profile

Andrew Ethan Zeng

How Productivity & Death Are Related | Humble Hustle #023

Published over 1 year ago • 2 min read

Today’s Newsletter Partnered With EightSleep

Productivity is the Fear of Dying


With Q4 2022 being the busiest it has ever been for me with work sprints that had me burnt out, it got me thinking…

How do I be more productive, and why do I even want to be more productive?

After some digging and Googling, the truth is:

Our desire to be productive is rooted in our fear of dying.

The awareness of our own mortality, that one day we will die, is a large reason why we’re driven to maximize our time.

But there’s a sort of stress and tension that comes with being productive.

Because the more you force yourself to be productive, the less you see life through any other lens other than the productivity lens.

We’re all so obsessed with managing our time to the minute that we’ve become controlled by it. It adds a layer of anxiety to our days.

But in the grand scheme of things, is it really all that important? Because death reminds us that it may not be.

Death reminds us that we can’t just work through life productively.

We have to pause, and think about what we’re all doing and if it’s genuinely worth doing.

Because only then are we able to enjoy our life and find purpose in existing.

​

Possibly The Best Tech This Year


Forget the Apple Watch, forget the Oura Ring…

If you want to improve your quality of sleep or have trouble sleeping, this is it.

This is EightSleep’s new Pod 3.

EightSleep is partnering with me on this segment, but my opinion is my own. I’ve been using it over the last few weeks and it may well be the best piece of tech I’ve used all year.

It's a smart mattress and digital sleep coach powered by a quad-core computer. If that sounds futuristic, it is.

It’s used by Olympic athletes, business founders and overall high-performance individuals. It has monitored my body and sleep patterns through its 4,000 sensor points to deliver the optimal temperature in bed, literally every minute of the night.

This happens for both sides of the mattress so if you sleep with a partner, their side will automatically set to their temperature preferences as well. Talk about innovation!

If you think the tech is cool but don’t necessarily need a whole new mattress, you can simply get the Pod Cover itself for all the feature-packed goodness. EightSleep is running a big sale event right now and it’s absolutely worth checking out:

↪ Pod 3 Cover ($150 off with code AEZ): https://bit.ly/Pod3Cover

↪ Pod 3 Mattress ($300 off with code AEZ): https://bit.ly/Pod3Mattress
​

10 Premium Tech Gifts


Get ready for gifting season – here’s my 10 hand-picked premium tech gifts to spoil loved ones…or yourself.
​

Here's What My Day Looks Like


I’ve finally got around to a new Day in My Life video after years. A lot has changed, and here’s an insight into what my days look like.
​

iPad Air M2 – 200 Hours Later


If you’re in the market for a new tablet right now, definitely give this video a watch.

​

🌾 Link Harvest – a curated list of useful things


​HubSpot Library – Huge library of free business stuff to help you grow and build a business

​Leica M6 – A re-release of the 1984 cult classic film camera. I’m considering buying it.

​DJI Osmo 6 – Newly released mobile gimbal I recommend. Shot the entire Day In My Life video on it.

​100 Couples Share Their Secret – A little off-topic but a fascinating read for those of you in relationships (or looking for love too!)

Andrew Ethan Zeng

👋 Monthly newsletter direct to your inbox. All things tech and business.

Read more from Andrew Ethan Zeng

The Trap of Turning a Passion into a Career The other week during a call, we found ourselves discussing passion projects and hobby businesses. It’s easier than ever to chase your passion and it’s also more wanted than ever. Who doesn’t want to make money from what they love doing? We've all heard it before: "If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life." Yet, during the call we both realized our friends or acquaintances who have transformed their passions into successful...

9 months ago • 2 min read

Understanding the AI Hype Let’s talk AI for a moment. Because I feel like it’s so grossly misunderstood and its hype is confusing. If you used Google Translate, Apple Siri or even a robot vacuum cleaner, these are all elements of AI that we know and love. So in fact, you and I have been using AI for a while! It’s not like AI has suddently arrived is becoming the Singularity (a hypothetical future where technological growth becomes uncontrollable). But the trend a decade ago was to hide the AI...

11 months ago • 2 min read

Today’s Newsletter Partnered With ClearVPN 2 Living The Best Life I’ve been thinking about how I want to live life and best use my time. The easiest way to break down life is into categories: Relationships Work & Finances Health Learning Mental Wellbeing Over the last half year, I’ve been consumed by work – putting in countless hours, weekends and not drawing a line. I’ve been over indexing on work. Recently I’ve taken time to balance the life categories, where I’d choose to work late nights...

about 1 year ago • 2 min read
Share this post