Current Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Reading: The Three-Body Problem - Cixin Liu
Listening To: Come Unto Me - The Mavericks
Well well, hello there. It’s very likely that you’ve forgotten completely who I am based on how long this newsletter has been out of action. I didn’t send a single newsletter in 2022 and that’s about to change because we’re in a new year and I have a renewed energy that will hopefully help to revive this temple of wandering thoughts.
As a quick reminder, I’m Barry. Hi. And this newsletter is my weekly collection of thoughts, ideas, media, and other paraphernalia that I find fascinating. And hopefully, you do too.
But if you don’t - please unsubscribe. I really don’t want to clutter up your inbox unnecessarily - we all have more than enough email to keep us entertained.
Right, now that the housekeeping is out of the way, let’s move forward.
My 2022 Annual Review
I’ve just published my annual review for 2022 on my blog. It’s an attempt to summarise the period of self-reflection that I’ve gone through over the past couple of days and create a time capsule of sorts that I can look at in the years to come. I hope that it might inspire some of you to do your own annual reviews – especially as we all plan for what 2023 has in store. It was all-in-all a really successful and meaningful year for me - for which I’m very grateful.
Read the post here.
The process of drafting the review also brought to light a number of areas where there is significant room for improvement. I’ll be spending the next few days building those into my 2023 planning and goal-setting with the hope that I can make progress on them and step closer to the ideal version of myself that I’m always chasing.
If you’d like to do your own annual review/planning process, I have a few resources to share that might be useful (as they were to me). Pick the aspects of them that you like and ignore the rest – this is an intensely personal process:
David Perell’s example of an annual review
I highly encourage you to go through some version of this as it can be incredibly powerful. Don’t worry too much about format, structure, or aesthetics - but focus on spending time reflecting on yourself and your life. This is the difficult work that most of us don’t do.
If you do try it, I’d love to hear how it goes. Hit reply to this email and let me know.
Across the Pond
Excitingly, we have a surprise new episode of our podcast ‘Across the Pond’! This was filmed in person the day before Chad got married and so it’s a wonderful time capsule of the state he was in before the big day. We talk about what marriage means, how to stay present on your wedding day, what lifelong commitment means, and much more. Catch it wherever you get your podcasts!
YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Links:
Our bodies will wither, so perhaps we should rather spend our time focusing on being curious, kind, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and wholehearted. Maybe that’s the antidote to our crippling fear of getting old. (Link)
So much of modern anxiety relates to crafting overly complex and busy lives that pull us away from the simple things. This beautiful short documentary about a shepherd in Wales shows the virtues of a simple life and almost brought me to tears. (Link
I recently watched the documentary Stutz on Netflix where Jonah Hill interviews his therapist. It’s a really powerful film that discusses some of the practical tools that we can use to improve our mental health and cope better with the struggles of life. It’s well worth a watch for everyone, but especially for men who think therapy is not for them. (Link)
I discovered a band called The Mavericks who apparently have been around forever. Their mix of country, folk, rock, and mariachi is a treat for the ears and I’ve had them on repeat for over a week now. Start with my favourite song ‘Come Unto Me’. (Link)
There have been a lot of exciting things happening in the world of AI recently thanks to the public release of ChatGPT from OpenAI. I’ve got a lot to say and write on this topic but for the moment I’ll recommend this piece which shows just a taste of what is possible here. (Link)
That’s it for the first email newsletter of 2023. I hope this is the first of many, so thank you for sticking around and bearing with me during the hiatus.
Have the most wonderful week ahead and a joyful year that is filled with meaning, purpose, and good company.
And don’t forget to be kind to yourself.
Barry