3 Simple Habits That Will Help You Get 1% Better, Every Day

 

Master the art of continual self-improvement.

“Each person’s task in life is to become an increasingly better person.” — Leo Tolstoy

How do we become better every single day?

We develop practices that will help move us incrementally forward. The idea is to take small but consistent steps, every single day — 1% improvement. Epictetus called this incremental action “fueling the habit bonfire.”

Focus on the following 3 practices, and you will begin to see consistent improvement in your life.

1. Read

“Ordinary people seek entertainment. Extraordinary people seek education and learning…. It is common for the world’s most successful people to read at least one book per week. They are constantly learning.” — Benjamin Hardy, How to Consciously Design Your Ideal Future

How often do you read?

Hopefully, you make time to read every single day. Even if it’s just one page.

Reading may be the most accessible tool available to us to help us grow. We can learn from anyone in the world, living or not. We can learn from those who have already achieved what we want to achieve. We can learn from others’ successes and mistakes.

Being a perpetual student is key to moving forward. If you’re not constantly learning, how will you grow?

Make reading a priority in your day. Spend 15 minutes in the morning reading a book. Download an audiobook for your commute. Read an article online during your lunch break. Just find the time to read.

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2. Journal

Time alone with your journal is time alone in stillness — a chance to get to know yourself on a deeper level, and to understand who you really are.

Journaling allows you to reflect, to plan, to meditate on thoughts and ideas. To always be a better human than you were the day before. This is how you move forward every single day.

You may find it helpful to bookend your day with journaling — having both a morning and evening practice.

The stillness of the morning is the perfect time to reflect on your purpose, to consider your path, and to create a plan for the day.

The end of the day is a great time to reflect on what went well during the day, what you could do differently tomorrow, and where you could be more — more loving, more patient, more valuable. You can reflect on whether you have lived in alignment with your values, and whether you fulfilled your purpose.

Find a journaling template and mode that works for you. Maybe you like the traditional pen and paper. Maybe you prefer a document on your computer. Maybe you’d do best with a phone app. Find something that resonates with you, and stick with this practice.

Bonus: Reflect and Measure

We must always be reflecting on our lives and measuring the important metrics.

With reflection, we can achieve anything. You try something, reflect on it, do more of what worked and less of what didn’t.

This is how you will grow.

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A great way to do this is through bookending the day with journaling, as illustrated above. In the morning, write your plan for the day. In the evening, reflect on what worked and what you will do differently tomorrow. In just a few minutes each day, you can massively change your life for the better.

Do this at the end of each week, month, quarter, and year. Growth will become inevitable.

“End your week holding a five-minute meeting with yourself and review what’s working and everything making you miserable. And do more of what works.” — Thomas Oppong

Similarly, keep track of the most important metrics of your life — how much weight you’re squatting, how many dates you went on with your partner each month, how many times you called your mom, how many days in a row you meditated. Identify what is most important to you, and keep track of it. You may be more off-course than you realize:

“If you’re not tracking the key areas of your life, than you’re probably more off-course than you think.” — Benjamin Hardy, How to Consciously Design Your Ideal Future

3. Take 10,000 steps every day

Moving your body is crucial.

And walking may be the most important way to move our bodies. Think of how our ancestors lived — constantly foraging, hunting, and walking everywhere. This is how we have evolved to live.

If we want to move forward, we need to take care of our bodies.

But more than that, movement allows deep access into who we are; what it’s like to be in this body, right now. It’s a powerful form of meditation. You can’t help but feel the breath going in and out of your lungs. The sun on your skin. The grass beneath your feet. Movement forces you to be present in this moment, within yourself.

Dr. Suhas Kshirsagar, author of “Change Your Schedule, Change Your Life,” explains this well:

“Through exercise and movement, you breathe deeply and unblock the body’s channels…. It gives you energy, mental clarity, passion, and a general enthusiasm for life…. When you breathe deeply, you connect your heart and your brain instantly…. Conscious exercise puts your daily problems on the back burner and enlivens the heart and mind.… While it’s tempting to think of exercise solely as a means to fitness or weight loss, it’s really much more about making you feel alive in your body.”

Movement is therefore a tool to help you grow and move forward every single day.

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Your body will stay healthy, your mind will remain clear, you will have deeper access into who you are and improved clarity on where it is you want to go.

We can’t expect to continue growing and moving forward if we don’t take care of our body and mind. Move every single day.

Galaxy S23 Price To Match Galaxy S22 In The US, According To This Reddit Post

 

Recent Galaxy S23 leaks teased a few exciting performance upgrades that might turn Samsung’s flagship into one of the best Android handsets of the year. But there’s one other big detail that will influence the success of the upcoming high-end smartphones: the price of the Galaxy S23.

