Welcome to Walker Weekly, a regularly scheduled newsletter where I share things that I find interesting, useful, inspiring, or thought-provoking. Does it look a lot like Tim Ferriss’ Five-Bullet Friday? Yes, yes it does. And that’s OK, because there’s a key difference – he’s Tim, and I’m Walker. 🙂
Experiment I’m trying
- Deleting social media. The only social media I use(d) for the past few years has been Instagram. We’re all familiar with the downsides of social media, and even though I was never a heavy user, I still felt that even 20-30 minutes a day was largely a waste of time. I enjoy scrolling reels as much as the next person, but I couldn’t get the gnawing idea out of my mind that I was actively destroying my attention span. On the other hand, I do find Instagram useful for sharing vids and staying up to date with my friends. I don’t think full-on abstinence is the right long-term move, but a minimum 30-day hiatus felt like a reasonable experiment to try. Will report back later.
Products I’m Enjoying
- Rite In the Rain All Weather Notebook. I use many different Rite in the Rain products regularly. This one is where I keep my daily journal. It’s nice to write in something that has tangible quality and durability, as opposed to the regular old side-spiral notebooks that you can find at places like Office Depot.
- Anker 10ft USB-C to USB-C Cable. This is a standard loadout requirement for me in 2024. If you don’t have a 10ft cable for your laptop and phone, you need one. Seriously, you’ll use it every day.
Books I’m Reading
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. It’s been on my list for years, so I finally decided to give it a go. It’s a short read, and though I’m not done yet, I think I prefer Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic. They’re both masterful pieces and it’s surreal to be able to access the writings of such eloquent people from nearly 2,000 years ago.
- Japanese Death Poems by Yoel Hoffmann. This book is seriously cool and compliments the stoic readings above. It captures hundreds of death poems (jisei) written by Zen monks and haiku poets on the verge of death. I love flipping to a random page and reading the profound final words that someone across the world wrote, 600 years ago. It’s thought-provoking, humbling, and a great gift for the curious and open-minded.
Video I’m Rewatching
- Young priest turns forsaken farm into paradise homestead. One of my favorite videos of all time. A young Catholic priest buys a tiny, dilapidated stone shack and transforms it into his very own mountaintop hermitage. He’s nearly self-sufficient and doesn’t own a car, instead traveling by foot for hours through the Italian Alps to get to the nearest grocery store. What’s most inspiring to me is his passion, wisdom, and kindness. Watch this if you’ve ever daydreamed about buying a remote piece of land somewhere and living a quiet, full life.
That’s all for this week, thank you sincerely for reading. Which are your favorites? Any thoughts? Drop a comment below and let me know.
Stay curious,
Walker
Leave a Reply