2020 has been quite the year, hasn’t it?
I know I personally have found solace through these troubling times by doing what always makes me feel better when I’m down: buying massive amounts of material things!
Jokes aside.
I have stumbled upon some impactful products and services throughout the year that I’d like to share with you, just like I do every year, with no affiliate links.
Here’s a list of my favorite purchases of 2020.
Table Of Contents
Productivity
Kindle + Audible Combination
I’ve always had a Kindle for reading e-books.
I’ve always had Audible for listing to audiobooks on my iPhone.
But this year I finally discovered using them at the same fucking time!!
Read the book visually on your Kindle while the audiobook is being read to you at 1.5x – 2x speed.
You’ll devour books at lightspeed, but the absorption level remains high, as if you were reading.
You can even have the Kindle app on iPad manage both services for an even better experience (it highlights the text as it reads to you).
Note: you have to buy both the eBook and the audio versions of a book, but I tell you, this is a gamechanger.
Samsung 34″ Ultra-Wide Monitor
I was in the dual-screen camp for a long time.
I don’t know why it took me so long to try an ultra-wide. I guess I thought things would look goofy all stretched out over a huge screen.
Now, I can’t go back.
Work is more efficient, gaming is significantly better, and my overall enjoyment of my 2nd wife (my PC) is higher.
The only downside is that if you do any type of screen capture using PowerPoint, you’ll have to keep a 16:9 resolution monitor on hand, otherwise your video is going to get stretched out.
Personal Finance
WealthFront
I’ve stayed away from stock investing for the past 6 years.
Namely because of a bad experience with a financial advisor, combined with not knowing what the hell I’m doing.
We’ll talk about this later.
Now, let’s get this straight, I still don’t know what the hell I’m doing, and you should assume that any personal finance information you get from a guy who ranks weight loss pills on the internet is suspect.
But I’m a fan of the whole robo-investment strategy that helps laymen like me create a balanced portfolio, does tax-loss harvesting, re-invests, and rebalances automatically.
Play at your own risk, and all that, yadda yadda…
Health
Strategene
A few years ago I mentioned 23 and Me DNA sequencing as a favorite purchase of that year.
What Strategene does is it runs a similar DNA saliva-type test through a gene-sequencing software and creates a report of all your gene variations.
Ok, great, so what does that mean?
Well, I’m big-time into biohacking and I know that I should be sleeping well, getting enough vitamins, etc… but that’s advice for everybody, isn’t it?
And I can tell you, I feel and look a lot different than I did last year.
Bear in mind, Strategene spits out a decent report, but you’ll 10x the value from it by talking to an educated physician who specializes in this kind of stuff. I can provide a reference if you’re interested.
Yoga Tune Up Balls
If you like a little bit of self-inflicted S&M, these little balls (not the red gag balls that go in your mouth) do wonders for releasing tight muscles – especially in your feet, glutes, and I.T. bands.
Step on them and roll them around at your standing or sitting desk.
It hurts while you’re doing it, but feels amazing after.
Philips goLITE BLU
I position this light about 45 degrees to the side of my face and turn it on in the morning for 20 minutes.
What it does is tells your body, “Hey, it’s day time. Wake up and give this man some energy and produce from vitamin D.”
It’s a great replacement for caffeine and a complete hack when it comes to resetting your clock when you’re jet-lagged.
Rescue Sleep Liquid Melts
Of course, we can’t have a product recommendation list from me that doesn’t involve sleep hacking.
I feel like I’ve got my sleep pretty dialed in.
But, like many of you, sometimes I get up in the middle of the night (usually to drain the lizard) and just can’t fall back to sleep.
Pop one of these under your tongue and the magical oils just give me enough of a push to calm down my monkey mind and get back to sleep, when in a pinch.
Entertainment
Steezy – Online Dance Studio
This thing saved my life during lockdowns in March and April.
You may not know this, but I’ve been involved in a street dance called “Popping” since I was 19 years old.
You could say I’m retired from it these days, but from time-to-time, I still like to cut it up.
My wife and I got into Steezy during the lockdown and it was a blast.
You can learn from literally the best dancers in any street dance genre from their incredible platform.
Books
Shoe Dog – Phil Knight
Written by the founder of Nike, he takes you through the conception and growth of the world-famous Nike brand.
It’s a treat to read (99% sure its ghostwritten) and you’ll love every moment of it.
What I love best about this book is that it really humanizes this idea we have of mega-successful founders.
Just like many of you who are figuring things out along the way, Knight was the same.
Money Master the Game – Tony Robbins
This was my first Tony Robbins book.
Not sure why. I guess I had a subconscious blockage because my first encounter with him was from “Shallow Hal”.
I read this book at the right time.
After telling myself for 6-years that “stocks are too high” and “I’ll take a look whenever we see a dip”… well, the dip happened, so I dug in.
And since reading Money Master the Game, of course, most personal finance books say the same thing – because it’s the most successful strategy (for the masses) to date.
But as you can expect from someone like Tony, he puts a passion into it which, I gotta say, gets you pumped up.
Angel – Jason Calacanis
Angel investing is like playing the lottery, but with better odds, if you know what you’re doing.
I want to know what I’m doing when I’m placing big bets, so I took my buddy Travis Jamison’s advice and picked up this book.
Angel is a no-bullshit playbook for angel investment from one of the best angels in the Silicon Valley.
Highly recommended.
Die with Zero – Bill Perkins
Despite my last two books being recommendations on how to masse enough money to rule the universe, this one is about spending it.
Not on “stuff”, but the experiences that really enrich your life.
The main thesis is that money has more value to you when you’re young.
For example, $10k can create a first-class dream holiday for my family skiing and snowboarding in the French Alps.
But when I’m 80, that $10k is going to diapers.
Better to spend it now when its going to create the most joy in your life, rather than horde it all for a day that may never even come.
Thanks for reading. For more inspiration, check back on the previous years.
Got Questions or Comments?
Join the discussion here on Facebook.
