The Manual #56 - Learning to let go

Something which I’ve spent the last few years learning and accepting, is letting go of things out of your control.

I’ve been quite a control freak most of my life. Trying to make things happen my way and happen when I want.

Naturally in 2020 when I was diagnosed with cancer, I was understandably very upset at first. I used to think I’ve done everything right, taken care of my health, and generally did whatever I thought was right. Yet here I am with a cancer that’s spread to other parts of my body.

I did a ton of research trying to figure out the why, what and how of my cancer. And the current research that scientists have done is that it’s mostly random.

A few weeks into my chemotherapy treatment I came to the realisation I just need to let go.

Why be upset over something that’s out of one’s control.

From then on I focus a lot more on things I can control and a lot less on things I can’t.

You can control your fitness and strength by working out and eating healthy. But you can’t control how long you live for.

You can control what you learn and to some degree how financially successful you are. But you can’t control if you were born in to a wealthy family.

You can control who you are and how you treat someone. But you can’t control how they react or think of you.

Learning to let go of things out of your control will make you a lot happier.

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We were supposed to launch Online Creator Course this month. We’ve been working super hard on it over the last six months. But we’re putting some final finishing touches to it to get it just right.

I’ve never done anything like this so it’ll be a learning curve for me too. Mainly because we’ll have a higher tier where we’ll be having live sessions, guiding people, teaching, and making them their own online creators.

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Productivity Monitor Buying Guide

I put together a monitor buying guide, especially useful if you’re a Mac user. I expect this to be a regular yearly series as new monitors become available. I get to try a huge variety of monitors and there’s almost too much choice. So this video should hopefully help with those who wants something that just works.

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Link Lowdown

A collection of links to stuff I think are worth sharing.

Joi Planner — Neat aesthetic on an app that combines calendar, to-do list and habit tracker.

Phosphor — Incredible icon pack that’s completely free.

Open Alternative — Ever wanted an open source and sometimes free alternatives to popular software, this is a great directory.

Folder Preview — Not sure why this hasn’t been done before, it’s sick. It lets you use quick look on folders!

Mac Mouse Fix — Gives the Magic Mouse more gestures, and enable smooth scrolling for third-party mice.

Screen Studio — Record beautiful screen recordings.