this 1 choice will make or break your life

last Tuesday at 10:17pm in Toronto, nobody wanted to be on the sidewalk.

it was cold, it was dark, & there were icy puddles on the ground that splashed everywhere as cars drove by.

i was lucky to be driving one of those cars, heading home from a late soccer game.

but after just barely catching a red light, i noticed something out of the corner of my eye.

on the sidewalk, there was a man standing there wearing a black winter jacket with his hands in his pockets.

he looked familiar.

it was a weird time to be walking, so i was curious.

as i leaned in to look closer, he turned his head towards me at the exact same time.

‘man, what are the chances?!’

it was my friend, Philip, walking home after his welding class ran late downtown.

needless to say, he hopped into my car & i drove him home.

but the reason i’m telling you about this isn’t ‘loremaxxing’ or ‘gratitude’ or anything like that.

i’m writing this because Philip & i had something else in common that evening:

both of us were going home — at 10:17pm on a Tuesday — not to relax, but to squeeze in an extra hour of work before bed.

& it gets better.

when i got home around 10:30pm, the lights were still on.

my girlfriend, Emma, was sitting at the table for the 6th straight hour, working on a course she’s been doing on top of her full-time job.

before opening my laptop, i checked my phone for any missed texts.

i had 2:

the 1st was from another good friend, Kumah, who basically eats, sleeps, & breathes his projects.

the 2nd was from yet another good friend, Stefan, who i’m convinced sleeps in his garage workshop next to his tools.

both of them were also up late doing work.

are you noticing a pattern here?

i’ve built a circle of ambitious, hard-working nerd FREAKS… & i love it!

but it’s not just the 4 of them.

if i were to scroll through all of my recent calls/texts, everybody i interact with on a regular basis has something in common:

we’re all obsessed with getting better — whatever ‘better’ means.

& more specifically,

we wake up every day with an exciting reason to get out of bed.

which leads me to the reason i titled this newsletter, ‘this 1 choice will make or break your life.’

the choice i’m talking about is who & what you surround yourself with.

my great-grandmother used to always say,

‘choose your friends wisely, you become what they are.’

i like that saying.

i also think it misses the point a little bit.

because it’s not just about the friends you choose.

it’s about everything you choose, from where you live all the way down to the thoughts you have.

if you want to live a good life, the 1st thing to think about is what you think about.

that’s why i’m so big on the idea of reclaiming your attention from your phone.

if you spend your time consuming instead of creating, watching time slip away, & hating yourself for it, i literally could not think of a better habit to break than that.

but i digress.

i used to (& still do) laugh at weird millennial hipsters who talk about ‘vibrations’ & ‘energy’ & shit, but now i also think they might’ve been onto something.

by a combination of luck & effort, i’ve surrounded myself with people who match my energy or compliment it.

i found ‘the others.’

& as a result, we leave every interaction we have together with more than we came with.

more energy.

more motivation.

more excitement.

more inspiration.

once you surround yourself with the right people/things/places/WHATEVERS that give you energy, you’ll never want to stop.

so how do you actually do it?

be absolutely ruthless with who/what you allow into your life.

for every person you spend time thinking about, ask — do they make my life better?

for every belief you have, whether it’s true or not, ask — does this belief serve me?

for every place you spend time in, ask — does this place make me feel peaceful or stressed out?

do you see what i’m getting at here?

it’s about being intentional.

ask questions of every little thing in your life, no matter how small they seem.

i think you’ll find a lot of things that have drained your energy without you even noticing.

but with that, you’ll also find a lot of things that give you energy aren’t getting the same attention.

‘the quality of your questions determines the quality of your life.’

i’m sending this out exactly 1 week after picking up Philip on the side of the road.

tonight around 10:17pm, i know for a fact that both of us will be on our way home, eager to get back to work.

it’s ok if you won’t be — we’re weird & the ‘work’ we do is no more special than any interest you may have.

but if you ever find yourself stranded on a cold, wet sidewalk at 10:17pm on a random Tuesday night,

i hope you’re on your way to something — or someone — that gives you energy.

!!!ANOTHER SHAMELESS PLUG AHHHHHHHHHH!!!

i’m looking for 3 ambitious people who want to cut their screen time in April.

my offer is simple:

i’ll help you cut your screen time by at least 1 hour per day, or you pay nothing.

that adds up to over 2 full weeks per year (& usually the result is way more).

if you’re interested (or just want to learn more), click here to join the free waitlist for early access (NEXT WEEK)!

join the waitlist

some things i learned

1. a friendly reminder
   if you’re so smart, why aren’t you happy?

   

2. there are way more lakes in Canada than i thought
   number of lakes in Canada: 879,800

   number of lakes everywhere else combined: ~540,000
   
   here’s a pic of baby me in 2018 at one of my favourite lakes:

   

3. the real story behind Red Bull is pretty cool
   in the 1970s, a Thai man from the pharmaceutical industry created Red Bull as a cheap energy drink for blue-collar workers.
   
   a few years later, an Austrian businessman tried it on a work trip, it cured his jet lag, & he immediately pitched a deal to bring it to the West. they added sugar + carbonation, repositioned it as a premium drink, & the rest is a marketing masterclass.
   
   here are some of their clever marketing strategies:
   
   - giving stores a separate fridge for Red Bull only (‘look how fancy we are’)
   - hiring people to litter empty Red Bull cans in busy areas so it looked like everyone else was already drinking it
   - sponsoring extreme sports/underground events so the brand felt ‘discovered’ & not ‘advertised’
   - exclusivity deals, so if a bar wanted to sell Red Bull (i.e. Jagerbombs) they weren’t allowed to sell any other energy drinks
   
   also, did you know this is what Red Bull cans look like in parts of Asia?

   

cool stuff i found

1. the most relaxing music ever
   i can’t believe i didn’t include this in a newsletter sooner, but i’ve been listening to Malte Martin play the handpan since a friend recommended his music last year — & it’s fucking magical.
   
   just listen.

   

2. a picture from NASA of what clouds look like on Mars
   i can’t even wrap my head around space but it’s pretty nuts that we have access to pictures of clouds from another planet.
   
   if you’re wondering, the colours come from light refracting through a bunch of frozen CO₂ crystals in the cloud.

   

3. an Irish engineer used AI for the most Irish reason ever
   over St. Paddy’s weekend, Matt Cortland built an AI voice agent named Rachel, gave her a Northern Irish accent, & got it to call every pub in the country to ask 1 question:

   
   ‘how much for a pint of Guinness?’
   
   the result?
   
   a live, state-of-the-art price index called The Guinndex.

   

that’s all for this week!

this is being written at 1am because i really wanted to send it on time lol.

my laptop is at 3% & my brain isn’t doin much better, so all i have to say is this:

thank you for being here.

it means more to me than words can express.

go make yourself proud this week.

~ liam (:

PS - i couldn’t get to everyone on the waitlist last week, so i’m still working through it for the next couple days! sorry to keep you waiting!

join the waitlist