Vol. 9; Modern Life Skills

In Your Head, Focus, Double Nope Rule, Markdown, Brick, Calendar

Author

Damian Matheson
November 27, 2024

Welcome back to Modern Life Skills.

My goal with this newsletter is to share some of the most interesting and relevant content, from the best internet thinkers I know, within the domain of what I refer to as Modern Life Skills; or the skills I believe young people need to develop to be successful today, and tomorrow.

Modern Life Skills are a collection of:

  • Mindsets/Mental Models

  • In-Demand Life Skills

  • Career Advice

  • This is Cool (a peek into what’s coming next with emerging technologies and sciences)

You’ll see each of those sections represented in every newsletter. If you’re reading this in the browser, you can use the Table of Contents to skip around.

MINDSET OF THE WEEK
It’s all made up … but you get to make it up.

One of my favourite moments coaching young people is helping them realize they don’t actually have to listen to, or agree to every thought they have in their head.

That it’s normal, and healthy for them to push back.

That the voice inside their head isn’t always acting in their best interests. For most of us, that little voice is there to protect us, to keep us safe.

  • “It’s cold and wet outside. That’s uncomfortable. You should skip that run today and grab the remote”

  • “You could wake up early and write a newsletter about modern life skills. But who would read it? You should go back to bed.”

The aha moment for me was realizing that if I could create those 💩 thoughts, I could create different thoughts too.

Happy, positive, optimistic thoughts 🙂 that are aligned with taking the actions that I know will make me happy.

I think this short essay from Shaan Puri does a great job showcasing the importance of owning the narrative inside your head.

Here’s a fun question: who’s the most important voice in your life? 

a) Your parents? – they raise you, 18 years. That’s a huge chunk. But the time spent with parents drops suddenly after that.

b) Your teachers? – sure, you get a few good ones…but no. Not most important.

c) Your friends? – Friends are pretty influential. Look at any group of friends. They talk the same, walk the same, dress the same, and converge on similar life goals. 

But I think the answer is d) None of the above. 

The most important voice in your life is the one that no one else hears. 

It’s the voice in your head. 

You see - in the movie of your life, the voice in your head is the director. It tells you what to say, where to stand, when to shut up, and what this story means. And we all know - that voice never stops. 

Studies show that humans have up to ~60k thoughts PER DAY. 80% of those thoughts skew negative, and 95% of the thoughts are repetitive. 

^^ These are our factory settings. But like a good toy, you can change the factory settings to be what you want.

Tim Ferriss once told me: “I read a book in a bunk bed when I was 17, and it changed my life”

Which book? Mental Toughness Training For Sports - by Dr. Jim Loehr.

The book has a simple concept: “The power broker in your life is the voice that no one ever hears. It is the master storyteller, and the stories we tell ourselves are our reality”.

Yep - The stories we tell ourselves are our reality.  

I’ll give you an example. When I launched my podcast, I hoped it would be a hit.

So I pushed “publish” and waited…and waited some more. I kept waiting, because nothing happened. No text messages. No tweets. Not even a bad review. Just ignored. Nothing, nada, zilch.

So I clicked “play” and listened to the first minute myself. "Ew. Is that what I sound like? Why am I saying ‘like’ so many times? This sucks. I hope nobody hears this."

The voice in my head was spewing nonsense. We’ve all felt this. Think back to the last time you tried something new. The voice can give you two messages:

Which story is true? Whichever one you believe.

The smarter you are, the harder it is to accept what I’m saying. Smart people think there’s some objective ‘truth’.

But as Elon says, “Physics is the law. Everything else is a suggestion”.

Everything in your life is neutral. It’s the meaning we put ON it that gives it a positive or negative spin.

Next time you hear the tiny voice in your head - try to pause and ask it to come up with other stories. What else is on the menu? What else could be true? And then pick the story that serves you.

As Garry Tan recently said on MFM: “the key to life is realizing that it’s all made up… but you get to make it up”.

LIFE SKILLS
Focus

We talk a lot about the importance of communication, critical thinking, and problem solving as skills for success in 2025 and beyond. And for good reason.

But what isn’t getting enough attention is the concept of focus - and it might be the most important skill we aren’t making enough noise about.

Both at the micro and macro level.

Knowing what to prioritize is essential. And then actually having the ability to sit down for an extended period of time without your mind wandering off is another.

You think things are distracting today? It’s only going to get worse.

People always ask how Elon Musk is able to accomplish so much.

