In partnership with
👋 Welcome to the 163rd issue of Open Loops, a weekly letter on clarity, growth, and building a life that feels like yours.
My name is Reza, and each week I share what I'm reading, building, and working through to help you turn confusion into conviction in life and work.
☁️ On my mind
Last Friday, I walked to the office on a sunny fall morning. I’d had a slow start, there was a breeze, and somewhere along the way I noticed how much I already have. I’m healthy, I live near the people I love, and that morning I had the time and space to enjoy where I was.
There’s still plenty I want to build and change. But it’s easy to stop seeing what you have when you keep comparing it to what you want next.
Let’s dive in.
🔗 3 links
When you like someone, let them know. A compliment on their jacket, a note about something they made, a call just to catch up. Sahil’s point is that we often think we’ve shown more interest than the other person can see.
George Dantzig solved two open statistics problems after mistaking them for homework. Felix Rieseberg uses that story to ask what we’re ruling out before we’ve even tried. His guide is about AI, with a useful place to begin: ask for the outcome you want, then question the steps you assumed it would take.
Scrolling through your phone gives your mind more to process, even when you’re taking a break. Try five minutes with no new input. Sit outside, leave your phone alone, let yourself be bored. Then come back to one question you want to answer.
🧵 From Threads this week
💬 One quote
When something is right for you it will give you energy.
That's how you know.
Arnold Schwarzenegger. Jay Shetty. And You.
Codie Sanchez, Colin & Samir, Joanna Stern, and Oliver Darcy are here too. They all built newsletters (and podcasts and communities and websites) on beehiiv.
Some came with massive followings. Others built theirs along the way. That’s the thing about beehiiv: with so many ways to earn and grow, the platform is ready for whatever you’re building next.
📚 One book
If there’s one thing you should remember from this book, it’d be:
Choose the comparison before it chooses for you. A price can look reasonable because another option costs more. Someone else’s salary can make our own feel inadequate. We can be convinced by a comparison without ever asking whether what we’re choosing suits us.
Here’s another three:
Yesterday’s price can become today’s rule. Once we’ve paid a certain amount for something, that number can become our idea of what it should cost. We keep comparing new prices with an old decision we may barely remember making.
Payment changes what people think the relationship is. Someone who’d gladly help a friend may feel differently when they’re offered a token payment for the same task. Money brings another set of expectations.
Expectations can arrive before the experience. A warning about something tasting bad can influence how it tastes to us. The description has become part of the experience before we’ve even tried it.
→ Read my full bookshelf note on Predictably Irrational.
🎵 One more thing
This is one of the best music videos I’ve seen in a while. It’s set inside Windows XP. Notepad lyrics, Messenger windows, the green hill. Even those old computer sounds are part of the music.
Anabology directed Bliss (Windows XP) with Claude Code, using AI tools for the song, images, and animation. Give it three minutes.
What a time to be alive!
❓ One question
What have you changed your mind about this year, and what changed it?
Till next time 👋
🤝 Should we work together?
Outside the newsletter, there are two ways to work together: Clarity Coaching for life and career decisions, and GTM advisory for startups that need a sharper story, more focused strategy, and a launch with more shape.
✨ Get Foundation 33 for free
Foundation 33 is my curated list of 33 books for clarity, identity, and building a life that feels like yours. A good place to start if you want a more intentional reading path.