Hey friends,

My book, The Inner Compass, comes out in less than 1 week, on Tuesday, July 8th. After a year of holding it close to my chest, I’m excited to let it go and see how you respond to it.

Yesterday I sent out an invitation to people that are on the waitlist to join the book’s pop-up community. People have already started introducing themselves, and it’s been beautiful to learn more about those that have joined.

I will be hosting a live chapter reading tomorrow (Thursday) at 10 AM PT for the community. The only way to be invited is to join the waitlist, which you can do by clicking the blue button below. This will be the final opportunity to do so, as I won’t be mentioning it again. I look forward to seeing you there:

In an effort to spread the word about the book, I’ve been on a media run. In fact, I spent everyday last week on someone’s podcast or YouTube channel to talk about the book, and it’s been a lot of fun. With that said, I’m looking to continue this, so if you have a podcast or YouTube channel you’d like to invite me on, hit reply and let me know.

In addition, if you have a newsletter and would like to feature the book, just let me know as well. Thank you in advance for your support.

For today, I’d like to share 3 brief reflections on what it means to trust yourself. This is from a bonus booklet called "A Month of Reflections" that will be (freely) available to people that order The Inner Compass next week.

For the first time ever, I’ve selected 30 excerpts of my work and compiled them into a digital booklet. Each excerpt will serve as a daily meditation to recalibrate your inner compass and act as a reflective start to your day.

These 30 meditations are spread across 5 topics:

• Intuition
• Agency
• Hardship
• Creativity
• Relationships

I suggest that you couple each meditation with a daily journaling practice as well. I go over this in more detail in the booklet’s introduction, but when you articulate your reaction to something you read, it helps you internalize it in the context of your own life.

As a preview, below are 3 reflections from the booklet.

Day 1: Knowledge Is Not Understanding

You can read Seneca a hundred times and think you’re now prepared for calamity, but that’s just knowledge disguised as understanding. One actual calamity will prove how little those hundred readings did to prepare you for the rush of emotions that strike you upon first contact.

It’s no secret that I read a lot, but it’s also no secret that I don’t take these words too seriously. No matter how much wisdom you gain from the pages of your favorite author, if you haven’t experienced the visceral events that led to that wisdom yourself, then it’s just knowledge. Sure, you can leverage the hard-earned wisdom of others to help you, but understanding only happens when you earn that wisdom in the tumultuous arena of real life.

Day 12: Don’t Search for Meaning. Notice It.

Knowing that life doesn’t come with a grander meaning allows us to access the things that really do make life meaningful. This truth helps us realize that the big existential questions of life are not where the answers are; instead, this very moment in our small corner of the world is all we really have.

The questions of “What does it all mean?” and “What is my purpose?” are things we ask when we’re not plugged into this very moment. When we’re paying close attention to the project we’re working on, the book we’re enjoying, or the time we’re spending with our loved ones, then we’re not searching for meaning; we already have it.

Day 27: The Arrogance of Boredom

Believing that someone is boring is a failure to understand who they are. Boredom is always the result of a lack of curiosity, or the inability to see anything or anyone through the lens of a question.

In many ways, boredom is arrogance. It’s believing that nothing is worth your interest because you already know what you need to about yourself, others, and the world. A curious mind is a humble one, as a prerequisite for curiosity is the acceptance that there’s more to life than what you think you already know.

You can get access to all 30 reflections once you order The Inner Compass next Tuesday, July 8th. I’ll be sure to send you an email on that date with a link to order The Inner Compass, along with instructions on how to receive your copy of the daily meditations.

With that said, I’m so excited to share The Inner Compass with you next Tuesday. Along with the feelings of excitement, there are also those of doubt. But the doubt only exists because I care so much about what this book represents. It’s an indicator that this is worth sharing, that it’s worth navigating the unknown for.

Thanks for your support along this ride. It means the world.

Talk soon,

Lawrence Yeo