Month: November 2023

My Reply To Thank You

Published on November 9, 2023

Hey Sonya,

It’s so great to hear from a fellow quote enthusiast. Love love love hearing that you have mountains of notebooks filled with quotes.

The act of reading quotes is definitely not the same as the act of writing quotes. The former brings the words in through the eyes which are quickly deposited into the brain, but the latter… the latter allows you to bring the words in through your body… through your fingers, up your arms, into your torso, and up your spinal cord and into your brain.

It’s the literal embodiment of the words.

So, while you may feel like there’s no sense or order to them all… just know that the process is not for nothing. You have embodied 10x more insight from this simple practice than your counterpart who merely read those same quotes and does nothing with them.

Cheers to quote collecting and embodying the insight that’ll guide us forward on our paths!

~ Matt

The reason I share this reply is twofold:

1) To remind you that reading insights is not the same as doing things with the insights. Whether that’s applying the ideas to your life (opting in to the expressed gratitude challenge); typing, tagging, ordering, and making them digestible and accessible (like I do at MoveMe Quotes); or simply writing them into notebooks (like Sonya)—it’s the application of insight that leads to better living—not the looking at it. And…

2) To challenge you to start doing things with insights, too!

…You’re not really just going to nod along and do nothing with these insights after reading them are you?!

Enough looking; time to start embodying.

…Your better life depends on it.

Thank You

Published on November 8, 2023

Hi Matt,

I just wanted to write and thank you so much for all your work pulling all these quotes together. I am a fellow quote collector and have mountains of notebooks filled with them, with no sense of order at all. Your website is a treasure trove, and I really appreciate the labour of love it must have been (and still is).

Many Thanks,

Sonya

Sent from my iPhone

The reason I wanted to share this email that I received this morning is two-fold:

1) It’s a beautiful example of expressed gratitude. Something I challenged the readers of this blog to integrate into their lives during the month of November. It’s pure, it’s short, there’s no ask or expected favors in return, and it was sent evidently on a whim—as is indicated by the “Sent from my iPhone” stamp which was included at the bottom of the email (which is why I included it above). If you haven’t started the challenge yet or are just hearing about this now, consider this your invitation. Because…

2) It’s a beautiful example of the rippling effect expressed gratitude can have. This email made my morning. It brought a big smile to my face, made me feel pride towards the work I’ve done building MoveMe Quotes, and inspired this very post that’s being sent out to hundreds of readers—something that never would’ve happened without the expressed part of the gratitude. And now, maybe some of you will go out on a whim and send an email / text / or note to someone you want to thank in your life.

I hope you will.

Don’t Be Ignorant

Published on November 7, 2023

Create space in your life for careful reflection.

Without it, you’re choosing ignorance to some of your life’s wisest council.

Which, doesn’t come from more YouTube videos, self-help books, deep dive podcasts, informational websites, or conversations with experts—per se.

It comes from your innermost wisdom that whispers advice pulled from EVERYTHING you’ve experienced/ learned/ consumed (informationally) throughout the course of your entire life.

Your innermost wisdom taps into the ocean of information that’s stored in your unconscious that’s just waiting to be explored and utilized. Another video, book, podcast, website, conversation is merely another drop or two into that ocean.

…Which isn’t to downplay the importance of consuming high-quality content.

It’s merely to emphasize the importance of turning off all of the inputs that are constantly pouring more content in, digesting the content you’ve already consumed, and giving your innermost wisdom a platform to finally communicate (which, worth mentioning, doesn’t always come in words… some of it comes in the form of symbols, metaphors, and stories that need interpreting… more on that here).

What does space for careful reflection look like?

Journaling
Walking
Hiking
Showering
Driving
Meditating
Sitting and thinking

…Whatever you want it to look like, honestly. So long as it’s (1) undisrupted by any additional incoming information and (2) deliberately focused on reflection.

With those two elements in tact—consider yourself back in contact with your life’s wisest council.

All you need to consider now is how much time can you devote to its insight?

Because zero time daily is you choosing to be ignorant.

…And nobody is so busy that ignorance is their only choice.

Questions To Snap You Back To Happiness

Published on November 6, 2023

The following was inspired by Claudia Dawson and a Duke University study on Happiness via Recommendo.

First, here’s the Duke University study findings:

(Click here if you can’t see the above infographic).

Next, here’s what Claudia Dawson so brilliantly recommended based on these findings…

“I’ve found the quickest way to dispel unhappiness is to ask myself introspective questions to find the source. Based on these 8 factors of happiness, I would ask myself:

Am I feeling suspicion and resentment?
Am I living in the past (or in the future)?
Am I wasting time and energy fighting conditions I can’t change?
Am I isolating myself or withdrawing from the world?
Am I indulging in self-pity?
Am I expecting too much of myself?

