The Weekly Circle #23
Welcome to the twenty-third episode of The Weekly Circle! A free Circles in Time newsletter released every Sunday.
Hey everybody,
Welcome to 2021!
I hope all of you are exploiting the motivational high that typically accompanies the start of a new year. I don’t know about you—but for me, the temporal landmark of 2021 feels like it is producing an especially potent fresh start effect this year.
SETTING GOALS FOR 2021?
If you are in the mood for setting some intentions and goals for the year ahead, I encourage you to remember three lessons that are central to the Circles in Time philosophy:
BUILD SYSTEMS FOR YOUR GOALS
Goals on their own are not enough! You MUST build systems to achieve them.
Setting goals without building systems is like charting a course for your sailing boat when there isn’t a breath of wind around. Here is an overview of how you can build personal systems to solve your self-control challenges.SEEK STABLE STATES NOT ENDPOINTS
Goals should be starting points, not finishing lines. Seek continuity, not completion.
Is your intention to meditate for 100 days in a row or have a healthy relationship with your mind? Is the point to run a marathon under 3 hours or be fit, vital and active? Endings are useful instruments for organising around—but don’t get trapped by Goodheart’s Law. The real point of the game is to keep on playing.MEASURE, EXPERIMENT, LEARN & ADAPT
Goals start as concepts in mind; reality rarely accepts them in that form.
We are all tremendous mispredictors of what we want, how things actually work and whether or not they succeed. The only way around this is to experiment. To learn, both when we fail and when we succeed. To take the lessons to heart, and adjust accordingly. Treat yourself as a Sample of One—a curious scientist as well as a patient participant.
Measure your baselines. Test your assumptions and track the results. Extract the learnings and adjust your course.
JOIN THE NEXT ROUND OF THE ESSENTIALS PROGRAMME
If you would like to explore the Circles in Time framework in more detail, I will be running another round of the Essentials programme, starting on the 23rd of January.
I’ll release more details over the coming weeks, but for now here are the key points:
WHAT IS IT?
A timezone-friendly cohort-based online programme that runs over the course of 10 days. The programme includes two live workshops, access to exclusive templates, articles, tutorials, video lectures and direct personalised feedback.WHEN IS IT?
21 Jan - 31 January (+ a free months access to the Circles in Time Community starting on the 1st of February)WHO IS IT FOR?
Anyone interested in learning how to build personal systems informed by behavioural science, systems thinking and self-experimentation.HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?
150$ per participants (80$ for past participants who would like to do a refresher)
WORLD VIEWS
THE IDEAS I CIRCLED AROUND THIS WEEK
SUNLIGHT & CIRCADIAN CLOCKS
The physiological benefits of aligning your circadian clock with exposure to sunlight at sunrise and sunset. Exposure will improve your sleep-wake rhythms, dopamine production, wound healing, metabolism and longevity. I’ll dive into the details here in a future post.NOTES ON TECHNOLOGY IN THE 2020s
An interesting tour of technology predictions for the 2020s by Eli Dourado. Some of the trends he covered include biotech, life extension, plasma dilution, biological age assessments, wearables, energy, transportation, space travel custom silicon, cryptocurrency, vertical farming, 3D printed homes and construction tech.TOOLS FOR THOUGHT: TALKING OUT LOUD
The weird and wonderful benefits of self-talk. Society has tended to treat self-talk as a symptom of some sort of psychological disorder. Nana Ariel wants us to bring it back into normality. Its advantages are too great not to do so.
WISE WORDS
THE QUOTES I CIRCLED AROUND THIS WEEK
“A wise man rules his passions, a fool obeys them.” ~ Publius Syrus
“Knowledge without practice can create a kind of arrogance that is dangerous.” ~ Kyle Eschenroeder
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool.” ~ Richard Feynman
“I believe that aging is a disease. I believe it is treatable. I believe we can treat it within our lifetimes. And in doing so, I believe, everything we know about human health will be fundamentally changed.” ~ David Sinclair
“If you think something hard is impossible, you'll never even start trying to achieve it.” ~ Peter Thiel
SOMETHING TO PART WITH
I spent my Sunday morning at the Norval Foundation Art Gallery. If you find yourself in Cape Town at some point in the near future, I’d strongly suggest a visit.
Until next week,
Take care,
David
Share the love: If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing or forwarding it to family members, friends and colleagues. Are you that family member, friend or colleague? You can sign up for free here.
Let’s start a conversation: If you have any questions on thoughts on the content discussed in this post, I would love to hear it. If you’re in your inbox, you can reply directly to this email. If you are on the Substack post, you can add a comment below.
Become a community member: Want to get more involved? Consider becoming a member of the Circles in Time community. You will get access to our community platform, live conversations with experts, monthly workshops, member-only substack posts and a growing library of behavioural tools and templates for building personal systems. You can join here.