Negativity consuming your life?

Newton’s 3rd Law, Applied to Personal Development
How a simple concept from science can transform your life!

Isaac Newton: The man who grounded humanity.

Literally.

One day before 1687, we were all floating around without a care in the world. And the next thing you know - BAM! All brought down by gravity!

Thanks, Isaac!

All joking aside, today we’ll dive into a concept from physics and apply it to our lives, goals and state of mind. You’ll learn a practical way of improving your life, and solve the puzzle for more positivity and joy!

What Is Newton’s 3rd Law?

Here’s a simple rule I use for almost anything in life:

In order to solve a problem or apply something, we must first understand it.

Understanding is always step 1.

With that in mind:

Newton’s 3rd Law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Shoutout to having to learn that kind of crap back in high school. I’ll save you the boring lecture (and possibly PTSD from science class).

Here’s where it gets interesting though:

What if we applied the concept to personal development?

We Are What We Consume

And I’m not even talking about food.

For the context of this newsletter, I’d like you to think about the kind of content that you consume online (including this newsletter, smart move!) as well as your sources of information and daily activities.

Here’s my adaptation of Newton’s work:

“Whatever you consume, is what consumes you!”

Allow me to clarify with an (extreme) example:

Video games can be a huge time-sink.

However, the time spent playing is not the main problem.

In this example, playing video games is the consumption. And when done in moderation, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it at all. It’s more than possible to play a few hours a day and still get a ton of work done as well.

But there’s an issue…

While we consume the games, the games also consume us.

For example:

• You’re laying awake in bed, frustrated because you still couldn’t beat that boss. Your defeats are still on your mind hours later, costing you peace of mind and sleep.

• While you’re trying to work on something, your mind starts to wander to the quests you’ll take on later on that evening. It’s distracting you, and potentially even drawing you away from the job.

• Your mind wanders to a daydream of what it would be like when you were the hero in the world of the game.

• In your own mind, you’re already planning around certain events, daily quests and so on. Even when your mindspace would be better occupied doing other things.

Do you see the point?

We think that our time investment is limited to the time spent playing.

In reality, it’s the time we spend playing + wasted time & mental energy.

The Trap of Social Media

Let me hone in with one way in which this gets dangerous:

Social media.

With the vast amount of content on the wonderful net of the inter, you will find what you’re looking for. If you want to find something positive and uplifting, you’ll get it!

However, negativity is out there too…

We often get stuck in echo chambers.

Social media algorithms are smart as fuck!

They know exactly what you consume & engage with and they will show you as much of that as possible. It becomes a trap where you get the same types of content forced down your throat constantly.

And guess what’s gonna happen?

What do you think happens to someone’s life and way of thinking when they:

• Constantly consume fear-driven messages (for example: the news)

• Get served content meant to trigger and anger people

• Watch videos that tries to divide us and pain others as the bad guys

• Are exposed to content that’s extremely cynical and negative

• Get sucked into things that are deeply saddening or depressing

I don’t think I need to answer that, do I?

The content people consume in turn consumes them by affecting their state of mind, thoughts, ideas and view of the world.

Powerful stuff if you think about it!

How to Use This Concept

With that piece of understanding out of the way, let’s make it practical!

Here’s the key takeaway:

Be extremely careful about the people you hang out with, the content you watch, the awesome newsletters you read (wink wink), the people you listen to and other forms of consumption that shape your mind.

Here’s a quick hack:

One of my favorite ways of starting the day is by reading.

Why?

Because when I start my day with something that inspires, makes me think, or teaches me something new, that carries on throughout my day. It positively influences my thinking, even hours after I’ve put down the book!

It’s like putting on inspiration-colored sunglasses!

Remember:

If you’re looking for what’s wrong, you’ll find it.

If you’re looking for what’s right, you’ll find it.

If you’re looking for your keys, it takes 7 minutes every. single. time.

Note:

Want to dive deeper into this concept of curating the content you consume online? I’m outlying multiple things you can do today in the action steps below.

The Tale of 2 Mountains

We all know intuitively what rock-bottom feels like.

But have you heard of hitting rock-top?

Perhaps you’ve ever set a huge goal for yourself, put in a TON of work and finally, you achieved it! You were over the moon excited about it! Your happiness was through the roof!

For a limited amount of time….

After that, you might think “So… now what?”

That’s hitting rock-top.

When you’re in that state of mind, you feel empty because the big aim you had in your life is now gone. As a result, you’d feel lost and directionless in life, which leads to depression and hopelessness if it continues for too long!

No bueno!

Every Man Needs 2 Mountains

Firstly, have a mountain you’re currently climbing.

A goal you’re actively working towards.

At the same time, keep your eyes open for an even bigger mountain to climb.

You never want to get into the position where you reach your peak, your goal, and then feel empty and lost because you no longer have a goal. 

Progress is the key to happiness.

We want to see ourselves growing.
We want to see ourselves achieve goals.
We want to see ourselves WIN!

It’s not the goal itself that fulfills us, but the process of becoming our best selves!

Additional Resources for a Life of Greatness!
Star Wars AND Personal Development?! WOW, that’s a must-watch!

Action Steps to Revolutionize Your Socials

Now that you’ve (re)discovered the power of having the right inputs to create the desired outputs, let’s work on getting better inputs.

Key insight:

Don’t blame algorithms on social media.

You ARE the algorithm!

Meaning, you get served the content that the social media platform thinks you will like and engage with. And thus, it keeps you on the platform for longer.

Let’s exploit that for our benefit!

Here are a few suggestions you can do right now:

1. Go through your subscriptions on YouTube and people you follow on social media. Unsubscribe and unfollow any accounts that regularly post content that puts you in a negative or angry mood.
   
   (even if it’s your aunt Susan)
   

2. If you see any recommendations in your feed that aren’t in alignment with your goals and how you want to feel, almost every platform has an option along the lines of “show me less like this”. Use it.
   

3. If you have certain apps or websites that are getting in the way of you achieving your goals, consider blocking or deleting them. Your phone has digital wellbeing settings for this, and there are extensions for your browser as well.
   

4. What emotions do you want to fill your day? What skills do you want to learn? What goals do you want to achieve? Ask yourself those kinds of questions and actively look for people that post content that fulfills that need.
   

5. It’s time to create a NEW social media algorhitm. Pick a platform to focus on and spend some time to watch ONLY the kind of content that has a positive impact on you. Search for it, engage in your feed, watch for longer, etc.
   
   Resist the urge to watch content that does not help you. It might be tough, but you’ll only have to do it for a few days. After that, your feed will be filled with positive and educational content!
   

6. Tip specifically for YouTube: If you create a new channel, you’ll get a “clean slate” for the new algorithm, so you can just search a few good topics and watch the magic happen instantly.
   

7. And of course, consider things like books, podcasts and other ways of enriching your life, motivation and thinking as well.

As you do some (or all) of these, you’ll prime your mind for more positivity, creativity and productivity.