to say I miss/skip the majority. I enjoy it because you can listen to candid conversations with people with vastly different life experiences.

One such episode was with Andy Stumpf about getting through Hell Week in Navy Seal training. In the clip, you can hear Stumpf talk about the key to getting through the week is to “make the world small.” Instead of thinking about the week and being overwhelmed, think about the next meal.

You can hijack your brain to make it through a tough long task by making it smaller.

As the old maxim goes – “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”

The Circle of Concern & Influence – How to Reduce Worry, Stress, & Anxiety [Coach Carson] – “I originally learned this idea from one of my favorite books, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. Think of all of the events or situations in your life that concern you. Now imagine collecting all of these concerns into one big circle called the Circle of Concern. Everything inside the circle is of concern to you, and everything outside of the circle of no concern to you.”

Do you remember Y2K? Computers would implode because they couldn’t handle the date being 2000? That was COBOL.

The Code That Controls Your Money [Wealthsimple] – “COBOL is a coding language older than Weird Al Yankovic. The people who know how to use it are often just as old. It underpins the entire financial system. And it can’t be removed. How a computer language controls the financial life of the world.”

Life Lessons from a 97-Year-Old Lobsterman [Outside] – “John’s current lobster boat, the Sarah Ashley, is a 39-foot workhorse roughed up by salt and wind. Rusty tools, wires, screws, and a bunch of other unidentifiable items crowd her dashboard. There’s no chair for the captain—or anybody else. “She’s a little rugged,” John admits.

He’s rugged, too. One front tooth is chipped and his eyes, blue like the sea, are no longer sharp. But John’s core is shipshape, despite the bending, pulling, and lifting that sidelines many lobstermen before they hit 60. According to the U.S. Labor Bureau, John’s career is the most dangerous in the country, and half of the deaths of fishermen in 2017 were workers over 65.”