Hey, 

Here is a recent quote by one of my all time favourite authors. Mark Manson who wrote The Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck. 

"Without developing a clear vision of the future we desire, of the values we want to adopt, of the identities we want to shed or step into—we are forever doomed to repeat the failures of our past."

After reading this for the first time on Twitter today, I gave me a bit of a knot in my throat and made me reflect back on the last few years. 

I've never really been a gaols type of person. They have always seemed a bit disposable in my eyes, thats why I have always latched onto the idea of having a vision of where I might want to be, but these questions flood me. 

How do I set my vision?
What identity do I want to step into?
What values do I want to adopt?

Is it wrong for me to say I dont yet have these answers and am I "forever doomed to repeat the failures" of my past ? In reality, most people dont really know what the fuck they are doing and are just winging it, and you'd be surprised as to how many actually admit that.

I have a general idea for each of these, but nothing concrete. In terms of values, I'm quite progressive, but leaning more on the conservative spectrum. 

Did you know that the prefrontal cortex of the brain takes 25 years to develop fully and that its responsible for a wide variety of executive functions, including focusing one's attention, predicting the consequences of one's actions, anticipating events in the environment, impulse control and managing emotional reactions.

Put this into perspective, I turned 25 in January, so all my fuck ups and decisions I've made can be blamed on the fact that I was just a massive dumb ass because I had an under developed prefrontal cortex. 

Full disclosure, that's probably not the case at all, but it is a great conclusion!

- Nic 

Important

I've opened up new slots for sponsors and classifieds. If you want your product to get in-front of an audience of 1800 engaged readers, book here.

UpLead is a B2B prospecting tool with 95% accurate data. Build prospecting lists free from dodgy data, bad-fit buyers and low-qualified leads. Get 5 free leads now.

Switchy is a tool that lets you shorten, customize and track your links with A/B testing, retargeting pixels and change the share image.  

Peppertype is a writing tool that generates better content copy in seconds with Artificial Intelligence.

This is a design tool that creates the blurry effect of an element and background, known as glassmorphism.

KeyWI is an AI driven keyword analysis tool that makes keyword research less agonizing. 

This weeks newsletter of the week is The Viewer, a weekly hand-picked newsletter with video recommendations to surprise and delight you.

This newsletter is put together by the same people who curate The Browser, but instead of articles, they recommend you really awesome things to watch. As much as I do love to read, it also very nice to just mindlessly consume a video every once and a while. Check it out

How to stop fucking up.
Only a tiny fraction of creators fulfil their potential. Why? Because we get in our own way. We let our fears and insecurities limit our opportunities and shape our creative futures. Yet, it’s fairly easy to overcome that. It’s seeing what others can’t see and applying counterintuitive thinking. Read More

The link between great thinking and obsessive walking. 
Darwin’s best thinking, however, was not done in his study. It was done outside, on a lowercase d–shaped path on the edge of his property. Darwin called it the Sandwalk. Today, it is known as Darwin’s thinking path. Read more

What is the most life chasing blog post you have ever read?
This thread was made on Hacker News not long ago, and the the comment sections where you'll you want to look. It's filled with some of the most amazing recommendations for great blog posts that are worth your time. Read more

Is Hacker News a Good Predictor of Future Tech Trends?.
There's a general belief in the tech circles I inhabit that Hacker News is a useful indicator for up-and-coming technologies that will hit the mainstream within the next few years. So I picked some of the major tech topics of the past fifteen years to see if that's really true. Can I convince myself that checking the HN front page multiple times a day is a useful and productive exercise?. Read more

Getting Noticed: The Ultimate Guide to Standing Out and Getting Noticed in Crowded Markets
Here a great article on cognitive biases, and proven creative hype strategies that will give you a competitive advantage with crowded markets. Read more

How to format a blog post: A complete guide for new writers 
You're reading this article because a myriad of factors came together in just the right way. Whether it was the title, feature image, or keyword that led you here, you're reading this because our strategy succeeded. Now, the real work begins: enticing you to actually read the article. Check it out

NsLookup.io - Find and debug DNS records online. Simple, fast, and free. NsLookup shows all DNS records for a domain name, along with additional info that you don't get using a CLI.

The Landing Page Hot Tips ebook features 100 digestible lessons to implement into your Landing Pages. Each tip features a few paragraphs, visual references, and related resources.

EmailOctopus - Email marketing made easy. Simple, powerful tools to grow your business. Easy to use, quick to master and all at an affordable price.