Manual of Mark
“I don’t wanna be a product of my environment; I want my environment to be a product of me.”
(A User Guide to Me)
Last updated: 2024.12.29
In my annual review last year, I included a “Things I’ve Loved” section, which prompted me to think about expanding it into a full post on its own.
For years, I’ve thought it would be a useful exercise to try to take everything I've learned in different aspects of life and distill it down to the essentials. To question and examine where it might be time for an update. It can be valuable to create and define a playbook for different areas of life, a framework for habits and routines. I believe the details matter, and thoughtfully incorporating the best of what others have learned can lead to unexpected improvements.
I spend what might seem like an unreasonable amount of time considering the things I choose to bring into my life, aiming to be very intentional with my choices. What I want to do is take the time to articulate my reasoning for a lot of this to ensure it’s actually my reasoning, and not blindly inherited from someone else (or an algorithm). I’ve read a lot about the theory of mimetic desire, about how as humans we imitate what other people want. How can I uncover where my desire originates? There's a saying that the things you own end up owning you- in that case, I think it's important to give thought and consideration to these things.
It started with only material things and physical objects, but I eventually want to lay out my thought process and playbooks out in other areas as well for examination. I’ve gathered a lot of notes and ideas over the years that I wanted to put in one place for reflection. This might seem like overkill, boarding on obsessive, but my stance has long been to put a lot of thought into things up front, and then reduce the mental energy required to constantly reconsider or second guess my choices. To make decisions that last for years in many cases. By making my thinking visible and documenting it, I can see the potential flaws in my logic, how it might be improved, and understand how it might change or evolve over time.
As the year comes to an end, I realize I may have been a bit ambitious with this. It will be a working document that I plan to update over time. That said, it has sat in my drafts as an idea since 2022, and nothing is ever perfect. I aim to start releasing more of what’s been on my mind- below is a rough brain-dump of everything I could think of that might be beneficial to examine further.
“When you go through life with preferences but don’t let your happiness depend on any one of them, then you’re awake”
Physical Objects
When it comes to considering physical objects or things I choose to own, I read a blog post titled “The Best" a long time ago, and it has stuck with me ever since:
If you’re an unreasonable person, trust me: the time it takes to find the best of something is completely worth it. It’s better to have a few fantastic things designed for you than to have many untrustworthy things poorly designed to please everyone. The result–being able to blindly trust the things you own–is intensely liberating.
Here are a few additional quotes I’ve gathered over the years to help me consider my approach to material things:
“For every dollar you spend purchasing something substantial, expect to pay a dollar in repairs, maintenance, or disposal by the end of its life” - Kevin Kelly
“Very small things accumulate until they define your larger life. Carefully choose your everyday things” - Kevin Kelly
“Two is one and one is none” - Navy SEALS expression (Have a back-up)
“Pay the price or buy it twice”
"All buildings are predictions. All predictions are wrong" - Stewart Brand
If you’re not choosing the most expensive or sophisticated option/solution - why not? It’s worth exploring the extremes, even if you choose not to go that route. What does the most sophisticated solution look like? How could you achieve that in different ways?
I keep track of every thing I own using a platform called Encircle.
Clothing/Closet
I aspire to have my own version of a “Steve Jobs” outfit that I don’t have to constantly reconsider or even think about. Some of the go-to’s that have stuck around for me (planning to expand my thinking on each in the future):
T-shirt: Kit & Ace 3 Pack
Pants: Kit & Ace Navigator Joggers
Pants: Lululemon License to Train Joggers
Footwear
Strike Movement Travellers
Blundstone- Vancouver weather
Birkenstock - Summer
Running shoes- Inov8 Bare XF - zero-drop soles for restoring Achilles mobility
Socks- Outway
Routines, Habits & Rituals
Personal Hygiene
It’s been said in each shave lies a philosophy. I’ve refined my shaving routine to a safety razor, shaving soap and brush.
Shave head & cut nails once per week
Face moisturizer: Reyal
Deodorant- Dom's Deodorant, refillable
Scent: Le Labo Santal 33
Favourite Candle - P.F. Candle Co. Teakwood & Tobacco
Epsom salts
Sleep Mask
Body brush
Training
I’ve written about my training tools in the past, but this is constantly being tweaked and updated
Strava for tracking everything
Elite HRV - Polar heart rate monitor
Massage gun
Onnit kettlebell
Laird Hamilton workout
Yoga with Adriene
Misogi- yearly challenge
Plant based - Rich Roll. Food and nutrition needs a full section on its own.
Organizing Knowledge
I tried to put everything about My Personal Knowledge System into one place this year, so this is fairly up to date.
Evernote
Prefer physical books
Newsletters? Adding favourites in the future.
Photos- need a more elegant solution, but currently everything gets uploaded to Amazon Photos and backed up to an external hard drive
5 year one line a day notebook
Use pinterest for daily vision board, things I’m working to accomplish
Traveler’s Notebook & Pilot Petit Pen
Health, Wealth Wisdom
I tend to think about life in 3 general buckets: Health, Wealth and Wisdom. With that in mind, I have a system for annual review and quarterly reflection based on those categories. There are different segments in each that I “grade” myself on each quarter (I’ve outlined this process previously, but it’s changed and evolved a bit since 2016).
Finances
This also needs to be expanded into a full section on its own. We currently use Ramit Sethi’s Conscious Spending Plan, which gets updated Quarterly.
Misc.
Airpod Pro
Memento Mori coin
Follow Ups/Things I’m Looking Into:
Stand-up paddleboard
Sauna/Cold Plunge Set Up (for now, there are some great local options)