🙃 3 Ways To Renew Yourself For A New Season

Hey Reader,

As I wrote in my last email, life is a series of seasons, and you should treat the end of each season as an opportunity to change for the better and keep your pendulum swinging.

So what do you need to do to maximize those opportunities and crush your next season of life?

Here are 3 things to consider:

LANGUAGE MASTERY 🥷🏼

What Got You Here Won't Get You To The Next Level

"Good advice at the wrong time is bad advice." – James Clear

Every tactic, belief, and habit has a different ceiling depending on the season you use it in.

This is especially true in language learning, but we can find similar examples in exercise, entrepreneurship, personal finance, and a number of other areas you may or may not realize.

When you started learning your target language, you probably did some of the following:

Studied pronunciation before starting to speak
Consumed as much comprehensive content as possible
Relied on translation to learn vocabulary
Aimed for small wins to build momentum (Duolingo, e.g.)
Worked with a non-native teacher who learned your target language from the same starting point as you

These are all effective tactics to get from zero to one, but once you hit the intermediate level, you'll notice your progress begin to plateau. That's when the low-hanging fruit runs out and the discomfort of getting to the next level begins.

That discomfort means it's time to embrace turbulence again.

When a new season arrives, you have to switch things up. Find the winning formula of tactics, habits and beliefs with the highest ceiling for the next phase and use that – even if it's only temporary.

Homework question:

What’s one thing that got you where you are that you need to change for your next season? (watch this related Rocket Fuel challenge)

HABIT DESIGN 📈

Flip The Script And Focus On Anti-Habits

"You built that boat to cross that river, so leave it there. Don't drag it along with you." – Derek Sivers

The seasons of your life are much longer than any of the four seasons. And the identities you build along the way are much more difficult to take off than a winter coat, especially if they've helped you succeed.

But progress requires letting go of your past self, and you are what you do every day. So your biggest obstacle isn't designing new habits. It's breaking your old ones.

When the world-famous organizing consultant Marie Kondo helps her clients tidy up, she insists that they finish discarding before they start organizing. Similarly, I suggest you discard the actions that don't spark change this season before you add the new ones.

So what's an anti-habit? It's a habit of not doing something.

For example, if Instagram is distracting me from making the changes I need for the next season of my life, my anti-habit could be, "Don't use Instagram on my phone."

Once I know my anti-habit, I can design it a number of ways:

Turn off all notifications from Instagram
Create an app timer using my phone's settings
Remove the app icon from my home screen
Delete the Instagram app from my phone
Procrastinate with a different app that reinforces my desired identity for the new season

Take the time to reflect on the least helpful actions, people, and beliefs in your life. Then use anti-habits to turn off your autopilot and launch yourself into the stratosphere of your new season.

Homework question:

What are 3 anti-habits you can focus on to remove the invisible obstacles holding you back this season?

nomadic lifestyle 🌎

Choose Your Workspace (And City) Wisely

"As your information environment changes, the way your mind operates starts to be transformed. You leave behind one identity and step into another." – Tiago Forte

When you're a nomad, the end of most trips is the beginning of a new one, so you become hyper-aware of your environment. And over the last 8 years of nomadic life and work, my biggest lesson has been the power of environment.

No matter how good you are at changing your ways, your environment will always make it easier or more difficult to be the person you're trying to be. This is especially true if you're embarking on a new season of your life.

Everything, from your workspace and playlist to your current city and social circle, is nudging you with subconscious incentives. It's the reason that many people seeking radical change move away (like I did, when I first moved to Brazil).

And in this new hybrid world of remote work, trips like that don't need to be permanent or put your job at risk. They don't always have to be hedonistic, either. For example, when I'm planning my next trip, it usually goes something like this:

If I want to activate all my senses and make the most of the present, I immerse myself in Latin America
If I need to slow down and rediscover my work-life balance, I cross the Atlantic and return to Europe
And when I'm ready to reflect on those experiences, raise my aspirations, and build for the future, I come home to the US

But you don't have to travel to optimize your environment for a new season.

Cities pressure you to act a certain way, but so do the right playlists, coffee shops, reading lists, or Meetup groups. Rethinking your workspaces in a mindful way, from sticky notes to bookshelves and houseplants, can have similar impacts.

Whatever you decide, just remember: With the four seasons, you have to wear clothes that fit that season's weather. But in the seasons of your life, you can design the environment that helps you wear the identity you want.

Homework Question:

How can you optimize your environment for this new season?

EXTRA CREDIT 📚

Hungry For More?

"Your job is to collect good ideas. The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by." – Austin Kleon

Here are some of the things I devoured in the school cafeteria while I was thinking about seasons:

📚 The Creative Act (Rick Rubin) – The legendary music producer's book was jam-packed with insights, but one of the standouts was for anyone hesitating to take action on a project:

"In a year, we may be guided to create a piece that looks nothing like it. There is a timeliness to the work. The passing of seasons could dissipate the value the work holds for us."

🧑🏻‍💻 Cities and Ambition (Paul Graham) – The idea of cities whispering to you is a powerful one as people continue to relocate and seek bigger changes. This is a fundamental read if you're looking to do the same:

"Maybe one day the most important community you belong to will be a virtual one, and it won't matter where you live physically. But I wouldn't bet on it. The physical world is very high bandwidth, and some of the ways cities send you messages are quite subtle."

🍿 Wednesday (Netflix) – I've been rebelling against the tyranny of the four seasons ever since my family and I left New York for Miami in my adolescent years, so I really enjoyed watching this new "season" of the Addams Family canon and Wednesday's coming-of-age at her new school.

🎵 The Four Seasons – Winter in F Minor (Antonio Vivaldi)

🎵 An Ending, a Beginning (Dustin O'Halloran)

🎵 Metamorfose Ambulante (Raul Seixas)

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Have a great week!

– Juan

3745 NE 171 Street Apt.5, North Miami Beach, Florida 33160
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