How to get out of a rut.

I've been in a bit of a rut.

But I remembered a quote I heard a while back that goes, 

"It's impossible to have a bad day after steak and eggs"

So this morning, I had the breakfast of champions. 

A thick, juicy ribeye alongside a pair of deep-orange yolked eggs. 

Delectable.

But cooking a steak for breakfast comes at a cost. 

Especially if you live in a small New York City apartment with a front door that leads directly into the kitchen.

Now look, as someone who likes to cook, I've battled the aftermath of steak fumes plenty of times before.

So last time I went to Trader Joe's, I preemptively grabbed a Peach Black Tea candle. You know the one.

Prepared for combat. Or so I thought...

After breakfast, I lit up the candle using the burner from my stove and let it burn for a while.

"Ahhh, nice and peachy. Much better."

I then went out on a long walk around the city, ended up at the gym, and grabbed a smoothie as I trotted back.

Exhausted after roaming the sizzling summer streets of the concrete jungle, I entered my apartment.

Then it hit me...

A wave of cooked beef slapped me in the face as it entered my nostrils.

Quite nice when you're eating the steak but rather unwelcoming when you open your apartment door hours after.

"Ugh."

Why is that when you light the candle after cooking, you smell the candle, not the steak?

But then when you leave and come back, the steak smell is still there? 

Here's a better question...why are you still reading about the smell of my apartment?

I'll tell you why, there's 2 reasons:

1. Harry Dry's episode on David Perell's podcast "How I Write" (link)

I finally got around to watching this one, and I'm mad at myself for not watching sooner...

Harry is a world class copywriter. You'll quickly that find out if you watch this ep (I have about 7 pages of notes).

Back to the why...

He had a line about his newsletter where he quoted Ann Handley who once said, "a newsletter is less about the news, more about the letter." 

Harry then went on to say this about his own newsletter, 

"I want it to just feel like it's out of the oven. Like it's fresh bread. Warm to touch." - a quote from someone he can't remember

He likes to set the scene, as if you, the reader, are right there with him as he presses send. 

I like this idea a lot. 

That's why I started off with a story about my day.

It's now 8:28pm as I write this, and guess what?

The smell of my apartment is all making sense now.

2. Sometimes you need a hard reset.

Remember wayyyy back at the start of reading this when I said I was in a rut...?

Well, this week I had to do a hard reset. 

I realized that I was falling off track and needed to get back on the train to hit my goals.

I wasn't waking up early, didn't have enough time to work on writing/videos before work, resulting in my videos being poor, this newsletter has been meh...

I was watching a lot of Netflix, eating shitty foods, not hitting my mobility properly, and sure enough, I put on a few lbs, tweaked my lower back (again) and have had a very distracted mind.

Maybe parts of all that sound familiar to you.

I'd say it's fairly common.

You fall out of routine after a major life event like moving to a new city, or starting a new job.

Or maybe nothing major happened.

It's just a result of basic entropy: the tendency for things to gradually decline into disorder if left unchecked. 

Whatever it is...

This apartment smells. And I need to fix it.

It's time for a hard reset.

Turns out, you can boil vinegar and water to capture the lingering steak particles, who knew?? (don't believe me, check out this video from the annals of YouTube)

For life, it's not that simple, but it's also not as hard as you think. 

There's really no secret recipe.

I know what I need to do to get back on track. Much like you probably know what you need to do to get back on yours. 

If you want some help, here's mine:

• wake up at 5am
• no phone for first 30mins after waking
• coffee + deep work
• 10K steps (morning + evening walk)
• hip + low back mobility 2-3x throughout the day 
• eat only whole foods: meat, eggs, veggie (low starch), fruit
• 30 mins of meditation daily
• read a book instead of Netflix

Whenever I'm in the zone doing this every day, not only do I get more work done, the quality of work is better and most importantly, I feel unstoppable. 

This is my plan that works for me.

Try it if you like. Change it if you need. 

It's about what works for you.

That's all for tonight, I have to grab some vinegar before the shop closes. 

Talk to you next week.

-Ry