After a few rumors indicated Samsung might raise the prices of all three Galaxy S23 models this year, a new leak delivers a contrasting take. The Galaxy S23, S23 Plus, and S23 Ultra might actually match the prices of their predecessors in the US.

A Redditor posted what appears to be a screenshot from Verizon’s internal system that goes over the specs and main selling points of the three Galaxy S23 phones.

The image also shows the purported retail prices for the three Galaxy S23 handsets. If the information is accurate, the Galaxy S23 price will start at $799.99, just like the base Galaxy S22 model. For that price, you get 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

The Galaxy S23 Plus will cost $999.99, like its predecessor, according to the leak. The Plus model also features 8GB of RAM, but the base model starts at 256GB of storage.

Finally, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is the best Galaxy S23 variant you can get this year. The cheapest model will have a $1,199.99 price tag, like the previous Ultra. That’s the version with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. You’ll need to purchase the 12GB/512GB model if you want more RAM.

The image above also lists the main specs of the three phones, and the information matches what we have heard from different leaks so far. Moreover, the purported Verizon page says preorders will start on February 1st when Samsung will launch the Galaxy S23 series.

If this leak is accurate, the Galaxy S23’s release date should be February 17th. There’s also a chance that not all the information in this specs sheet is correct. Maybe we’re looking at an early draft featuring placeholder information based on last year’s Galaxy S22 phones.

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There’s one other explanation for the price discrepancy between these recent Galaxy S23 reports. Samsung might use the Galaxy S22 price structure for this year’s phones in the US as Apple did with the iPhone 14. But it could raise Galaxy S23 prices in other markets as Apple did.

That’s speculation, but we expect Samsung’s Galaxy S23 prices to leak again before the February 1st event.

Microdosing, Mastodon, And Jonah Hill

 

Seeking Peace, Finding Kindness.

2008. I’m 40. I write a short story about my search for my birth mother, how in 1998, after searching for six years — after a social worker said it was impossible— I found her but she was already dead. I write about how finding answers soothed my soul at the same time grief shattered it. I show it to a friend, a screenwriter and former New York Times journalist who says, “holy shit, you’re a writer.” It is the first time I’ve shown someone my writing. He suggests I turn it into a screenplay, so with his help and the help of other screenwriter friends, I write a screenplay.

Some people read it and like it and wow, maybe I really am a writer. The news horrifies my husband — a film producer — now his wife is like everyone else in this town asking him to read their script, but he is a good husband, so he reads it and, much to his cynical surprise, he likes it. He sends it to his friend, a big fancy agent. His friend, the big fancy agent, does not like my script.

“She sucks. She should never write again.”

Not “it needs work” or “it’s not commercial enough,” no, the big fancy agent issues an edict, an absolute, a nuclear blast. I’m devastated. But instead of giving up, I say “fuck you big fancy agent” and keep writing.

2018. I’m 50. I’ve been searching for my birth father for 26 years. I’ve followed false leads, DNA tested with the wrong man — thanked a God I do not believe in it wasn’t him — put my DNA on websites and prayed to that same God the right man would one day appear.

That one day is a quiet Sunday morning with an Ancestry.com first cousin match, an unusual last name, two hours on the internet and a call to a stranger in Brewster, Massachusetts. My father. I have two half-sisters. My soul, my broken soul feels something I cannot describe. He tells me he’s not sure he wants a relationship, but the next day calls back and says, “If I would have known, I would have raised you. Let’s stay in touch.”

Six months later, I fly alone to Boston and a white-haired man with shining blue eyes just like mine stands at baggage claim — exactly where he told me he would stand — I hug him and feel his heartbeat next to mine and we laugh and cry and get in his dusty Subaru for the drive to his home on the Cape. In the car, the producer of the television show I’m writing for calls me to give me notes on the episode I submitted that morning before boarding the plane. “I have to call you back. I’m in the car with my father.”

2022. I’m 54. I’ve been on anti-depressants for 3 years. Adoption reunion stirred up trauma and pain and made it impossible for me to muscle through the Depression I’ve lived with my entire life. The medication works. I’m alive, but I long for more than just “being alive.” I long to be present and feel the joy I know exists in the world so I yoga and spin and walk and fuck and eat and shop, but I cannot grasp what others so easily hold.

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It’s spring, two years since a pandemic has sidelined life and infected us with more sadness than a virus ever could. A friend gives me a micro dose of psilocybin — magic mushrooms — and I take it. It changes my life. I feel the presence and peace that has eluded me for decades. I begin micro dosing several days a week, lower my antidepressant dosage with no uptick in depressive or anxious symptoms. I am optimistic, hopeful, able to see the kaleidoscope of beauty in the world and my life.

