Welcome to the first edition of Five Things to Know, where I share five things for you to read, watch, listen, buy, and try every week—so you can upgrade your mindset, develop better habits⁣, and build a profitable business.

— Nicholas (@focusandhustle)

In this issue

🧠 Money’s greatest intrinsic value

👀 Think different

🎧 Netflix vs. Blockbuster

🛒 A ring that tracks your sleep

👍 The connection between reading and stress

🧠 Read

In The Psychology of Money, award-winning author Morgan Housel shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money and teaches you how to make better sense of one of life’s most important topics.

Here’s one of my favorite quotes:

Money’s greatest intrinsic value—and this can’t be overstated—is its ability to give you control over your time.

― Morgan Housel

👀 Watch

Whatever your personal opinion of Steve Jobs may be, most people would agree that he was a masterful storyteller.

And in this video you can see first hand how he announced Apple’s launch of the “Think Different” campaign, which went on to be one of the most successful and memorable marketing campaigns in modern history.

🎧 Listen

Near the top of my list of favorite business podcasts is Business Wars from Wondery.

Get the unauthorized, real story of what drives these companies and their leaders, inventors, investors and executives to new heights — or to ruin.

A great episode to start with is Netflix vs. Blockbuster.

🛒 Buy

I’ve recently started tracking my sleep using the Oura Ring and connected app.

It measures the physiological signals of your body, understands your lifestyle, and guides you to make your own optimal daily choices.

The data is easy to understand and gives me a quick way of monitoring and adjusting my sleep routine.

👍 Try

Stressed out? It might be time to work some daily reading into your routine.

In fact, there’s a direct connection between reading and stress reduction.

A 2009 study by the University of Sussex found that reading for just six minutes can reduce stress levels by as much as 68%.

That’s all!

👋 Nicholas (@focusandhustle)