Hey friends,
After months of continuous University Application deadlines and extracurricular commitments, I finally had the chance to take a breather after my MAT (Mathematics Admission Test) paper last Wednesday.
Sitting down on the edge of my bed, I looked around at the bedroom I just cleaned and the laundry I just did. Something felt missing. I’ve been looking forward to this day for weeks, to not having a looming deadline casting a shadow over my every waking hour, to having a bit of space to breathe.
Why then, do I not feel a load off my shoulders? If anything, the sudden lost of direction seem to pile on even heftier weights. I felt incredibly restless and unmoored.
Eager to keep myself occupied, I fired up my laptop and launched Notion, my favorite personal management software, to see if there is anything I could tick off my never-ending list of content ideas for my website and this newsletter. (By the way, I’m working on an article to be published next week about the apps I have on my iPad. Keep your eyes peeled for that one!😉)
As I scrolled through my Kanban Board of ideas, I realized that there was a comprehensive Readwise review article that I’ve been meaning to get started on ever since they hooked me up with a special link that gave my readers an extra 30 days of free trial. Hopefully, this is a smooth transition into me introducing Readwise.
Readwise is software built on top of existing reading platforms — such as Amazon Kindle, Instapaper, Goodreads and Apple iBooks — that conveniently resurfaces all the things you found important while reading.
While all these reading platforms have their respective highlighting and note-taking features built in, Readwise acts as the HeadQuarters for all of them, syncing your highlights and notes across all these platforms into one. This interrupts the natural process of forgetting, creating repeated opportunities to actually do something with what you've read.
Anyways, the timing that evening seemed perfect for me to finally get around to the review, and so I did. I researched, wrote and edited. The whole project took more than 17 hours to complete and I wrote through the night till dawn broke. However, instead of feeling exhausted, I was left feeling re-energized and re-calibrated. I found my anchor.
Now, join me in finding out what is the 'anchor'.
Where did the term ‘anchor’ in this context originate from?
'Anchor' isanchor a term that I picked up from one of my lifelong inspirations - Dwayne Johnson.
The Rock has constantly preached about the importance of anchoring one's day. In his electrifying words…
The 'anchor' is whatever it is that gives you "your edge" over everyone around you - then that's what you do. You find it, you apply it and you protect it.
What are examples of ‘anchors’?
For The Rock, 'anchoring' his day takes on two forms:-
- Waking up at 4am daily and training in his portable gym - the Iron Paradise. He derives strength and stability from putting in the hard work that he knows his competition is not willing to do.
- Even if it he has flown around the world and was working non-stop, he has to workout. Wherever he lands, regardless of what time it is - The Rock gets to the hotel, shower, eat, meditate, take shots of caffeine and hit the gym. Always super tired when he lands, but this schedule gives him the jolt he needs to anchor his day and gets him ready to work for an extra 14 hours. He knows that by defeating his hardest competition out there - himself, he has gotten a big win before all else.
For me, my anchor is the writing I do for the website and this newsletter. It fuels my serendipity vehicles and creates content for my personal platforms which I’m proud to say has allowed me to provide value to others in an unconventional fashion. In other words, it sets me apart and "gives me an edge over those around me".
When I am researching and writing, I find myself losing perception of time, drafting all the little subsections that are required to craft out an entire article. When I read through the final draft of a long-form article, it helps me build the confidence and belief in myself to continue putting in the work that is expected of me.
You definitely don’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn to find your 'anchor'. Find the courage to experiment with new things and go beyond your comfort zone. Look for the thing that makes you lose track of time and sets you apart from those around you. Seek your anchor.
With that said, I hope that finding your anchor would add some value to your life in some shape, way, or form.
Have a great week ahead and see you in the next issue of Sunday Scoop!
Jia Shing.
Links
- 🎧 Podcast - Listened to this while doing a Statistics 2 paper. Incredibly hilarious and found myself chuckling every so often. Nevertheless, it is packed with reflective insights and the sincerity of the friendship between the podcast hosts shines throughout the episode.
- 📱 Verblr - This is a new mobile application that I stumbled upon by chance and found that it was quite packed with potential. It reads out any online article that you send to it so that you can listen to an article instead of listening to it. Surprisingly, the 'voices' aren't dull and monotonous. In fact, one could quite easily be fooled into thinking that the article is specially narrated because of its accurate intonation and pauses. The only downside it has is a weird brief pause when it comes to words with links.
- 📹 Video - A rare Mr Bean episode that I watched with my friends. We were quite surprised to have found an episode that we have not watched before as a child and as it turned out, it was quite the episode! Enjoy this episode and have some good comedy before the end of the week. After all, what’s life without a little laughter?
Question
What is your anchor?
Article of the Week
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