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- #53: The fresh start effect
#53: The fresh start effect
Shem Opolot
January 05, 2024
Hi! Welcome to The Friday Fix! You’re reading this because you probably stumbled upon this post somewhere on the internet instead of where it should be—in your inbox. But no worries; we can fix that.
Who am I? I’m Shem Opolot, a health professional turned content creator, passionate about helping people be their best selves in life and work.
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Happy Friday, and welcome to all the new subscribers 🎉 When most of you read this, I’ll be at a balloon museum (what?!—YEP) with my family, oohing and aahing and kicking balloons the way we kicked Polio out of Uganda in the 90s.
Also, the statute of limitations on how long you can use “Happy New Year” as a greeting expires today. Happy New Year. There. Done. Stop it, now.
Estimated read time: 5 minutes
LIFE.
The fresh start effect
The window for doing the things we love shrinks every day.
I had something else planned for today, but the year has begun with a vengeance: I got some discouraging news related to my doctorate, and my close friend lost their mum.
So…this one’s for you:
—You who fitted your feet perfectly in the squares on the pavement while you walked.
—You who walked on the curb with your hands spread out Titanic-pose-style for balance.
—You who chewed the paper the queen cakes came wrapped in.
—You who licked lollipops until the roof of your mouth was a little sore.
—You who didn’t bother to compute how much candy your loose change could buy, so you just handed the shopkeeper your stack of clinking coins and said, “FOR ALL!”
—You who tried to run away from your shadow.
We’re the same, you and I.
Of course, there’s no difference between December 31, 2023, and January 1, 2024, but we feel like there is. We feel the pressure to somehow transform our lives overnight. To work out regularly, read more books, make more money, sleep earlier, eat healthier, etc. The things we aspire to are common and unoriginal, and I wrote about how to achieve them here so I won’t repeat myself.
Instead, let’s plan for the year a little differently:
The only sure way to be productive is to find a way to enjoy the thing(s) you’re trying to do. You can cultivate discipline, but I must share this less painful shortcut.
Pick ONE big thing you MUST accomplish this year. Just one. Something challenging and a little scary but within your control. Something like climbing a mountain or learning a new skill. Something you’ll be proud of this time next year. I’m still thinking about mine, but I’ll share it with you when I figure it out.
Write effusive hand-written letters to your loved ones once a month.
Figure out the things that are important to you and schedule them. Saying you don’t have time to do something means that thing isn’t important to you. And that’s okay; however, sometimes, you should think about that a little.
Take a mini-adventure every other month. It doesn’t have to be expensive, and you shouldn’t wait for a quorum in the WhatsApp group.
A good day begins the night before. Instead of a morning routine, develop a healthy evening routine.
At some point this year, something bad will happen. God forbid—you might get ill, you might lose a loved one, you might lose money, you might lose a job, you might fight (and even fall out entirely) with a good friend—SOMETHING. You can’t control these things, but you can control how you show up—always with kindness and compassion for others and yourself.
The window to do the things we love shrinks every day.
Have a good year!
This video inspired this post.
SHAMELESS PLUG
New year, same best source of news this side of the Equator.
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THINGS.
A quote
Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself, and to copy oneself is more dangerous than to copy others. It leads to sterility.
The Good Library
Read a book this weekend.
A picture
This is how you make a toddler tired while also running errands.
WORK.
A seismic shift
Here’s your data:
What if you want to display the names in a column instead of a row?
We use the TOCOL function and insert the reference of the desired range into the function.
=TOCOL(array or range)
If you want to learn how to use Excel, this is a good place to start.
FUN.
The Friday Fix Playlist
Brain teaser
From Braingle.
Arrange the numbers 1 through 9 on a tic tac toe board such that the numbers in each row, column, and diagonal add up to 15.
Answer below
Shem’s picks
✔️ Comparing the smallest thing to the largest thing in the universe
✔️ The most unique hotels
✔️ For all those self-help books you think you should read, here are 5-minute summaries
Brain teaser answer
Answer:
4, 3, 8,
9, 5, 1,
2, 7, 6
Have a great weekend,
— Shem
Et cetera
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