Power Nap #39

Funny and thought-provoking media from Kate and her team for a quick, refreshing pick-me-up.

In Case You Missed It

1. Kate shared the 12 Food Gifts of Christmas. It's a printable PDF with 12 ideas for easy, edible, and budget friendly gifts. Get it here!

2. Kate made Mom's Maple Mustard Vinaigrette. Her mom gave this away at a dinner party a few years ago. It's a great consumable gift!

3. Kate and Nate were served a romantic dinner for two by their daughters. Shoutout to the Parent Trap for making this moment possible.

4. Kate shared her tips and tools for filming. She uses this softbox for lighting, this MagSafe case paired with this Shop Canvas tripod, and editing in InShot.

5. Kate and Scout filmed the 3rd installment of Low Stakes Baking featuring Hugs.

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"Later in his life, I bet the Innkeeper wished he'd made more room than he thought he had for Jesus. Me too."

– Bob Goff

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Interesting Tidbits

– The number of supercentenarians in an area tends to fall dramatically about 100 years after accurate birth records are introduced. (in other words, lots of people who say they are over 100 are lying…)

– Only 28 books sold more than 500,000 copies in the US in 2022. Eight of them were by romance novelist Colleen Hoover.

– Scotland’s forest cover is nearly back to where it was 1,000 years ago, while England has risen to levels last seen in 1350.

– Fake belly buttons are all the rage in China. Placed a few inches above your navel, they give the illusion of longer legs. One Chinese reviewer described them as “the most successful invention of 2023."

– 40% of people shown a photoshopped image of themselves riding in a viking ship as a child claimed to remember the (fictional) incident. This replicates a similar experiment from 2002 involving a fictional balloon ride.

For more, see Tom Whitwell's “52 things I learned in 2023”

Turns out, for most people it's seven. (Nate's is four, Kate's is eight and Jess' is 17, if you were wondering.)

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Seven Signs of High Agency People

What does it mean to have “high agency"? According to George Mack, it is someone who can get around whatever it is that they've just been told is impossible. Here are seven signs of people with high agency. (Nate and Kate discussed number three at length)

1. Weird teenage hobbies - Teenage years are the hardest time to go against social pressures. If they can go against the crowd as a teenager, they can go against the crowd as an adult.

2. Energy distortion field - If you meet with them when you’re tired and defeated, you leave the room ready to run a marathon on a treadmill with max incline. Low-agency people do the opposite.

3 Golden question - If you’re in a 3rd world prison cell and had to call someone to get you out, who would you call? That’s the highest agency person you know.

4. You can never guess their opinions - The boxer that writes poetry. The advertiser obsessed with the history of war. The beauty queen who reads Nietzsche. If their beliefs don’t line up with their stereotypes, they’ve exercised agency.

5. Immigrant mentality - If they’ve moved from their hometown, that’s a good sign. If they’ve moved from their home country, that’s an even greater sign.

6. They send you niche content - Low agency people look at the social engagement of content before deeming its quality. High-agency people just look at the content. They spot upcoming trends very early.

7. Mean to your face but nice behind your back - The social incentives are to be nice to people’s faces and gossip behind their backs. To do the opposite requires agency because they’re swimming against the social tide. (Nate adds: In other words, they stab you in the front.)

Who do you know that's “high agency”?

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