…I then continue the line of questioning to gain more self-awareness or I pivot to an easy gratitude practice, like listing 10 things that make me happy on my fingers. This usually gets me out of my head and back to the present moment, as well as in alignment with the values and experiences that make me happy.”

Finally, here’s my take:

The thing about thinking is that so much of it is done unconsciously (like 99%?). As in, we have no idea that we’re bathing in self-pity, replaying the past, cancelling plans so we can “introvert,” comparing ourselves to the greats, nurturing suspicion, etc…

Don’t take the above insights or questions lightly—this is life-changing stuff. Print / write it all down and display it in a place where you’ll see it regularly.

This way, it’ll snap you out of undesirable (unconscious) thought patterns and back to the place where happiness is much more likely to be found.

Easy Swaps For Exponential Gains

Published on November 5, 2023

Imagine this: you take the most wasteful 20/30/60 minutes of your day and made them into some of your most productive 20/30/60 minutes instead.

By wasteful, I mean adding no value to your current or future state.

And by productive, I mean the opposite.

Which, isn’t to stress you out with the idea of needing to work / focus / do more.

It’s a strategy to help you do the opposite.

So, instead of 20/30/60 minutes of media scrolling… what if you swapped that for an easy 20/30/60 minutes of meditative reflecting?

Instead of 20/30/60 minutes of trying to refocus after preventable distractions… what if you swapped that for an easy 20/30/60 minutes of Do Not Disturb mode, over the ear headphones, and undisturbed work?

Instead of snoozing your morning alarm for 20/30/60 minutes each morning… what if you forced yourself up right away and went to bed 20/30/60 minutes earlier instead?

Heck, what if you swapped the 20/30/60 minutes of most unproductive work-time of your day and simply sat there in silence and meditated instead?

Small changes like this are what lead to exponential long-term results. Don’t get all grandiose and try to get all of the productivity squeezed from your days right now and all up front.

Be patient. Make small meaningful changes. And keep collecting dividends on that investment for years to come.

P.s. My guide on building self-improvement habits into your life—for life (minus the hustle)—can definitely help with this.

The Real Modern Day Dilemma

Published on November 4, 2023

So much to do and so little time.

…It’s the modern day dilemma.

Yet, so much of what we do consumes far more time than it should / needs to.

This is the real modern day dilemma.

How much time do you spend scrolling aimlessly through timelines hoping for entertainment / dopamine hits?

How much time do you spend trying to refocus after completely preventable distractions?

How much time do you spend simply trying to wake up in the morning?

The modern day dilemma isn’t one of having too much to do… it’s one of having too much that we can do and a lack of focus / discipline to get done what needs to get done based on a clear priority.

So, before you go complaining about needing more hours in your day… aim to make the hours you do have more efficient.

Don’t ask for more if you’re not already fully utilizing / being wasteful with what you already have.

Inner work prompt: before you say “so much to do and so little time” ask yourself what you’re doing that you don’t have to do. Ask yourself what tasks you can trade back in for the time they take instead. Ask yourself how you can change the phrase to “just enough to do with plenty of time.”

Relationship Advice From A Single Guy

Published on November 3, 2023

I attended a wedding today.

At the venue, there was a Jenga set up with sharpies scattered around and a note on display saying “Leave your words of advice for the newlyweds here.”

Next to me was a good friend who joking said, “You can’t write anything—you’re single!”

The thing about relationships though, that I was thinking about after the fact, is that you don’t need to be in a relationship to give relationship advice per se. Because even us single folk have a ton of experience managing the relationship we have with the person more important than any spouse or soulmate… the one we have with ourself.

If you’re mindful of your inner landscape, are consistently trying to find ways to improve that landscape, and are reflective towards the ups and downs and how to keep moving forward in spite of it all… the insight you gain can be just as valuable—if not more so—than the insight you might gain from being mindful of another person’s inner landscape, the strategies you’ve found that can help improve that other person’s inner workings, and the reflections you might’ve gained from the relationship’s ups and downs along the way.

After all, one of the best indicator’s of a relationship’s success—between two people—is the success of the relationship each person has with him/herself.

…Or maybe I’m just some naive single guy who has no idea what he’s talking about.

But, I digress.

P.s. If you’re wondering what I wrote on the Jenga piece (I obviously wrote something)—I said: “Like Jenga, all great things are built one brick at a time… never forget to keep laying bricks.”