November arrives and I wake up one Tuesday morning to learn a movie I co-wrote — my original story and script — has been nominated for 11 Emmy awards. It wins four. Take that, big fancy agent.

Giving up is grossly overrated.

Netflix Top 10: The Most-Watched Shows In The World Right Now

 

In terms of what everyone around the world is bingeing on Netflix this week, based on the streamer’s just-updated weekly Top 10 list, the immediate highlight that jumps out at you from the latest data involves the fan-favorite show that’s at #1 this week.

Ginny & Georgia’s newly-released second season racked up just shy of 200 million hours viewed around the world last week, meaning across Netflix’s entire global user base. This week, the show pulled in enough viewership once again to remain at #1 — racking up a little more than 87 million hours viewed. What’s more, this has proven to be such a hit franchise for the streaming giant that the release of Season 2 has also pulled Ginny & Georgia Season 1 back into the global Top 10. All the way up to #4 in the world this week, as a matter of fact.

 

Netflix Top 10 (January 16-January 22)

Starting with Ginny & Georgia Season 2, here are the top 10 Netflix shows in the world at the moment:

1. Ginny & Georgia: Season 2 — 87.4 million hours viewed
2. Vikings: Valhalla: Season 2 — 55.5 million hours viewed
3. Wednesday: Season 1 — 45.7 million hours viewed
4. Ginny & Georgia: Season 1 — 43.2 million hours viewed
5. That 90s Show: Season 1 — 41 million hours viewed
6. Vikings: Valhalla: Season 1 — 25.3 million hours viewed
7. Kaleidoscope — 22.9 million hours viewed
8. Emily in Paris: Season 3 — 15.5 million hours viewed
9. New Amsterdam: Season 1 — 14.6 million hours viewed
10. The Walking Dead: Season 11 — 11.8 million hours viewed

These figures are drawn from Netflix’s latest weekly Top 10 data just released on Tuesday, which shows that fans around the world also helped Ginny & Georgia’s first season earn a little more than 43 million hours viewed this week in tandem with keeping the new season on top.

#1 on Netflix this week: Ginny & Georgia Season 2

Netflix’s latest TV-focused Top 10 list, by the way, is one of four global charts that the streamer updates each week. And as for the #1 show in the world right now, there’s some important additional context to be aware of:

For one thing, the Ginny & Georgia series is currently a Top 10 Netflix show in a whopping 85 countries. As of the time of this writing, the show’s Rotten Tomatoes performance also includes a 77% audience score and a 64% critics’ score.

“How do you live with the knowledge that your mother is a murderer?” reads Netflix’s synopsis for the 10-episode Season 2. “That’s what Ginny is going to have to figure out.

“Burdened with the new understanding that Kenny — her step-dad — didn’t die of natural causes, now Ginny must deal with the fact that Georgia not only killed, she killed to protect Ginny. Georgia on the other hand would much prefer that the past be left in the past, after all, she’s got a wedding to plan! But the funny thing about Georgia’s past is that it never stays buried for long.”

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Ginny & Georgia — which stars Antonia Gentry and Brianne Howey in the title roles, respectively — debuted on Netflix back in February of 2021. To get a sense of just how big this show has always been for the streaming giant, more than 52 million households watched Season 1 during its first 28 days of availability. That figure, of course, is much larger now, no doubt to the satisfaction of series creator Sarah Lampert.

#2 on Netflix this week: Vikings: Valhalla Season 2

As for what other shows are currently trending on the streamer, this week marks the second week in a row that the streamer’s continuation of The History Channel’s Vikings franchise has beaten out other new Netflix releases to dominate the global Top 10 list.

Vikings: Valhalla’s second season is currently a Top 10 Netflix show in 81 countries. Accordingly, the show currently enjoys a perfect 100% critics’ score and a 65% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

During its first week of streaming availability for Season 1, this series that chronicles the exploits of some of the most famous Vikings who ever lived racked up 113.3 million hours viewed worldwide, climbing into the Netflix Top 10 in 90 countries. In just its first two days alone, Vikings: Valhalla garnered 80.5 million hours of viewing time, bringing its nine-day viewership to an impressive 194 million hours watched worldwide.

This Netflix series from creator and showrunner Jeb Stuart, in other words, knocked it out of the park during its first season and tapped into a hunger for more stories connected to the fan-favorite series.

“Reveling in the glory of straightforward adventure storytelling,” reads the Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus summary, “Valhalla is a bloody good dramatization of Leif Eriksson’s conquests.