🔥 Seeking Clarity No.1

Focus, Luck, and Relationships 1.21.2021

Hey Friends!

I hope you’ve had a great week. Welcome to the first edition of my newsletter, Seeking Clarity. Each month, I bring you a thoroughly researched essay on an interesting topic along with insightful reads from around the Internet. Let’s seek clarity together.

What’s Inside:

1. Monthly Essay - Finding Focus: A mental framework for figuring out what to work on and how to not get distracted.

2. What I’ve Been Reading - Article on maximizing lucky opportunities and a book on the debate around the use of natural gas.

3. Twitter Find of The Month - Wisdom on building meaningful relationships.

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🔎 Finding Focus

I get serious FOMO. I’m usually working on several different things at once, but whenever I see new projects, online courses, or internship openings, I want to take them on too. I have a hard time turning things down.

But for all of us, time is a significant constraint. I found myself unable to determine what to prioritize each day and it showed in my mediocre work. It’s impossible to achieve the same level of quality on ten different projects as opposed to if you just focused on three.

Goal competition says that one of the greatest barriers to achieving your goals is the other goals you have. In other words, your goals are competing with one another for your time and attention. Whenever you chase a new goal, you have to pull focus and energy from your other pursuits. — James Clear

I had difficulty deciding what few things I should work on and sticking with them without being distracted by the newer opportunities that came along.

But during my gap year, I’ve begun to figure out how to narrow down on work worth doing, and in this essay, I will outline how you can do it too.

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📚 What I’ve Been Reading

• How to Maximize Serendipity - Great piece on maximizing luck, meeting interesting people, and gaining access to new opportunities.

• Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America - Book on fracking in rural Pennsylvania and the nuances around the debate about energy.

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🐦 Twitter Find of The Month

Nick Costelloe @njcostelloe

My approach to building relationships (career and life): 1. For ~1 year, meet lots of new people. Network like crazy 2. Go deeper with people you truly connect with 3. Let go of people you don't love spending time with Then *only* meet ppl through intros from your small circle.

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🙏 Thank You

If you enjoyed Seeking Clarity, it would mean the world to me if you shared it with a friend or two.

Feel free to also send me your thoughts on my writing or any interesting reads you’ve come across as well! You can reach me by replying to this email or by DMing me on Twitter.

Wishing you the best,

Sean

Special thanks to Will Han and Mina Liang for providing feedback for my essay this month.