Ben Franklin's Junto Club, Flourishing and Fulfillment, and Time Blocking

Hey friend. Hope you’ve had a great week.

If you missed this week’s episode, I talked with Christian Ruf. Christian is a former Army helicopter pilot and started a direct mail business off of Twitter. You can listen to the full story here.

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4 Recommendations

1. The best way to get into real estate when transitioning out of the military

This post was written by a lifelong real estate professional in response to someone who was getting out of the service. Spoiler, the response was NOT what you think it would be.

Q:"I'm in my 30s, with a wife, kids, and a job. What is the best way to get into real estate?"

2. Why you should be building your audience/network

This post was directed towards people graduating college, but I think the same goes for those in the service as well. Figure out what you’re about and find the people in the world who are interested in you and what you bring to the table.

3. Ben Franklin’s Junto Club

On the surface, we should know a small group of peers in life + business would be helpful. Practice of that is much more difficult however. This was a glimpse into how Ben Franklin thought about group formation and the types of subjects they were discussing at the time. A great list that I’ll be implementing while putting together something similar.

4. A difficult story on hazing

An extremely moving, personal account of hazing and the subsequent thoughts, feelings, and emotions tied to the event and thereafter.

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1 Framework

I’m a sucker for a good framework.

Brent Beshore posted this on Twitter this week, sharing someone else’s work, and I thought it was an interesting way to think about the balance of our life and work.

How do we align what we want to do with what we have to do ~ the desired flourishing and fulfillment state?

Find work that is purposeful:

A cause or company you care about, that exercises your innate talents, and challenges you.

Pursue life states that bring you joy:

Experiences, family, relationships

Just that simple right?

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1 Personal

I thought about absolutely nothing deep or reflective this week and thought I had little to write here, but I think the reason why I don’t have anything is something in itself. It was one of those weeks where I blinked and it was Friday. We’ve all been there before, but this was a particularly unusual feeling because it’s not common for me.

I was thinking last night about where this feeling came from and what was so unique about my week that caused me to suddenly forget everything. I went and looked back at my calendar and it was near empty. As desirable as an empty calendar is, I believe its the lack of structure that led to the time lapse and a big question mark about what actually got accomplished this week.

One of the best habits I’ve gotten into is every Sunday, writing down:

• Weekly tasks that have to get accomplished

• Long dated tasks that need progress made on them

• People I need to talk to

Once having those items, estimating the time required to complete them, and placing those time blocks on your week is a powerful way to be intentional about your time. It also outsources your memory and can let your mind rest from trying to remember everything. Leila Hormozi famously posted this time blocked photo on Twitter only to get annihilated by the “leave room for creativity” crowd.

Your time has incredible value. Assigning work or even “fun” time is the way to get the most out of it.

Have a good weekend,

B