Hi Reader,
I was re-reading one of my favorite books last night, "4-Hour Workweek" by Tim Ferris.
There are a lot of quotes and advisory points in there that i've grasped in order to move on these past few years.
I would highly recommend giving it a read if you haven't already. Even being more efficient or focused at your 60 hour/week office job can come out of some of his tips.
To be clear, I also spend much more than 4 hours/week with Immigrant Spirit. Lately in my time tracker on my computer, I have been close to 80 hours. But this doesn't feel much like my past jobs when you're actually helping people and being creative.
The point is the mindset shift so that your hours are fulfilling & productive. You can redefine "work" this way.
One thing I thought about last night as I was reading the chapter about learning new languages and an international career, is about how much changes when you make another simple mindset shift.
Picture this: You leave your home tomorrow morning, and every piece of information or human interaction that you encounter, you accept it with openness.
No preconceived notions, no certainties, none of that.
We are constantly trying to assign whatever enters our sensory field to what we know from the past. That helps in some high pressure or dangerous situations, like having an instinct about how to be safe.
But this can also block us from understanding something new in the most genuine way.
It blocks you from questioning and discovering something that could build your worldview even stronger.
So my idea for this week was this: The next time you go outside, try approaching every situation from a place of openness.
I started doing this a few years back, and last night while I was reading, it hit me - how much of a difference this makes.
"You don't know, what you don't know"
Living in a foreign country, basically everything is new at first. But that wears down with time.
Your brain starts to be more efficient, and goes back into past experience to label things... so you don't have to spend too much energy on the little things.
But when you make that decision, to take anything as it first comes to you. No immediate judgment, fear or dismissal. See if that changes your happiness and energy levels.
Discover something new today, something that has been there all along.
Let me know how this goes or if you have found this as well already in your life.
Greeting from Hamburg,
Kevin
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Something to think about that can get you some money back next year, once you secure your job.