Editor’s Note
Hello,
I’m working on a new improved format for Fewer Better Things to go deeper into what it really means to live simply with clear intentions every day to free up time, attention, and creative energy for what really matters.
At the very center of this lies personal growth and self-actualization; to learn how to courageously and fearlessly unlock the often dormant potential that hides in us all under layers of schooling, conformity, and fear.
But it’s not only about the relationship we strive to have with ourselves but also the relationship with strive to have with people and planet. They are all part of a new circular, sustainable, and hopefully soon regenerative mindset and lifestyle.
Per Håkansson (follow on LinkedIn), Publisher and founding editor
Table of Contents
2024 Intentions: January Scorecard
Stuff That Powers Intentions
Digital Minimalism: Less Screen Time
Products That Last: The Water Bottle to Rule Them All
2024 Intentions: January Scorecard
An intention is a committed plan of action, something that we can execute on daily to improve on the relationship we have with ourselves, people, and planet.
The relationship with ourselves is by far the most important relationship we’ll ever have in our lives; it’s whom we’ll spend most time with. If this relationship is not great then everything else will eventually suck in the long term.
I believe that my intentions are very universal. Everyone needs to have a positive relationship with themselves, people and planet. It’s what I do every day that differs from anyone else – which it should since we are all unique human beings.
I don’t think anyone wants to be normal, the mathematical average of the sum of all things that everyone does. It’s just a statistic and has nothing to do with life. Being authentic is about embracing your weirdness without fear or shame.
“You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.” – David Goggins, from the book “Can’t Hurt Me”
The actions I take every single day are derived from three simple and clear intentions for this year: growing deeper relationships, improving wellbeing and fitness, and creating positive impact.
Growing, improving, and creating are all actions (all verbs) but they need to be broken down even further into daily activities to be simple enough to execute:
Growing deeper relationships: Meeting old friends and new people every day with the ambition to learn from each other. This takes focus, active listening, and powerful speaking.
Improving wellbeing and fitness: This is a combination of daily meditation, journaling, physical workouts, quality sleep, hydration (sans alcohol), a healthy diet, and spending time with good people and away from life-sucking screens.
Creating positive impact: I’ve chosen to share authentic and self-experienced insights about life and work via writings, talks, and advisory. If I can move the needle just a little I’ll have a positive impact on people and planet.
A few days ago I self-evaluated my efforts in January and here is the summary:
Growing deeper relationships: I spent time and focus on deeper relationships 28 out of 31 days in January. But the real takeaway here is how I found myself having interesting talks with whomever I encountered throughout the day. Of course, not everyone is susceptible to this kind of openness, but everyone wants to be seen, heard, and understood. A-
Improving wellbeing and fitness: I did two physical workouts every day in January, alternating between days with hard weight-training, long hikes, and racket sports to days with softer walks and hikes. I spend four hours per day on average in moving my body actively beyond walking. Plus I started with only cold showers after workouts – incredible powerful. B+
Creating positive impact: Most days I write on sustainability or mindful living on LinkedIn. I fell short in January in publishing my newsletters on time which is due to my very challenging ADHD. But it’s getting better, fueled by exercise and positive relationships. C+
Overall I’m pretty happy with January as the first full month executing my new intentions and have decided that it will be the worst month this year. Everything from here on will only get better thanks to consistency, better focus, and the power of compounding.