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7PS: The enemy is the teacher π
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Read time: 1 minute, 390 words. I spent 100+ hours listening to, curating, and editing the Dalai Lama's voice while making a meditation album. Someone asked me what the most useful thing I learned was. I answered immediately: "The enemy is your best teacher." This stayed with me because discomfort often feels like it's being caused by someone else. But the frustration, tension, and chemical reactions are happening inside my own body and mind. Meanwhile, my "enemy" may be blissfully unaware. So why am I making myself suffer? Now, when I feel triggered or disappointed, I return to this teaching. Maybe this person isn't the problem... Maybe they're helping me practice patience and strengthen my compassion. ππ½ I hope this 5 minute meditation helps you too. ββ-Kabir Seven Point Sunday - August 16 βAlexandra Horowitz β Cognitive scientist, author, and professor whose career spans psychology, animal cognition, writing, and public scholarship. She wrote Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know. β‘οΈ Productivity βStretchly β Lightweight break reminder that nudges you to step away from your screen at regular intervals. π° Wealth βSeries EE Savings Bonds β U.S. savings bonds that double in value if held for 20 years, effectively locking in a guaranteed return. Boring, slow, and oddly powerful for long-term, low-attention capital. π Books βThe Status Game by Will Storr. Sharp exploration of how status drives behavior, ambition, morality, and identity. It explains why people chase meaning through hierarchy, how different "status games" collide, and what happens when we confuse approval with progress. π΅ Music βThe Velvet Rope by Janet Jackson. Recorded during a period of intense personal upheaval, the album blends R&B, trip-hop, and electronic textures with themes of vulnerability, self-protection. Its whispery production, tight sequencing, and emotional coherence helped redefine what mainstream pop could sound like when it stopped trying to be invulnerable. π AI Prompt You are an overly serious documentary narrator. Describe my daily routine as if it were an important historical ritual. Use dramatic language. Subtly imply future scholars are confused by some of my choices. βYou think leadership is about giving ordersβ βWhy we should all thank Cadbury Dairy Milkβ β
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Seven Point Sundayπ‘by Kabir Sehgal
I help you build your portfolio career. Get 7 actionable ideas on Sundays. From a Multi-Grammy & Multi-Emmy Winner, New York Times bestselling author (21 books), ex-J.P. Morgan banker, Navy Vet. Join 10k readers.
Read time: 1 minute, 370 words. Making money in indie music is tough. A project might earn $100 from streaming in a year. So I have to be thoughtful about where my time goes. The number of artists and engineers I work with gets smaller every year. Not because there's a shortage of talent. Because I've built a creative orbit around execution. I tend to work with people who have experience in the corporate world or working with customers.(or who were in the military!) They call back...
Read time: 1 minute, 329 words. Folks tell me all the time: you do too much. But high output can lead to better results. Because every rep sharpens your instincts. Prince recorded 39 studio albums. He worked in studios, backstage, and hotel rooms. He captured ideas quickly and refined them later. He moved across funk, rock, jazz, soul, and pop. And he reportedly left more than 8,000 unreleased songs in his vault. Prince didn't wait for perfect. He built mastery through volume.ππΎ 3 ways you...
Read time: 1 minute, 322 words. More options can kill your creativity. Brian Eno recorded Another Green World with a limited set of synths and tape machines. In 1975, he and Peter Schmidt created Oblique Strategies, a deck of cards designed to force new creative decisions. Jack White built The White Stripes around two instruments, three colors, analog tape, and no bass player. The limits became the identity. Here are 7 ways constraints boost creativity, plus how to put them to work today....