Squad

My name is Kevin Bronander, and I'm currently based in New Jersey, but the last few months have led me through Philadelphia, Norfolk, and Baltimore. I'm the author of Prompted, a newsletter delivering insights and journal prompts to help people become a bit better each day, and I work for Paragon, an integration development platform, on the Business Development team.

What’s something that has been helping you be consistent?

I've been journaling relatively consistently for almost 6 years, and it's been the most impactful habit in my relationships, writing, and work. Journaling has helped me develop a strong self-awareness and allows me to work through thoughts, feelings, problems, and ideas in a way that lets me break them down and understand them before reacting to them.

Which habits or goals are you currently working to make progress on daily?

I'm still trying to become a better reader. My reading has always been very sporadic instead of consistent, so I've been trying to adjust my routine to incorporate more time for reading earlier in the day so it doesn't get pushed to the back burner.

How do you deal with times when you struggle or get stuck?

Whenever I'm struggling or get stuck I always come back to journaling. I've been working on revamping the format of my newsletter to begin the new year, but when deciding what changes to make and why I was getting stuck. I couldn't think of any original or compelling ideas, and I was stuck in my own head. I got my journal out and wrote, "Why am I struggling to come up with new ideas?" at the top of the page.

As soon as I started writing I began to zoom out and look at the bigger picture, and it was easy for me to see I was thinking about new ideas from the perspective of a writer, not a reader. As soon as I switched my perspective it was much easier to brainstorm and come up with new ideas.

Journaling has always helped me stop banging my head against the wall and find a new perspective or thread to pull on and look at things from a new angle.

Any methods, tools or tips you recommend for your habits, goals or productivity?

Cal Newport's ideas on Deep Work, Slow Productivity, Multi-Scale Planning, and Living Deeply have had a huge impact on me.

His podcast and youtube channel are a treasure trove of valuable ideas, helpful heuristics, and actionable systems to steal. They have helped me live a deeper, more productive, and more meaningful life.

A favorite quote?

Do what others won't so you can do what others can't - Jerry Rice

Always come back to this quote because it's easy to get caught up in comparison and what everyone else is doing. It's easy to look at what our friends are doing or what people on social media are doing.

Some days I wish I was out partying and didn't have a care in the world and other days I wish I had all the discipline in the world and wasn't tempted by anything, but this quote reminds me that you need to do unusual things to rise above average.

Whenever someone says I'm crazy for waking up early or committing to an endurance race or spending my free time "working" on a newsletter I remember this quote and remind myself I'm on the right track.

Something that made you smile recently? 😁