[Vol. 1 Issue #113]
Welcome to day four of the 2023 Challenge Project. The updates are building, and the personal growth is growing.
Today was spent deep in the programs, challenges, caves, and chapels. Interesting how similar all that time was. Out of the cave, just long enough to add a relevant interview with Ted Kopple about a divided America and a story about new media. Before that, a few thoughts on age.
Bigmouth Strikes Again:
Stories | News | Music | Art & Design - With A Shout (out)
Big Stories
January 2023 New Programs New Year [STATUS]
Program #1 New Year New You by Daily Stoics
This is the 21 Day Challenge Program.
The Daily Stoic New Year, New You Challenge is a set of 21 actionable challenges—presented one per day—built around the best, most timeless wisdom in Stoic philosophy. Our goal is to help you make 2023 your best year yet.
Challenge List:
[Day 1] Pick a (Stoic) mantra.
[Day 2] Quietly quit something.
[Day 3] Seek out a teacher.
Today’s Challenge: Seek out a teacher
If you are reading this newsletter, and if you read several newsletters, books, and even a newspaper, if you can find one, you are a learner. Rather than watching or listening to content, it takes patience and discipline to read. A person willing to put the time in and find things to read and explore the areas the reading takes them is a student of life.
Other forms of media are not wrong; at best, they can be a relaxing break from reading and research, depending on what you do during the day. Some of the best ideas can start from things we see and then move to find more information about them. There is a downside if the only info a person receives is being told to them by a TV, Radio, or social media video; it takes away some of the balance needed to understand different points of view.
The teacher(s) I plan to seek out over the next year will be readers and community contributors to With A Shout!
Program #2 The 7-Day Happiness Challenge by NTY
This is the 7-day happiness challenge, focused on relationships.
Well’s weeklong Happiness Challenge will help you focus on a crucial element of living a good life — your relationships.
Happy Days:
[Day 1] Relationship Audit.
[Day 2] Conduct an 8-minute call.
[Day 3] Small Talk.
Today’s Happiness: Small Talk Has Big Benefits
Chat up with a stranger. This tip is essential coming out of a global pandemic. It worked out for me - I met seven strangers in the virtual caves in Program #5 (read on to see about the shelter). I am going to mass and a rosary tonight for a friend whose mother passed away last week, and I plan to talk to more strangers. Another good day on the Relationship Happiness Trail!
Program #4 1-1-1 Nightly Journal by Sahil Bloom
Working with a journal allows you to slow your own thoughts, and meditate on your days. Sahil Bloom does it again, and adds to the January projects. This project will be the daily cherry on top of all the others. Here’s the write from Bloom:
The 1-1-1 Method
Every single evening, at the end of your work day, open up your journal and write down three simple points:
• 1 win from the day
• 1 point of tension, anxiety, or stress
• 1 point of gratitude
It takes about 5 minutes.
Night 3:
Win - A good holiday break with Patricia.
Stress - Interview prep, bringing on new staff.
Grateful - Understanding age.
Program #5 Caveday
Caveday is a virtual focus community. You signup, schedule time in a "Cave," and start a Zoom call with a quick introduction and then off on your Sprint to work alongside others.
Cave 01: Thursday 01.05.23 at 1:00 PM CDT (GMT-6)
Notes from the Cave 01:
Good focus works forced me to write during the time in the cave. I still got distracted by a promo code thought that took me away from writing for twenty minutes. Prompts to stretch while sitting in the writing chair were also a nice change. The time was well spent.
More Big Stories
Big Story #1 - Another Challenge!?
I’ve Been in a Cave
Caveday is a digital focus program with a virtual community of digital cave dwellers. I had reviewed this program before and signed up for a trial in the past. After signing up for three and half other challenges this weekend, I put Caveday in the maybe later pile. Adding new work with unique challenges and writing a daily newsletter is forcing an hour-by-hour optimization strategy to get everything done.
Writing and editing the newsletter requires the most focus - Caveday will require planning, and once I'm in the cave, I can spend one to two hours writing. Today was the first cave; I signed up for the service and scheduled my first cave within two hours of signup. I am writing this in the cave and plan to send out today's newsletter soon.
Big Story #2
Interesting Age
A person's chronological age is the age from birth to the present date. A person's achievement age is defined as a standardized test score and displayed as a number. Several physical factors, weight, height, body fat, etc., can make up a body's age. Some people say age is just a number.
Wisdom Age
How about a person who has lived a full life, managed a business, maintained a successful professional career, raised a family, and is stable financially. What if that person wants to take that knowledge and return to the risk of a new startup or career the same way they did in their 20s, before family and more significant obligations?
If I knew then what I know now…
Stranger Things
Debauchery Week Continues!?
In an interview Ted Koppel did with Walter Isaacson a couple of years ago, Koppel talks about journalism and democracy. The conversation continues as the U.S. moves into day four without a Speaker of the House.
Industrial Designs
Great [Audience] Expectations
The site Journalism.Co.uk published by Mousetrap Media put together several predictions in the journalism and media space. This section of the 2023 predictions focused on Audience Expectations. Kellie Riordan, a founder of Deadset Studios and founding editor of ABC Audio studios, thinks quality will overtake quantity in 2023. Consumers are overloaded with media and could begin to pull back and reduce subscriptions in the coming year. Quartz, another company with several online publications, has removed its paywall and changed it to a registration wall. Quartz instituted a dynamic paywall in 2019, which would activate after the system determined so many articles had been viewed. Many Quartz publications rely on advertising in addition to a paywall.
Spotlight
Character Counts
The Lunatics
Song by Fun Boy Three
… The lunatics have taken over the asylum
The lunatics have taken over the asylum
The lunatics have taken over the asylum, take away my right to choose
The lunatics have taken over the asylum, take away my point of view
The lunatics have taken over the asylum
The lunatics have taken over the asylum, take away my dignity
Take these things away from me
The lunatics have taken over the asylum
The lunatics have taken over the asylum, take away my family
Take away the right to speak
The lunatics have taken over the asylum take away my point of view
Take away my right to choose
Songwriters: Lynval Golding / Neville Staples / Terry Hall
The Lunatics lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Don’t Tell A Soul
Secret Links to Cool Stuff:
Words | Music | Art | Unknown
Jukebox Shuffle
Thoughts on Music
I’ve been in a cave.
Click on the Apple Music image to listen to the song on Apple Music or on the Spotify Image to listen to Spotify.
Words from Gen X
Words from Gen X in age or spirit.
"The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave." - Ronald Reagan
Thank you for spending a few minutes with us!
With A Shout newsletter is written by Johnny Christian with the support of a thousand idea bits and the help of many people.