Fix your digital diet (if you want to)

hey friend, it’s your friend: jack 👋. Today is about consumption (again) and consuming cleaner so you can…

• feel more at peace with your own internal monologue

• be more likely to smile (happier person)

• be in control of your mentality

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes, 45 seconds.

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Creation log update

Every week I put here a creation log about what I’ve been up to in hopes it inspires you to create more too. Here’s the weekly rundown, feel free to skip!

This is the 2nd week in a row that I've pushed out a weekly update for Curiosity Quench (the app I’m making to end doomscrolling) and we also just hit 6,000 install! (less than a month after the app store release)

Things are going great and my ass is being kicked by learning new things every day and also battling with my own mentality as well as creative drive. it’s been a huge help having many active people in the community discord using Curiosity Quench and telling me how much it’s helping them.

Also in the last week my partner went south for the march break and I had an itch to scratch of my own that was in the form of a “Deep work timer” - I wanted a timer that logged my work sessions in a heat-map contribution style. I couldn’t find one, so i spent a few days and made one myself. You can also use it for 100% free @ deepworkdepot.com - go get LOCKED IN :)

I’ve been reading a lot more lately, and also staring at the sun every morning. working out has brought new vitality to my creations, we are on track for our decade long journey to end doomscrolling, no doubt.

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Consuming Cleaner

Consumption by large is less productive than creation or contribution, and I think you already know that… the thing is, just like there are foods that are better than others for you, there are forms of media that are better for you too! To generalize: anything that makes you more mindful is a better and healthier form of consumption than its mindless counterpart. 

Note: How productive something is isn't the important part here, what is more important is how something makes you feel in the now and especially in the long run. Does it add value to your life? Does it detract? Are the means worth the eventual outcome? Regardless: If you look hard and/or are mindful enough: you can find some value in every walk of life.

I won't tell you how you should change your diet, or what you should consume. The things that will really shift your consciousness are longer forms and deeper forms of media. Books and music are my favorites to indulge in personally. Movies are often a nice treat as well. The main difference here is that the more “healthy” form of media is really just one that brings your attention fully to it in order to really grasp it. Keeping your attention on healthier consumptions means you will not want to pay attention to the junk as much. 

The nourishment your soul and mind gets from consuming clean is similar to the nourishment you get from eating clean. And if you’ve ever eaten super clean (no sugars, no alcohol, no drugs, less carbs early in the day) then you will know how incredible it feels to be in your own body in this clean state. If you experience it enough, it can become difficult to go back to eating unhealthy food; since you are more likely to feel like crap if you do.

Nourishing your mind with new perspectives and full attention on the moment you are consuming becomes much easier when you are not distracted from every corner of your screens. Multiple monitors for multiple ways to split your attention, no focus, wasting away: this has been me many times in my life, in every time I found my path back it has been through cleaner consumption, which ultimately led to my own creations and contributions. 

A fascinating rock I always come back to uncover is that my curiosity is the leader in all that is good for my soul. I don’t mean the curious nosey part of me that needs to know other people’s business. No, what I mean is the part of me that I had when I was a child who just wanted to learn about things, who asked many questions and was excited to dive into something new or even hard! This sense is always still lingering with us, and we can rediscover it if we consume the things we are genuinely interested about mindfully as opposed to letting ourselves be force fed by algorithms who do not know anything about our childlike wonder. Consume cleaner and explore this sense of curiosity. It has been your guiding light all of your life, if you haven't been using it then now is a great time to turn up the brightness. If you’re going to feel lost, it should be in the wonderments of your own curiosity.

When you eat like crap, you feel like crap. The same can be said for consuming mindless media. The more you consume without being mindful, the more mindless you become. You don’t need to think harder, you just need to think for yourself.

On the note of cleaner consumption, here are some powerful realizations I have made recently: The world around you that you ignore with every passing day is a million times more fascinating than whatever is on your phone. Look around, smell the literal roses (or dog crap), take it all in. The world is waiting for you to notice it. And I promise you that the real world is much cooler, much fresher, and much more real than whatever is on your phone screen.

End of section Dare: I dare you to go outside and take the biggest possible breath through your nostrils that you can, right now. Look at the sky and the earth beneath your feet. Then take another breath. Leave your phone behind. Go now, I dare you! (or keep reading and do this afterwards, that’s cool too, there are no rules, you are free)... and dares go first, so cya later alligator!

That’s it for today, thank you for reading my friend.
I love you, and KEEP GOING!!
- jack ♠️

Whenever you're up for it, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. Curiosity Quench: Destroy your scroll —addiction— and get on a roll with the stuff that actually matters. (app)

2. Consumption Control: Learn how to control your consumption tendencies and get on a roll with the stuff that actually matters. (eBook)

3. You Were Built To Create Cool S**t : Click to start. (book)

4. Deep work focus timer: a simple timer that gets you locked in and feeling good about it.