It’s well stated that if you’re working on one of Elon’s team, you’ll be expected to answer “what did you accomplish this week?”

That requires the ability to prioritize and execute. It requires focus.

Expect to hear a lot more from Modern Life Skills about how to help the young people in your life become more focused.

For now, here’s an interesting tidbit about the correlation between a students ability to focus, and their academic achievement; at least in respect to their math scores.

CAREER ADVICE
Double Nope Rule

A few months back when leading a TKS session, I played a clip of Austin and I in conversation from a podcast episode I had with him a few years back.

I was trying to introduce students to the concept of the third door mindset. At the end of that story, Austin slipped in this idea of the double nope rule.

When sharing reflections at the end of the session, everyone I called on commented on the double nope rule. That was a two minute clip, out of a three hour session. Did nothing else stick!?

Power of good branding I guess.

This isn’t just career advice, it’s life advice. But it’s not intuitive. Our default is to not want to offend anyone, to avoid confrontation.

But assuming that asking a second time, or following up with someone is going to be a negative experience is just the story we’ve created in our own head.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve actually been thanked for following up with someone.

People are busy. Life is noisy. Balls get dropped.

If you really want something, it’s up to you to do everything in your control to make it happen. Including following up.

If you take action, there’s at least a non-zero chance you get a yes.

What’s the worst that can happen?

  • They say no again, nothing changes.

  • They say yes, everything changes.

THIS IS COOL NEAT
Paste from Markdown

This simple change made me so happy. We find joy in the simple things, right? Is that the saying?

When I’m talking to ChatGPT, I often ask it to create tables for me, i.e. make me a table of the companies from this list, three occupations at each company, and a one-line summary of what each role is responsible for.

And it does it wonderfully. In ChatGPT.

But when it comes time to bring that table over to a Google Doc, it becomes unusable jibber jabber.

Here’s a table I asked ChatGPT to whip up with some dummy data to compare engagement of some youtube videos.

💡 Fun fact; want to get a teenagers attention? Say youtube. Tried it this weekend with my nephew. He looked up from his phone. It works.

table in ChatGPT

Table looks normal above, right?

Here’s what it looks when pasted into a Google Doc 🫠 

Table pasted in Google Doc

The solution? Enable markdown in Google Docs. It’s that simple.

  • In a Google Doc, go to Tools > Preferences > Enable Markdown.

It’s a checkbox. That’s it.

And then next time you go to paste a table from ChatGPT, voila. This is what a table in Google Docs should look like.

Table Pasted in Google Doc with markdown enabled

Here’s Dan Fitzpatrick’s post on LinkedIn with a 1min video if you want to see it in action.

If you’re a Word user 🙈 the comment section of that video would suggest that there’s an extra step involved that requires a plug in for Word.

BONUS
Xmas Gift Idea

I have been team Android since smartphones were a thing. Last year though, I bought my first Mac, so I can’t say I’d never buy an iPhone.

If I did, I’d be buying this little guy at the same time. It only works with iPhones 🙄 

I talked earlier about the importance of focus. I also talk a lot about how essential it is to create an environment that sets you up for success.

Brick creates an environment that helps you focus 😍 

There’s a companion app for your phone that pairs with this tiny little device. When you set it up, you decide which apps disappear when you turn on your brick.

For example, when it’s time to sit down and get to work, with the click of a button, your social media, games, and anything else that you deem distracting, disappears.

It turns your phone into a brick. Here it is in action.

They are 25% off right now for Black Friday.

Android user like me?

I’m sure there are others, but I use a tool called minimalist phone. The image below is actually pretty close to what my home screen looks like.

It requires me to intentionally search for the app I want to use, and makes everything look boring and well, minimalist.

There’s a fair bit of research that shows the bright colourful app icons lure us into clicking them even when we don’t intend to. Some people use grayscale on their phone to help with that. This is like that, just more intense.

I paid something like $30 for a lifetime license. One of the best decisions I’ve made in recent memory.

BONUS
Buy a 2025 Modern Life Skills Calendar

This is the most economical, and Canada Post strike-friendly option. It’s print ready, and sized at 48×36”.

Print one just for yourself, or print a few for your family as gifts. You should be able to get it printed for around $20-$30.

🍁 Only shipping within Canada this time around.

💪 Make 2025 your best year yet.

🎁 Buy a calendar today! Here’s how it works & why it exists.

Have an idea for a life skill you think young people should be learning? Hit reply and let me know. I’ll add it to the list.

✌️ Damian