The Growth Project: Day 3

5 min readSep 7, 2020

Today was Day 3 of the Growth Project, and this is how it turned out:

1. Mindfulness

After I recorded my dreams, I meditated for 10 minutes with the waking up app. I took multiple 10 minute brain breaks in between my growth activities to try and get into flow state. I had a nice meditation on the cold and dark beach and was able to cope nicely with the discomfort of the windchill.

2. Health and Exploration

For brain health, I took my daily supplements, which consists of fish oil, Matter, Turmeric, and vitamin D.

I went to the beach for a few hours with my family so celebrate my little brother’s 17th birthday.

3. Computer Science/ Software Engineering

Today I wasn’t able to find time for practicing this category, however, I was able to help one of my roommate's brother out with a bug in his Arduino system’s code.

4. Writing

I wrote this post and recorded 3 things I’m grateful for and what my priorities today are in my journal.

Today I woke up and recorded my dreams, the first dream was one that featured a scene where me and a few of my friends and family members found a building that we stepped onto the top floor of and the floor caved in and we fell through each floor of the seemingly hundreds of floors, we all survived and laughed afterwards. The second dream was one where I was laying down on pavement in the middle of an apartment complex, and my little brother Ian, pulled up with a mini-sized mustang and I told him he needs to wear a helmet.

5. Reading

Here’s I took from Limitless today:

I read a chapter on methods for focus and meta-learning.

What can I learn from what I’m like when I’m most focused? When I am super focused, I notice that I often get into flow state and don’t really have any precursor to action, it just happens. What I can learn from this is that I can utilize my flow triggers and set up and environment that makes it easier to flow and concentrate on the task at hand.

How can I increase my ability to concentrate? Breathe. This may be the most important thing for concentration, Jim enlightened me of the “4–7–8 method”, which is a really short and simple way to soothe and oxygenate your brain.

I also use the Wim Hof method to get really into it if I have the time and I’m experiencing any sort of intense anxiety or panic. Another idea to keep in your mind when trying to increase your ability to concentrate is scheduling your distractions, if you absolutely have to deal with something, and it’s causing you stress, BUT, it’s not urgent enough to take priority over what you are currently doing, schedule a time to get it done and worry about it then.

How do I limit my distractions and calm my busy mind? One of the biggest things you can do to limit your distractions is keep a physically clean and minimalist productivity environment. As simple as this may sound, Jim mentions a Princeton study that proved that more visual stimuli compete for your attention and result in a net loss of concentration and a net increase in anxiety and stress. The one fantastic tool that I use to calm my mind and prepare myself to concentrate is meditation, just a 5–10 minute meditation beforehand to assess the state of your mind and body, and change it if need be.

“Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate, and make sure you know exactly what it is you want. No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.” — Paulo Coelho
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” — Alvin Toffler

6. Music

I studied Jake’s MasterClass video: Melodic and Rhythmic dimension today and found a ton of cool sounding inspiration. I totally messed around with random sounds for about 30 minutes.

7. Juggling

I juggled for about 15 minutes again, getting ever-closer to being able to actually keep a flow.

whoop

8. Cooking/Diet

This morning for breakfast I ate an omelette with cheese and spinach and drank some english breakfast tea along with my brain smoothie. I also snacked on some dark chocolate blueberries while I watched the Matrix with my best friend.

For a late lunch I had a large portion of Hawaiian style teriyaki chicken with macaroni salad and rice.

9. Typing

I practiced the home row typing method for ~10 minutes and I’m definitely noticing progress already, yesterday my avg wpm was 17 and today my avg wpm was 25.

10. Social Skills

I watched a video on anxiety today and here’s what I learned:

Reveal your palms. When you reveal your palms, it makes the people whom you’re interacting with subconsciously see you as being vulnerable and are more likely to trust you. It will also make you feel more open and like there is nothing to worry about.
Replace filler words with pure silence. When you find yourself racing to get words out, stuttering, or using a ton of filler words like “um”, it is invaluable to stop and breathe, the only way you will ever calm your state and fuel your brain to move forward in a more effective way is to get oxygen, if you continue to talk and talk, you limit your exhales.
Use re-frame phrases. This one is really good because I use it a lot already, re-framing things that you may be anxious about with something that makes it look like a tiny ordeal, like the inevitability of death, or “will I care about this in 10 years”, can be huge.
First accept, then change. Tell yourself that what’s happening is really happening. This can help you stop fighting what you are thinking about and be with what is. Then, you change, you make a tangible effort to alter the way you are thinking about something, by either re-framing it, or writing it down and reflecting on it.
Stop depending on the external world to make you happy. This one is absolutely massive and is a really great reason to practice meditation. If you are having trouble with creating positive emotions on command, like with a metta practice, it can be a real struggle to actually find happiness in your everyday waking life.