Sunday Six: Writing Routine, Italian Longevity, Tips for Running

Hey Friend 👋

Happy Sunday! Fall is upon us. Football is upon us. It’s a wonderful time. I’m poolside enjoying some sun with my family 🏖️

Steps and sun have been my go-to forms of rejuvenation. Plenty of walking and spending as much time outside as possible.

In fact, I read an incredibly interesting article by Dr. Peter Atta yesterday. He took a snippet out of his book *The Art and Science of Longevity (which I bought after reading this article).

A common fact we all know: if you smoke and / or drink, you are 3x likely to die sooner.

Something you may not know: If you have above average cardiovascular health, you are 5x more likely to live longer.

Meaning the pro’s of great cardiovascular health outweigh the con’s of alcohol and cigarettes. (That walking and running really pays off…)

Is your mind blown? 🤯

If you are interested in stuff like this, check out his book on longevity here: check out book

I found that so fascinating! (Thank God I already love to run. You?)

Speaking of books… mine is in the final stages!

• Design wraps up this week
• I’m doing my final read to make any last minute tweaks
• Recording the audiobook starts next week (narrated by your boy 😉)

Here is the FINAL title:

Meaningful Marketing: 38 Simple Principles To Make Your Marketing Match Your Mission

I’ve enjoyed this process so much, I’ve already got a few more books in the cue!

Let’s dive into the Sunday Six 👇

Sunday Six ☀️

🏃 Tips to Start Running — Over the summer, my weekly runs went down from 4 or 5 runs per week to 1 or 2 runs per week.

Not because I didn’t want to run but I didn’t have a balance in writing the book and maintaining my runs. (I eventually figured it out though… you’ll see below 😉)

As my weekly runs have been increasing back to normal, I realize I’ve had quite a few conversations with friends who started running recently (Fall weather tends to do that.)

I’m not a running savant but I’ve run long enough to understand and overcome the beginner’s hurdles. Here are a few tips to help you start to fall in love with running like I did.

1. Run outside. Get some sun. See the trees. Feel the air. Running on a treadmill reduces your run to be about burning calories. It’s not. It’s about being human and moving.
2. Run slow. Don’t go out there huffing and puffing. Again, it’s not about burning calories or “working out” — it’s simply about being human and enjoying yourself. Take it easy.
3. Run comfortably. Get you some nice running shoes, decent shorts, breathable shirt. People say gear doesn’t matter. I disagree. The more comfortable you are, the better.
   

🧘 Finding Your Creative Niche — Writing has unlocked something in me I searched years to find. I knew I had a creative itch in me, but I never knew what my thing was. I learned music, photography, graphic design, website design, videography — so many things. (Still love those!)

I had written blogs and articles over the years when necessary. But never made it my craft.

I believe everybody has a creative niche. Whether they are “creative” or not.

After years of exploring, here are a few questions you can ask yourself to help guide you towards finding your creative niche.

1. What’s the thing I do that makes hours feel like minutes?
2. What am I really curious about right now? Why?
3. What do the people I look up to do creatively?

That third question is the secret sauce question.

When I realized that most of my creative hero’s are writers (Seth Godin, John Mark Comer, Ryan Holiday) — it became incredibly apparent the I appreciate their work because it’s how I’m wired.

So how are you wired?

🤔 The Convenience Fee — Thoughts from Seth Godin:

Sometimes it’s obvious, like the $1 that you get charged for using an ATM or a credit card, and it’s simply not worth the hassle to walk a few blocks.

And sometimes it’s not, like the cost we all pay for the conveniently wrapped fruits or vegetables at the market–wrapped in plastic that will not degrade in our lifetimes.

The convenience fee might be the time you spend at the drive-through at Starbucks, instead of walking inside, or, heaven forbid, brewing your own coffee at home.

Or choosing media to consume because it’s right there, not a few clicks away…

But the convenience fees, whether metaphorical or actual, keep rising.

It turns out that a life lived conveniently isn’t always a better one. The cost of convenience ends up being too high.

🇮🇹 Why The Italians Live So Long — I read a newsletter from my friend Eddy Quan. (I’m obsessed with great newsletters hitting my inbox.)

He mentioned an article he came across reminding him of the incredible lifestyle the Italians live that contribute to them living up to 100 years old. I did some research on this. Here are a things I found across many articles that contribute to their incredible lifestyle.

1. Low stress. The average Italian citizen works about 4-6 hours a day max and spends the rest of their time enjoying espresso with friends, cooking meals, walking or relaxing doing nothing.
2. Low meat. Most of their diets is high fats (olive oil) and vegetables. Of course, carbs too but mostly vegetables. Meat is treated like a once to twice a week treat.
3. High community. Family is incredibly tight knit. And friends are treated like family. Espresso with friends is a daily. Sitting on the patio for hours to chat is every single night. Relationships are everything. Anything else is supplementary.
4. High activity. Gyms aren’t on every corner in Italy. They keep their high activity through walking and normal human labor. 10,000 steps is easy to hit. And beyond.

⛅ Daily Routine of Writing Content — After spending 4 months trying to understand the best rhythms for my priorities and season of life, here is the daily routine I landed on:

5:00 - 6:00AM → Prayer & Bible

6:00 → 7:30AM → Write (Newsletter, Articles, Book)

7:30 - 8:30AM → Breakfast with family

8:30 - 12:00PM → Deep Work

12:00 - 1:00PM → Eat lunch. One mile walk outside.

1:00 - 4:00PM → Work

4:00 - 5:00PM → Run + Shower

5:00 - 6:30PM → Cook and eat dinner.

6:30 - 8:30PM → Family time

8:30 - 9:30PM → Put kids to sleep / read / reflect

9:30 - 10:00PM → Go to sleep

🌙 Evening Reflection Formula — During my evening reflection time, I’ve landed on 6 prompts I fill out every single night and it takes me two minutes (literally) to do.

Day = [1-10]

Work = [1-10]

Family = [1-10]

Health = [1-10]

Resting Heart Rate =

Steps Walked =

The sliding scale of 1-10 is prompting towards the question: On a scale of one to ten, if I did this everyday for the next 5 years, would I become better or worse?

Meaning — If my family time today was an 8, I generally happy with what I did but could see some room for improvement.

Direction over perfection.

Make sure you’re just going in the right direction. Don’t be so hard on giving yourself a 10 when warranted though. If you crushed it. Awesome.

As for resting heart rate, that’s the best indicator for stress. I’m usually between 55-60BPM. If above 60, I know I’m stressed. If below 60, I’m stoked.

Steps is self-explanatory→ these tends to be a huge indicator of my mood and energy levels.

Thanks for tuning into this week's Sunday Six!

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