The Best Personal Development Tools of 2017
The Best, 12/7/17
“Absorb what is useful, Discard what is not, Add what is uniquely your own.” — Bruce Lee
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It’s December 7th, and today’s edition of The Best spans…
Supplements, Listens, Watches, Reads, Products, Reads, News that Matters, Opportunities, Learning, Q&A, and Tech. All with a focus on personal development.
Supplement
I’ve been using Melatonin occasionally to get better sleep, but it wasn’t until recently I found out I was doing it all wrong!
Warning, I’m not a doctor and no one on The Mission team is a medical doctor (yet), so consult your healthcare professional before you do anything! :)
Overview of Melatonin Biosynthesis
I was buying the standard 3mg size Melatonin pills and taking one in the evening on some nights before bed. Little did I know that this is a recipe for insomnia in adults. Sidenote: I also didn’t know this, but it’s not safe for adults with poor health or children to take melatonin.
It turns out that the optimal dose for adults is only .3mg! This is a very tiny fraction of most melatonin sizes you can buy in stores. If you take more than you should, it might work for the first night, but for future nights, it will cause insomnia. If you’re wondering why you can’t buy the optimal .3 mg amount in stores (most melatonin pill sizes are 3mg-10mg in size!), it’s because MIT owns the patent on distributing amounts under 1mg. So grab the smallest dose of melatonin you can find (usually 3mg), and pretend you’re a trust fund brat, wall street bro, or gold digger socialite… Then crush the pill on the counter and take 1/10 of the 3mg of powder. I usually just mix the powder with a glass of water or Chamomile tea and down it.
Listening to
Depeche Mode was started in 1980, and they’re now performing to more people than ever before.
They are one more proof that you don’t need to be on TV or have a traditional record label deal, you just need people that love your music!
Here is the full Bloomberg story: A Band Without a №1 Hit Is Outselling Bruno Mars and Ed Sheeran
Vision Quest, by Carolyn Conger.
If you love Michael Crichton’s books, especially Jurassic Park, then chances are you’ve read The Lost World. If you look at who that book is dedicated to, it’s Carolyn Conger. Carolyn is a psychologist who flies under the radar. She has a handful (many of them older) audio programs for personal exploration and development that are incredible. It’s easy to use the iTunes store or Spotify for music only, but if you go to the fringes, you’ll find fascinating, original, audio programs and trainings from people like Carolyn. Vision Quest is a great entry point into her work, and so is Sacred Pool.
The 10x Rule
Chances are you’ve heard of this by now, right? Whatever you’re preconceptions are about this book, we just finished listening to it, and it was packed with truth. This might be the single greatest tool to get out of the trap of always underestimating how long it takes to do things.
Watching
Jessica Chastain (from Interstellar and other blockbusters) is starring in upcoming film that drops on Christmas day called Molly’s Game. It’s about one of the first woman poker players to dominate the game.
Molly’s Game also stars Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, and Michael Cera.
Reading
What is biomimetics? Help us Wikipedia!
Biomimetics or biomimicry is the imitation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems.[1] The terms “biomimetics” and “biomimicry” derive from Ancient Greek: βίος (bios), life, and μίμησις (mīmēsis), imitation, from μιμεῖσθαι (mīmeisthai), to imitate, from μῖμος (mimos), actor. A closely related field is bionics.[2] –Source
Researchers from Oxford are engaging in some positive biomimetic work. There is a massive problem that all nation states are facing: drones and small drones are increasingly being used by terrorists as weapon systems. The US Air Force teamed up with Oxford researchers to help solve this problem, and they turned to one of nature’s greatest creations for help:
The Peregrine Falcon.
Part of the biomimetic research shows that,
“peregrine falcons steer their attacks using the same control strategies as guided missiles.”
Additionally, they are beginning to specially train Peregrine Falcons to go after small drones to stop them. Fully autonomous drone technology is years (decades?) away, but Peregrine Falcons are ready to help save us from micro-swarms of terrorist drones.
Here are some fascinating researcher videos of the view from the drone as Falcons take them down.
News that Matters
I’ve heard that living in a densely populated and polluted area for a few decades can age someone by as much as ten years. New research is showing that modest amounts of pollution might wipe out (all) the benefits of exercise.
Tech Trends
Bitcoin is going UP. Nasdaq recently announced futures for the cryptocurrency, and the price continues to soar. It’s already a wild ride. Today it was up to $19K per Bitcoin, then dipped to $16K.
If you like Tech Trends, or are a business executive or owner looking for unique ways to (sustainably) improve your revenue, you’ve got to check out Marketing Trends. It’s a daily report curated by The Mission’s Chief Content Officer, Ian Faison. Check it out here.
Learning
The ocean is vast, filled with energy, nutrients, and life, but ~95% of it remains unexplored.
“Despite an increasing rate of species discovery, as much as 95 percent of the world’s oceans remain unexplored. ‘When you go to the deep sea, every time you take a sample, you’ll find a new species.’” — Ward Appeltans
That’s it for today’s edition of The Best. If you enjoyed this article, please clap it up and give it a share. Feel free to leave a comment below!
