LifeScore Chronicles #5: Small Changes, Big Impact - Find your Ikigai 👹

Ahoy! Welcome to the #5 edition of the LifeScore Chronicles. If I am not mistaken, this one is gonna be sent right at the start of the year, so just in case you haven’t been greeted already enough, happy new year! Hope you had a blast and you’re already on fire with those New Year resolutions.

And as always, if you just landed here or you have been forwarded this newsletter, expect to find some advice on personal growth, health hacks, interesting content and productivity tips while trying to have some fun. Nice, right?

So, let's get into it!

Today’s summary:

🎌 Some cool Japanese concepts: Kaizen, Ikigai, Wabi-sabi…
💯 Live to 100? Well, why not?
🌚 Moon, if not the best application ever at least the one with better notifications
🩶 Addicted to your phone? Find some tips here to decrease your daily use!
🍌 Did I hear healthy banana bread?
🌝 Since we briefly talked about the moon, how many random and interesting facts about the moon do you know?

🇯🇵 Wabi-sabi, Ikigai, Kaizen… not just cool names for a music band

Everything in life, including us, is constantly changing. Change is always present, everything is temporary, and nothing is ever finished.

In the last couple of weeks, I have come across various articles and blog posts on Japanese concepts that I found pretty powerful. I am not sure why I do have this (healthy) obsession with Japanese culture, but everything they do looks just amazing (ok, perhaps the fact that in their supermarkets, everything seems to be individually wrapped sucks a bit). I don’t know, Japan is simply cool AF.

There are some of these concepts that I wanted to share (because they’re really nice and would be a fantastic add-on to any skill set):

Ikigai: This is a Japanese term for the state of well-being induced by devotion to enjoyable activities, which leads to a sense of fulfillment. It is said that, in Japan, people who have a purpose in life live longer. Your Ikigai is, to some extent, what gets you up every morning and keeps you going.
Wabi-sabi: This, besides a beautifully sounding word, is a concept that encourages us to embrace our imperfections and accept the natural cycle of life. Everything in life, including us, is constantly changing. Change is always present, everything is temporary, and nothing is ever finished. In a way, I would define Wabi-sabi as a more gentle version of the classic Memento Mori concept.
Kaizen: My fav! Kaizen is a method of continuous improvement based on the theory that small and ongoing positive changes are actually significant. If you’re familiar with some of the Atomic Habits learnings, you might already know about the 1% theory. Kaizen, in summary, reminds us to let go of assumptions and perfectionism and take an iterative, progressive approach to change.

I would like to end by summarising the three concepts in just one actionable sentence (because we all love actionable things, don’t we?): Find something you love doing (Ikigai), do it even if you’re not perfect at it (Wabi-sabi), and become better and better on it through practice (Kaizen). There you go!

With that said, and to change a bit the topic, are you ready to increase your lifespan by just following some easy tips?

💯 Live to 100?

One of the places where I saw mentioned some of the Japanese concepts is Netflix’s documentary “Live to 100: Secrets of Blue Zones”. On it, National Geographic author and researcher Dan Buettner travels around the globe to places where a higher-than-normal number of people live for a century or more.

An interesting doc to watch (4 short 45-minute episodes), it explores how living with purpose, moving more, reducing stress, assuming some plant-based diet principles, and being part of a community (amongst other tips) can potentially increase your chances of reaching triple digits.

Ah, also drinking wine, for the wine lovers out there. Of course, with moderation. Let's not get carried away and end up passing out with a bottle in hand!

And that’s it! Now, are you ready to lift off to the moon?

🌚 Moon app: If only all pushes were like this…

I am not sure if you are moon lovers. There is a lot of information about moon phases and how they influence human and animal behavior and nature itself. I am not gonna get into it as it could take ages!

But, there is an app I love that provides information about the moon phases. As simple as that. It also allows you to see what the lunar phase was like when you were born, and it even has hidden features like the 'moon harp', that lets you play songs in the stars just by shaking your device.

But what I REALLY LOVE about it is the push notifications it sends on every new full moon. They’re enigmatic and dark, have a pretty cool sense of humor, and always sound like something the moon would actually say.

Just for this (and because it’s free, and we all love free things) it’s a 10/10 recommendation.

🩶 How turning your phone into a boring device can help you use it less

I feel I do have my phone usage pretty under control. I might use it less than some teenagers addicted to social media apps but, on the other hand, I am 100% sure I use it more than my dad (as he always finds the time to let me know).

But, when it comes down to reducing phone use, I’m all in for different techniques and tips. Something I tried over a couple of weeks and, surprise surprise, it worked, is turning your phone's display to grayscale. Taking away all color from the screen can be a better tool than you think. It's a simple trick that works on our brains, which are attracted to bright and shiny things.

Going grayscale removes positive reinforcements (suck it, dopamine!) and kills our urge to keep scrolling through our feeds. The goal is to make our phones less enjoyable to use. Instagram turns into a monotonous stream, web pages become boring, and games lose all their visual appeal (unless is chess, I can give you that).

If you don't trust me, give it a shot! It may feel odd initially, but transforming your phone into something less interesting ends up freeing a lot of time to focus on things that will truly make a greater impact in your life.

And how do we do this, I hear?

Grayscale Your iPhone

If you have an iPhone, go to your Settings, then Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Color Filters. Turn the Color Filters toggle on, and then choose Grayscale. And voilà! All color has gone from your iPhone's screen until you toggle the switch off again.

Grayscale your Android

If you have an Android device with Android 9.0 or later, you can access the grayscale mode by opening the Quick Settings panel, tapping the Pen icon, and dragging the Grayscale icon into the panel of icons. This will give you one-tap access to your phone's grayscale mode (Note: I don’t have an Android device, so I found this information online. If that’s not the correct way, please let me know and I’ll update it!)

Give this technique a shot this week and let me know how it goes (I really want to know if this works also for you guys!).

And with this, we’re reaching already the end of this newsletter. I had some other things lined up (a healthy banana bread recipe, and some interesting and random facts about the moon, such as having 181,437 kilograms of trash lying there) but I am gonna save them for later editions as I am sure you are already done and dusted reading that much this week).

And just to make sure, what would you rather have on the next edition?

Healthy banana bread recipe (high-protein, to hit those macros!)
Cool and pretty random facts about the moon (mooncredible facts)

📊 Data Dive

And to close this newsletter, as always, let me give you a quick update on last week’s LSC performance. This week we’re at:

93 Subscribers → Stable on 93. Let's make this number grow!
0 Unsubscribed → Yay! At least we're keeping you here :)
75.23% Open Rate → Over 70%! Thanks guys!

And I have one last gift before closing. Since we’ve been talking about the moon, how about listening to a cover of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" by Sparklehorse featuring Radiohead’s Thom Yorke? (Yes I know, Wish You Were Here is not a song from PF’s “Dark Side Of The Moon”, but I love Sparklehorse’s cover and there's never a bad time to share good music, right?

Anyway, leaving it here! Keep an eye out for the next LifeScore Chronicles— And share this content if you think there is someone out there who could benefit from it. 🚀

Until next week, stay safe and healthy!