Thanks for checking out the Weekly Learning Roundup. These bite-sized, weekly posts are designed to give you a quick hit of interesting learnings and articles I came across this week.

It’s a motley assortment of tips, resources, and links that will hopefully give you a bit of inspiration for the upcoming week. Enjoy!

What I’m reading —

How to Use Philosophy as a Personal Operating System: From Seneca to Musashi by Tim Ferriss

There’s a lot covered in this article. I particularly like Ferriss’s take on Stoicism as an “offensive” philosophy. If you’re able to prepare your mind for the obstacles that you’ll inevitably face, you’re much better able to face and overcome them. His thoughts on “what if I did the opposite?” when learning the best practices in skill building and measurable objectives are also very valuable.

Books, documentaries, or podcast episodes I’m enjoying —

Jocko Podcast – Episode 5 – Corrective Measures, Workouts, Diet, Marcinko, and Rollins

I mentioned the Jocko podcast in the January 15 roundup and I’ve been chipping away at the first few episodes. There’s few podcasts out there that offer as much value and knowledge as this one. The episodes are usually quite dense and heavy, and this one is no different. Jocko shares his experience on failures of leadership he’s seen in the past and what he viewed as the shortfalls of those leaders along with his corrective measures.

My key takeaways from this episode:

1. Failure in leadership usually begins and ends with ego. Check it at the door. If you have insecurities, it’ll show in your leadership. Work on yourself so you can deal with your own ego and insecurities.
2. Leadership means you’re responsible for the well-being and (potentially) livelihood of other people. Take extreme accountability with your actions.

A quote that’s inspiring me —

Take hold of your own life. See that the whole existence is celebrating. These trees are not serious, these birds are not serious. The rivers and the oceans are wild, and everywhere there is fun, everywhere there is joy and delight. Watch existence, listen to the existence and become part of it.

— Osho

Indian spiritual teacher

Productivity tip of the week —

Plan out your next day’s key tasks the day before.

You’ve likely heard that productive people plan out their day the day before. They look at the tasks and projects they were able to accomplish during the day and set a goal for the ONE key task that needs to get done the next day.

Personally, I’ve always had a hard time doing this. By the end of the day I’m usually exhausted and the last thing I want to do is plan what I should be doing the next day. That being said, having used a new Productivity Planner over the past month, I’ve really come to see the value in this 5-minute practice. I have much more clarity and purpose as I get started the next day just by doing this at the end of everyday.

Product or service I’m loving —

Cyxus anti blue-light filter glasses

My friend Matt Tod gifted me this pair of glasses and it’s been a fantastic addition to my evening wind-down routine. These glasses remove 90-99% of blue light that’s emitted from our computers, phones, and even light around the house. Blue light in the evening can harm your sleep by tricking your body into thinking it’s still day time. By using these relatively inexpensive glasses (they go for about $20-$30 a pair) you’re much likelier to feel sleepier at night. I wear mine about 2 hours before my bed time for good sleep hygiene.

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Featured image by klausdie.

As always, thanks for checking out this Weekly Learnings Roundup. Follow me on Twitter @peternakamura to see the full list of articles that I share on a daily basis.