Do the Opposite - My Best Purchase Around $100, How Not To Give Up, Exercise Is Underrated
Greetings friends,
Welcome to the newest issue of the Do the Opposite newsletter, sent every Monday! If you like it, please forward this email to your friends or share this link with them: tinyletter.com/dotheopposite - this helps the newsletter grow!
If you want to share any resources, articles, books or anything else with the community, please reply to this email with your recommendations!
_________
My best purchase around $100
To me, the best low-cost purchase I've made in the past 10 years is my Kindle Paperwhite (by Amazon) that I bought in 2012. It still serves me very well and keeps automatically updating its software (7 years later!) The battery still lasts pretty long (I probably have to charge it once every 1-2 weeks). I want to keep it for another 3-4 years, hopefully making it to a 10 year anniversary, if it holds together until then :) Here's a photo of it:
Now, you don't have to buy Kindle, it's just one of the options. I am talking about an e-reader as a type of product. As you know, I absolutely love them and truly believe in going paperless. I used to love owning paper books ― the feeling you get looking at the ones you've read, and browsing the ones you haven't yet read, appreciating the cover art and design, ability to easily make notes in them, etc. However after carefully considering all the pros and cons and casting them onto my personal values, I've decided to only buy digital books going forward.
I think I will probably buy physical books in the future, but that will be extremely rarely: only if I've already read a digital version of it and it was absolutely life-changing, and for some reason I wanted to own a physical copy. I want to allow my mind this loophole so it doesn't get locked up thinking thought a-la "Oh, I can't do that anymore, ever ever again ― I must do it!!!!" :)
E-book reader solves so many problems:
1) It saves trees and the planet
2) It's cheaper to buy digital version of a book (99.9% of the time)
3) You get to read the book right away - no trip to store needed
4) You don't have to carry a book or multiple books with you, and "just sit around" during your commute if you forgot it. If you read 2 books at the same time (let's say one fictional, one non-fictional) you have to carry both of them with you.
5) You can read the book from multiple devices
6) The books you bought don't deteriorate with time (and don't collect dust etc.)
There are definitely more benefits to an e-book reader. I want you to consider getting one if you don't already own it, and if you do but you are not using it, I invite you to try and use it more, maybe a month of exclusively using it over physical books. If you already have purchased some physical books, definitely read them, but if you want to try this e-book thing out seriously, try not to get any new physical books till the end of the year (of course, you can purchase e-books during that time) and see if you like it.
I think physical books get way over-romanticized and I do it to. It's an interesting experiment to try to get away from that mainstream culture and try out something else. Try out doing the opposite, huh? ;)
What is your best purchase around $100? I am very curious! If you want to share, tweet at me @ka11away and include a photo of it too! :)
Articles:
"What I Do When I Feel Like Giving Up" by James Clear
I struggle with being consistent, as I mentioned a lot of times in this newsletter, so I am always on the lookout for the "Jedi mind tricks" and ideas that will help me stay consistent when I am in the "downhill" phase of any project or activity I decide to pick up (usually this happens 2-3 weeks in) James shares some ideas on how to keep going when you want to give up in this article, which I think can help both you and me :)
Videos:
1) WHY Exercise is so Underrated (Brain Power & Movement Link)
Here we learn that exercise is not "marketed" well to the general public. I guess it's easy to understand that some of the reasons why are ― because businesses are not really interested in having you do regular exercise and be healthy: most companies want us to either reach for the quick and easy way to get in shape or in helping us treat the symptoms of diseases that originate from our unhealthy lifestyle. However, the public and people sharing knowledge online could do better - disseminate information teaching people about the benefits of exercise and also clear any misconceptions and illusions a lot of people have about exercise. This video does just that and it's full of cool facts that motivate one to start exercising :)
2) How to send an "E-mail" - Database - 1984
This is both a fascinating and a hilarious video to watch. It's a TV report from 1984 where they interview a couple of people about the way they use their computer. They explain why someone would want to buy a personal computer, and more. It's incredible that the technology has come such a long way in such a short period of time.
3) Minimalism for Beginners
This video provides a good overview of minimalism as a movement, and, what I like best about it - provides practical ideas on how to get you started, for example: challenge yourself not to buy anything new (besides food) for 30 days, and many other ideas on the first steps you can take towards a minimalist lifestyle.
Tech Corner:
Disclaimer: This section is related to tech and coding. If you are interested in learning to code, but not sure ― shoot me a direct message on Twitter (@ka11away) or just reply to this email, and I will do my best to help you out!
[VIDEO] "Docker Tutorial - What is Docker & Docker Containers, Images, etc?"
If you ever were confused or unsure of what Docker, what it's for and how it works, this is THE video to watch. It's also a part of a Docker series on the LearnCode.academy channel, so if you enjoy this one but want to keep learning, you can just follow the playlist they have there.
Tweet that resonated with me
Bonus tweet
Ethos:
Here's a track to go with the image below
Quotes:
"One hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the most skillful. Subduing the other's military without battle is the most skillful."
― Sun Tzu, "The Art of War"
"The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed."
― William Gibson, in an interview to "The Economist"
_________
TELEGRAM CHANNEL: Do the Opposite has a public Telegram channel. The content there is a little different than in the newsletter: faster to consume, a bit more random - basically anything weird or interesting that catches my eye - articles, tweets, videos, images, etc. Hope to see you there as well! :) Here it is: t.me/dotheopposite
If you find this newsletter helpful, please consider forwarding this email to to your friends! Or just give them this link: tinyletter.com/dotheopposite
Keep doing the opposite,
Alexander Kallaway
Website: dotheoppo.site
Twitter: twitter.com/ka11away