Living and Loving A Boring Life
And two new podcast episodes
“I’m not interested in anything that’s not sustainable. Friendships, investing, careers, podcasts, reading habits, exercise habits. If I can’t keep it going, I’m not interested in it.“
I saw this quote first on Twitter and I really liked it. But then I listened to the actual podcast episode on the plane to San Francisco this week… and it just hit me 💥
That’s the beauty of audio and podcasts right???
It feels like I have been living this way for a few years now intuitively. And after listening to this quote, I wanted to further delve into it by writing this piece.
It feels like “sustainable” is often viewed as “boring” in our culture… But I like being boring!
How I Live A Boring Life:
I have a very boring workout that I do almost every morning: a light morning jog and some pull-ups, burpees, push-ups, etc.
Eat the same food often. When I find something I like, I become obsessed with it (Perfect Bars, AG1, certain pizza slices, etc). These days, I am obsessed with all things burritos
I host repeatable events personally (e.g. Podcast Mixers) and for work (e.g. mostly mixers and Summits)
I am often editing a podcast episode or writing my newsletter on a Friday or Saturday night
I will listen to a song until I get sick of it. So much so, that my Spotify daylist was recently described me as this lol
Want to know the song? Reply back saying “song” and I will send it to you!
So what’s going on here, David???
I used to think someone would come into my life and greatly improve it. Maybe that’s because it’s kind of the way my life was growing up until my Dad passed away.
It has taken some time… But once I later found the things that I could do regularly that could improve my quality of life - I really only want to keep doing them.
This is one big reason for why I have kept podcasting for 5+ years with no breaks. The feelings of agency, autonomy, and continued progress fuel me.
Do you feel the same way in your world? Reply back or share a comment below
Sustainability and compounding can look boring. Kind of like the way people describe the process of continually reinvesting your earned dividends back into buying an index fund in the stock market. It’s not sexy, but it’s likely the most effective way to invest.
How you could be “boring”:
only start something you can commit to for an extended period of time
keep going on the things you are already doing, especially if they are personal and/or creative
have internal deadlines… and hit them
don’t publicly announce BIG GOALS. Instead, focus on executing and let the work and your intuition guide you
“begin” before things are “perfect.” After 5 years of podcasting, I finally updated my cover art that I had in 2018. This imperfection did not slow me down.
don’t focus on external metrics or things you can’t control
invest into rituals with your friends
don’t get overly excited about trends that you don’t know much about
When you are playing your own game, you really just want to keep playing it. Or at least that is my experience!
🎧 Portfolio Career Podcast Episodes
#305: Modern Dating with Allie Hoffman
In this Podcast Mixer episode with Allie, you will learn about:
“when we commit to being honest, our worlds like get more honest.”
How Allie has noticed that men wait until the last minute to buy tickets to her events. But when they do, they show up and are committed to the event. She thinks this behavior applies to dating as well. Men wait, but when they are in, they are committed.
How at her events (The Feels) she notices that some people do things out of fear of hurting someone else, and she wonders if that is a microcosm of life
“the way we date better is to like date ourselves better.”
#304: Money Tips and Building Her First $100K with Tori Dunlap
In this Podcast Mixer episode with Tori, you will learn about:
"Money buys you options. When you have money, you have choices."
how money management is a skill you can learn
how it will never feel like it is the *right time* to leave a job
On growing a big social media presence: the goal is to have your content be aspirational, educational, and/or entertaining. “And if you can do one, you've got a video that does pretty well. If you can do all three, your video is probably gonna go viral.”
Alright, that’s it for now. I would love to hear what stood out to you!
-David Nebinski, who just got back from helping host a sustainable and repeatable Chief of Staff mini conference in San Francisco
> I used to think someone would come into my life and greatly improve it.
This piece was so spot on David. It’s so common to wait for the person or the thing to turn everything around. I love how you’ve bridged boring and sustainable practices into the meaning and improvement that we often find ourselves desiring.
Blast from the past David! This one is so good!