3 Things I’ve Learned:

1. Humans can maintain quality friendships with about 150 people.

This is known as "Dunbar's Number"—named after Robert Dunbar who came up with the theory 30 years ago.

Dunbar first found support for his theory in the fact that hunter-gatherer communities were comprised of roughly 150 people.

Since then, supporting evidence has grown significantly based on the size of Facebook groups, Christmas card lists, military units and online gaming communities.

Nowadays, with most of us following and/or "friends" with 1,000+ people on any given social media platform, it makes you wonder what kind of impact that has on the way we connect and interact with others.

Credit: https://neurosciencenews.com/dunbars-number-social-brain-19210/; I first came across the idea in The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (which I highly recommend!)

2. We overestimate the uniqueness of our thoughts.

This is called pluralistic ignorance.

The term was coined by Floyd H. Allport and Daniel Katz in the 1930s and it refers to those moments when we assume we're the only one with a certain thought, question or belief.

The best example is when we have a question in class or at work but we're afraid to ask it for fear of sounding dumb. We assume that since everyone else is silent they must understand what's being discussed.

But the truth is, everyone else is just as confused and they're staying silent because they're making the same assumption we are!

You're rarely alone when you have a thought, question, belief, etc.—don't be afraid to speak your mind.

Credit: https://study.com/academy/lesson/pluralistic-ignorance-definition-examples-quiz.html

3. Each of us is 1 out of approximately 8,000,000,000 (8 billion) human beings on Earth.

That means we each make up about 0.0000000125% of the population.

On top of that, humans are 1 out of approximately 10,000,000 species on Earth.

Earth is 1 of about 100,000,000,000 (100 billion) planets in the Milky Way.

The Milky Way is 1 of about 2,000,000,000,000 (2 trillion) galaxies in the universe.

In the grand scheme of things we are utterly insignificant. Don't worry about a bad hair day or the embarrassing thing you said in front of your coworkers.

At the same time, every one of us truly matters. It's the culmination of each individual's effort to do the best they can that drives the evolution of the universe.

Credit: Principles by Ray Dalio

2 Questions for You:

1. What have you been avoiding lately? Why?
2. How would you describe yourself in 30 seconds?

1 Quote:

“It’s easier to act your way into a new way of thinking rather than think your way into a new way of acting.”—Brianna Wiest

What do you think of that quote? You can reply to this email and share your thoughts—I'm curious whether or not you agree.

I'm going to finish a book called The Midnight Library today and holy cow. It's a good one.

It's a quick read and it's fiction but it has been a real eye-opener with lessons that apply directly to my life (and surely yours as well).

My big takeaway so far is that I am exactly where I'm supposed to be. I have regrets and fall into the "what if?" trap just like everyone else. But things have a way of working themselves out and so long as I'm putting forth my best effort I'm confident that things will continue to fall into place.

Let's let go of the "what ifs," be grateful for where we are, and focus on what we can control right now.

Live your life to the fullest,

Chris

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