The first step to doing something hard isn't confidence or discipline.

It's making the first step laughably small.

When something feels ominous, we assume we're lazy or don’t have the right strategy in place. We dawdle, convinced the problem is us. But usually, it’s just that the first step isn’t small enough.

I learned this in college when I'd procrastinate on papers until panic set in at 11 pm. Then my roommate gave me the dumbest-sounding advice: "Just open a Word doc and type your name, the date, and a title. That's it."

The first few times, I did exactly that—typed three lines, closed my laptop, and walked away feeling ridiculous. But something shifted. My brain started treating that empty Word doc like an itch. Eventually, I'd add a sentence. Then a paragraph. The paper would write itself, one tiny step at a time.

The hardest part of starting something is getting the first domino to fall. The heaviest weight at the gym, they say, is the front door.

But once you complete that first step and have positive momentum on your side, your brain naturally wants to follow through. It’s Newton’s first law of motion (I hope you don’t have to Google that).

“A man who is willing to venture into his fears without needing to run from them or force them into submission is a man who will find freedom where others are shackled.”

This book is a must-read for every man who wants to ditch their bad habits, self-sabotage, and unnecessary baggage. But fair warning, it will be uncomfortable.

Too often, we men choose not to talk about our fears, inadequacies, emotions, and responsibilities. We bottle it up. We avoid it. We take it out on others. Connor encourages us to reconcile with ourselves; to feel, think, share, and take ownership of our actions.

The main topic areas are relationships, communication, self-development, emotional intelligence, meaning, and purpose. This is a heavy read, with quite a lot of deep introspection and reflection. The biggest theme I took away was his advice to embrace the discomfort of truly paying attention to our fears, feelings, and behaviors, and not shy away from trying to understand them and learn why they exist to help us change. Actually sit with them vs. reaching for the nearest distraction. Notice why you have an impulse to distract or avoid.

Beaton is the founder of ManTalks, a global online men’s group with retreats and courses drawing on healing and facing our darkest parts through Jungian Psychology, somatic therapy, breathwork, and meditative practices. You can listen to him on the Modern Wisdom podcast, which is where I came across his work.

This book is an amazing read with the potential (if taken seriously and with an open mind) to change and help the lives of so many young men.

This article gathers 35 simple, research-backed practices from sleep specialists, sex therapists, psychologists, nutrition scientists, and more, each offering one small habit they personally rely on to support everyday well-being.

The whole list is great, and I especially love Dr. Becky’s reflection — which I totally stole for today’s Thought of the Week above…

Lauren and I tend to disagree on how to best organize our family calendar. I’m a Google Calendar purist while she’s more of a pen-and-paper gal. In the last few weeks, we both started seeing sponsored posts from Jesse Itzler promoting the Big Ass Calendar. While it’s way too big to display anywhere prominently in our kitchen, Lauren and I agreed it would be a fun way to plan out our whole year vs. winging it month to month. So we said, f**k it and bought one.

The main reason we love this calendar is that it’s designed with a purpose: to map out your adventures and goals for the year, rather than just write down events and appointments. Itzler breaks down how to organize your goals into three buckets:

1) Misogi

A misogi is traditionally a Japanese ritual of purification and discomfort. But Itzler modified the concept into choosing a “year-defining” challenge. Something that pushes you far outside of your comfort zone so that when you look back on the year, you’ll always remember it as the year you did X. It could be a physical challenge, a trip, a business goal, or a life bucket item.

I haven’t decided on mine yet, but I’m thinking:

2) Six Mini-Adventures

This idea is what sold me on the calendar. Every 8 weeks, do one thing you wouldn't normally do - a mini-adventure. For example, instead of watching TV on Sunday, plan a hike, polar plunge, cooking class, or a trip to the museum. Here are some of the ideas Lauren and I came up with:

3) Start a new habit every 3 months

Define one new daily winning habit for each quarter of the year. Make them manageable but meaningful. Your daily winning habits should only take a few minutes maximum per day, and the results will add up over time.

Buy a Big A## Calendar here

I wasn’t super familiar with Marcello Hernandez going in. I’d seen him in a few SNL sketches and Happy Gilmore 2, and of what I’d seen, he was hilarious.

His new Netflix special confirmed it. Lauren and I were in stitches the whole time. A lot of his material centers on growing up in Miami with immigrant parents, and at one point Lauren nailed it with the perfect comparison: the Hispanic Sebastian Maniscalco.

Joe Hudson is a coach, an entrepreneur, and a podcast host.

In this episode, he explains how we can work to feel our emotions more fully. How do we embrace the full spectrum of human emotion, even when it leaves us vulnerable to being hurt?

I took a ton of notes during this one, and my favorite part will likely be a future Thought of the Week:

“Wants are more efficient fuel than Shoulds. ‘Should’ is a dirty fuel.”

Thanks for reading!