The Last 3?

I wrote my “33 Random Thoughts” email about a week ago for my 33rd birthday.

But really I only wrote 30 and promised the last 3 in the next email.

What was supposed to be “tomorrow” is now today ;)

Let’s get into it.

31. Grits

Not the food, but perseverance.

This skill I’ve honed over the years has gotten me in places I only saw in dreams.

Just continuing to hammer at “my thing” over and over, no matter how small, every day.

If you look at most of the people you find “successful”, it’s not that they are super smart (although they can be), or that they are just ridiculously talented (usually the case), but that they just.kept.going.

The road to whatever vision you have for your life is lined with the failed dreams of countless talented and smart people.

Elon Musk is controversial (for good reason), but if you’re intellectually humble, you gotta admit…the guy has strong pain tolerance.

Grit will take you far as you train your pain tolerance muscle.

32. Sleep is underrated

It’s been about 10 days since I’ve been back from the US, and I’ve just started getting back to my regular sleep schedule: in bed around 10pm~12am.

But, I’ve found myself waking up after 4 hours.

That’s right. I’m writing this email at 3am.

And after a few days like this, I can empathize with the people who can’t sleep long.

After months of 4-hour sleep sessions, your body has got to take a hit.

Hormonal. Stress.

Luckily, I’m only a couple days in and understand that eating time, sunlight exposure, and exercise are key to getting back to my 8, 9-hour sleep sessions.

It looks something like this:

Morning:

*15 minute walk after waking up.

*Exercise.

Evening:

*3 hours before bed, stop eating.

*2 hours before bed, stop drinking.

*1 hour before bed, turn off screens.

I’m pretty good with the morning ritual, but my evening is still in the works.

3 hours before bed is big time tough for me.

I’ve always been a late dinner guy.

But in order to get to bed at 10pm, I’d have to eat dinner at 6pm!

For all my 40+ readers, I’m sure it gets easier to get to bed earlier when you naturally get tired.

But I catch a second wave of energy at night.

Could be that I’m still in my early 30s or just how my body works.

In any case, I want my 8-hours back, so time to experiment!

33. Your problem is you.

In my 20s, I had a problem with accountability.

I shifted blame to the point that it hurt to say “sorry” to acknowledge my mistakes.

But now I can see that most of the problems in my life are self-induced.

All me.

But how?

Not like I wake up on a mission to self-sabotage myself.

It’s all under the surface.

Subconscious.

Unconscious.

Deep down.

How to change the roots?

After years of exploring college hedonism, psychedelics, and meditation, the best method I’ve come across is writing letters.

Yep.

That’s not even the weirdest part. These letters are addressed to myself.

Not my current self though…

My past self.

Weird, right?

But strangely enough, it’s worked for me.

Therapy is cool now.

So most people understand how important our childhood is.

It shapes how we think and act in the world.

Well, this letter-writing-thang is basically you talking to your inner child and inner teen.

You talk to them from your “adult” place and assure them that you can handle how you react to certain triggers.

First, you acknowledge where the trigger comes from (usually your parents).

Then, you talk to them based on their age.

For the child, you’re soft.

For the teen, you’re firm.

You assure them that you got it, and they don’t have to handle your reaction to whatever trigger.

It’s grueling to write since you attack recurring thoughts you’ve had over the years at the root.

But after filling up an entire notebook with these letters from 2018, I’ve noticed that I’ve become more comfortable with myself.

Sometimes, I feel a strong contrast between me and people in their 40s, 50s, and even 60+.

I have a strong theory that this contrast comes from how much I “love myself".

Which has always been a theme growing up in a Jamaican household…

But these letters helped me fortify this self-worth.

I’ve gotten back multiples of the $3000 I spent on the 2-day workshop where I learned this from a licensed therapist and executive coach who’s worked with the top ilk of Fortune 10 companies using the same letter-writing method.

Anyway, that’s a wrap on my “33 Random Thoughts over 33 Years” series.

Thanks for tuning in.

And feel free to hit reply with any of your own random thoughts.

More books coming soon!

Talk soon,

Brandon “luckily feel my eyelids getting heavy“ Chin