Hi Reader,

This week on the Habit Chess newsletter: How our minds filter what matters most to us

Today I've got 5 notes from my week and a quick story to share with you on high agency thinking and skill acquisition.

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Ideas:

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💡 Does it help more than it hurts?

A simple but powerful filter for decision-making that cuts through complexity.

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💡 You're not going to get the yellow pages delivered to your doorstep next year.

Seemed impossible to accept this.

Yet we're going through a similar leap in tech where denial is not the safe bet.

The changes happening with AI aren't optional - adaptation is the only realistic path forward.

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💡 Courage is perishable.

And may not be refrigerated.

Use it within a few hours of arrival.

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💡 Use other people’s recommendations to find your own.

It doesn’t have to be done exactly their way.

You have more context about yourself than they do.

The best advice is personalized by you, for you.

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💡 Note farming is a practice I recommend for every human.

Resurface the random notes you took a year ago, last month, or last week.

Spend a few scrolls getting to know yourself and how you think.

Only effective if you're capturing notes abundantly before the farming can take place.

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How We Filter Information Based on What We Need

💭 My friend and I were at this famous comedian's show, which was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

And we were both doing stand up comedy ourselves at the time.

Phones are locked up so I was taking notes with my memory.

I wanted to remember the jokes and compare them in the special when it was released a year later.

I loved doing this with comedians I admired because I learned so much about structuring a set and how to refine an hour from scratch.

So after the show we were breaking down everything we could remember and comparing our notes.

"Dude his opener lit the room up!"

"Did you see how he got back to his set after the heckler?"

"The joke he said he wrote on the plane didn't hit, did you see how he got the crowd back?"

But I remember realizing my friend didn't notice the exact same things I did.

We watched the same show in the same theater (I had slightly better seats.)

And he was just as sure as I was that he heard what he did.

Of course I knew what I picked up and trusted my experience more.

So I never forget the learning that people pick up different bits of information even when consuming the exact same thing.

You're more likely to notice things that are on your mind, stuff you're interested in, or problems you're working on subconsciously.

We were two different comedians with different styles and walks of life.

We had different things to work on to improve our game.

Just like some of us need more reps for our shoulders or calves or chest.

The end goal is similar: get the laughs.

But what we notice to achieve our versions of that is what begins to create unique knowledge.

This is the beauty of how our brains detect and sort through all the information available in the world.

We can set the intention of what we want to learn and that is already enough to filter the noise coming your way.

And the ideas that make it through these 'ear plugs' should go from noise to your notes.

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Question for you:

What have you noticed recently that others might have missed?

What filter do you have that helps you see things others don't?

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Thanks for reading, reply if this resonated with you.

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In your corner,
Misbah Haque
Founder & Consultant at Pod Mahal​
Writer & Host of Habit Chess​
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P.S. If you want a hand with starting or growing your podcast, book a free strategy call here.