3 rules of life for exponential growth and success (and life updates)

JANUARY MONTHLY REVIEW

Hello friend!

At the end of 2023, I wrote an annual review letter to share exciting updates in my life, lessons I had learned, and what I will be working on and exploring in 2024. (You can read it here: Lessons From 2023 – New Endeavors)

After seeing your responses and how much I enjoy the idea of update letters, I decided to start writing monthly review letters! You are currently reading the first one.

Just like the annual ones, they will contain things I've been thinking about, lessons I learned, life updates, projects I'm working on, and more!

I want these letters, just like everything else I write, to be packed with value, insight, and inspiration. I value your feedback and would love to hear if you enjoy emails like this one.

I want to guide you into living a meaningful life you can be proud of. This letters is my sharing how I'm doing that for myself too.

So let's dive in!

3 rules for exponential growth and success

In a recent talk, Patrick Bet-David shared strategies for success in your network, career, and family. Here are my biggest takeaways:

1. The most successful people are the best edifiers of others.

Be generous with praise, encouragement, and helping other people succeed.

Of course, be genuine and don't BS. They can smell it out.

Edify the heck out of people you want to see succeed, which should be most people you connect with.

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2. Fear —> Opportunity

Pay attention to what people are afraid of today.

Therein lies opportunity.

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3. Extraordinary customer service is the best ROI strategy

Both in business and in personal relationships. Treating everyone with respect, care, and enthusiasm is the best way to propel yourself forward.

But this isn't just for selfish gain. Holding yourself to a high standard for treating others well is a big area of self respect.

Not ego, which puts others down. Self respect, which requires you to act honorably.

Treating others with respect is to treat yourself with respect.

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What I'm Working On

In January, I launched my coaching offer. So exciting!

Designed for anyone wanting

• to understand their mind and mental health
• to figure out what really fulfills them
• to get themselves unstuck and start living a life they would be proud of

I bring principles of psychotherapy, performance enhancement, and spirituality into my approach in my calls.

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Let's see, what else...

I've been feeling a little nervous, with big life changes on the horizon. I feel like I've barely settled from the adjustments of last year. But everything has its season. When it's time to move, you move.

Life has a way of shaking things up. For some of us, that's a constant reality. Some others have the opposite problem of a monotonous life and being in a rut.

Both need a different approach to support and guidance.

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On a different note, I also recommend getting a cultural cookbook from your heritage.

Can't wait to learn more about my culinary heritage!

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On the Horizon

The west is at a breaking point.

We are only a month into 2024 and the world has already gone crazy. (But again, we've been going crazy since 2020)

North America and Europe, with the United States foremost, are experiencing tough battles on two fronts: internal and external.

The internal battle can almost be summarized with these two words: political divide and immigration. The political divide is not new, nor is it worse than it's ever been, but it certainly isn't helping. And multiple European countries and American states are buckling under the pressure and weight of the influx of migrants across their borders.

And then there's the external battle—literally. First in Ukraine and now in the Middle East, the fires of military conflict show no sign of abating . . . and may have only just begun. My sense is that there is no country in the west that is in any state to support a war of any kind. They have been bled dry.

Let's look at this psychologically for a moment. Humanity needs to walk the line between Order and Chaos in order to thrive. However we tend to swing from one to the other quite often and quite radically.

With the crises of national borders, the breaking of infrastructure, and brewing military conflict, all these are signs of Chaos swinging her flaming sword over the world. And if we know anything from the patterns of history and human psychology, there will eventually be a radical shift at the breaking point. The pendulum will swing back toward Order.

So I'll say this: societies are blinded when in pain and rage, and will often do anything to jump out of the current situation, even if into the arms of the equally terrible opposite extreme. Whatever happens next, we must remain vigilant and grounded.

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AI: the perfect mirror

The conversation around AI is complicated, convoluted, and intimidating. From philosophizing about artificial consciousness to debating the impact on blue-collar workers, there is fear, excitement, and even numbness.

But in these conversations, we seem to conceptualize AI as "other." We fear AI consciousness as an "other" entity that could be friend or foe, for example. Or we see machines as an "other" blue-collar worker that will outcompete us for jobs.

Let me offer an interesting counter-perspective: AI, and modern tech in general, is a mirror to ourselves. It's an imitation. We make it in our image.

Whatever AI consciousness is, it's an imitation of the human mind. It will do only what it sees in us. Modern technology, amidst all its uses, merely holds up a mirror to our faces. It says what we say, and does what we do—only better.

And better it does. It takes whatever we can do and 10x it. For good or for ill.

I think that, in creating this thing in our image, we will learn a lot more about ourselves and the nature of humanity.

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Final Thought

Let me wrap up with this thought:

Your emotional response to something is often tied to what you believe about yourself.

If you're insecure about your worth, you'll be hyper-sensitive to anything that comes close to it. If you believe you're capable of succeeding in a project, you will welcome the challenge with open arms. If you believe a loving relationship is possible and you deserve it (not in an entitled way), you can handle disappointments better.

Your emotional responses offer important insights to what is within. Pay attention to them.

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Thanks for reading!

Stay purposeful.

– Nathanael

Thank you for being a part of my community! If you enjoy this newsletter, consider sharing it with others who might benefit from it as well! And if you want to reach out, you can reply to this email :)

​Visit my website – Purposeful Pursuits​
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