💌 Jan 25: mastering stress, galentine's must-haves, AI for your skincare routine

TODAY IS THURSDAY, JANUARY 25

WHAT TO EXPECT

• stories — Mark Cuban’s Shark Tank replacement, Bitcoin falls below $40,000, women are winning with home-owning

• quote of the day

• extra stories

• this week's watch — Alexander: The Making of a God

• deep dive — Mastering stress for peak performance

• featured article — Galentines: Must-Haves for Decor, Activities, & Drinks

BUSINESS — WHO COULD REPLACE MARK CUBAN ON ‘SHARK TANK’?
The billionaire investor is leaving the show and there are quite the speculations about who may replace him since ABC is looking for someone with a high-profile presence. A few people are Kylie Jenner for her influence, Aman Gupta from Shark Tank India, Tyler Perry for his entertainment empire, Col. Jennifer Pritzker for her philanthropy, and Camila Coelho, a Brazilian YouTube star with a substantial online following.

MARKETS — BITCOIN FALLS BELOW $40,000
Since January 11, Bitcoin has fell by 16%. On January 11th, the cryptocurrency jumped to about $48,000 after the ETFs were approved. This is the highest it’s been since 2021. There will be a process called “halving” later this year which should increase the price of Bitcoin.

REAL ESTATE — WOMEN ARE WINNING WITH HOME-OWNING
Single women now own more homes than single men and the overall majority homeownership is female. According to Census date, solo gals’ mortgage applicants added up to ~18% of the market in 2023. The three U.S states that are actually leading with single women homeowner rates are Delaware, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

🧴 AI has stepped into the beauty industry. ChatGPT can give you a skincare routine. Whether you’ll have the best skin of your life is questionable, but it’s not a bad idea to ask it some skincare product questions. You may get some great recommendations like this clean cleanser or mineral sunscreen.

🧠 People despise the idea of sitting alone with their thoughts. Most often because all the thoughts we try to keep out, come rushing back. However, mastering silence has proven to have tremendous benefits. This is also the first step in practicing meditation.

🧊 Cocktail bars in Dubai are about to get a lot cooler, thanks to glacier ice. A start up from Greenland is shipping glacier ice to cocktail bars. But if you can’t make it to Dubai, you can start with ice spheres to take your drinks up a notch.

In this documentary, the team takes a look at Alexander the Great and follow his life as he pursues the power of his mind in conquering the world. It’s coming to Netflix on Jan 31st! You can set a reminder so once it’s live, you’ll be able to add it to your list or watch it at once.

MASTERING STRESS FOR PERFORMANCE

Stress is usually perceived in a negative manner because we’re used to associating it with an extreme. When in fact, stress is like a seasoning – a bit can add flavor, but too much ruins the dish.

Enter the Yerkes-Dodson Law, the brainchild of psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dodson. Basically the law suggests that if you want to perform well, stress is necessary, but the right amount.

Let’s bring down the 3 levels:

1. Sustress: This is when you're uninspired, sleepy, bored, and inactive. As you add more stress, you head into the optimal level.

2. Eustress: This is the level at which we perform the best. We’re focused, motivated, and healthy.

3. Disstress: This is the state which we most often associate ‘stress’ with and it’s when productivity goes downhill. At this level, exhaustion kicks in and possibly anxiety.

To hit peak performance, you’ll need to become self aware and that starts with tracking. For a few days, understand which activities put you on the edge and when you feel like you’ve done your best work.