🧠Nugget of the Post
Beauvoir argued that life is characterized by a fundamental ambiguity, in which we are both free and constrained by our social, historical, and biological circumstances. While we have the ability to make choices and shape our own lives to some extent, we are also limited by our physical bodies, our social context, and the historical moment in which we find ourselves.
Although Simone de Beauvoir recognized the inherent ambiguity in life, she believed that individuals can still discover fulfillment by embracing their freedom and actively shaping their own existence. According to Beauvoir, life is best approached through individualism, where each person must chart their own course and find personal meaning amidst the difficulties and unpredictability of the world.
Ambiguity: is de Beauvoir’s term for the open-ended character of human existence. The meaning of human existence is not something that can ever be fully settled or determined.
Individualism: Individualism is a philosophical and political doctrine that emphasizes the importance of individual autonomy, freedom, and self-reliance. It emphasizes the value of individual rights, interests, and desires over those of the group or society as a whole. The early ideas of individualism in social and political theory included the ideas of the maximum welfare and freedom of the individual, with society existing only for the sake of its members. More specifically, individualism is a ‘political and social philosophy that places high value on the freedom of the individual and generally stresses the self-directed, self-contained, and comparatively unrestrained individual or ego. (source)
Link Bundle
1️⃣ In search of finding nutritious food to eat I have come across this post. Almond being number one surprised me to be honest. First 5:
Almond
Cherimoya (I did not know what that is)
Ocean Perch
Flat Fish
Chia Seeds
2️⃣ I have found this pdf notes from the book of Seneca “On The Shortness of Life” (wish I had found them before I finished writing my book) . There will be many lessons shared in this newsletter. The pdf is a good way to warm yourself up.
“Why do we complain of Nature? She has shown herself kindly; life, if you know how to use it, is long. But one man is possessed by an avarice that is insatiable, another by a toilsome devotion to tasks that are useless; one man is besotted with wine, another is paralyzed by sloth; one man is exhausted by an ambition that always hangs upon the decision of others, another, driven on by the greed of the trader, is led over all lands and all seas by the hope of gain; some are tormented by a passion for war and are always either bent upon inflicting danger upon others or concerned about their own; some are worn out by voluntary servitude in a thankless attendance upon the great; many are kept busy either in the pursuit of other men's fortune or in complaining of their own; many, following no fixed aim, shifting and inconstant and dissatisfied, are plunged by their fickleness into plans that are ever new; some have no fixed principle by which to direct their course, but Fate takes them unawares while they loll and yawn (…)
3️⃣ I liked these decision making heuristics:
The average human makes a whopping 35,000 decisions per day.
“To stop wasting time pondering the right answer, you employ the Hesitation Heuristic: “If you cannot decide, the answer is no.” Championed by , it’s a rule of thumb to deal with the plethora of options modern society offers. According to the angel investor, the heuristic is particularly useful for “long-lived decisions”. Those that require a high degree of certainty as they lock you in for a long time.”
4️⃣ There are some thought patterns you need to leave in order to feel more content.
Black and White Thinking: Something is either good or bad.
Unrealistic Expectations: Once I get that promotion I will be so happy.
Selective Attention: Do not search for negatives only.
Disqualifying the Positive: Be mindful about the positive things.
Predicting the Future: Stop the “This will never work” mindset.
“Should” thoughts: Stop blaming yourself and others with the word “should”.
5️⃣ I learnt a lot from this product manager notes and accessed good links:
“A study cited by the Times estimates that we consume the equivalent of 174 full newspapers’ worth of content daily, five times higher than in 1986. But instead of empowering us, this deluge of information often overwhelms (and depresses) us.”
“A great life hack I’ve learned is that I could cognitively offload most things by simply writing them down. Usually, I do this by journaling before bed, making a schedule, or creating a to-do list for the day ahead. This way, I can clear my mind of everything I need to do and focus on enjoying my free time or getting a good night’s sleep.”
“Your life is the sum of what you focus on. “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see. ” — Henry David Thoreau.
“We must not fear daylight just because it almost always illuminates a miserable world “ — Rene Magritte — Belgian surrealist
6️⃣ Here is good list of documentaries worthy of your attention. My favs:
Shoah
Don’t Look Back
The Times of Harvey Milk
Hoop Dreams
7️⃣ This was interesting to watch. You aren’t what you eat. You are what you absorb after all. Watch and you decide:
8️⃣ Another video of this post is from Ray Dalio where he explains how the economic machine works.
9️⃣ A lot of you might be familiar with the roots of modern management. I had hard time reading this as a white collar. I have somehow complicated feelings against you Taylor.
Yet while they introduced some novel details, neither Gantt nor Taylor created the task system. It has a much longer history and was one of the principal methods of organizing labor under slavery. Under the task system, an enslaved person would be assigned a set “task” or quota that he or she was expected to complete by the end of the day; this was in contrast to the gang system, where enslaved people labored under constant supervision for a set period of time. In some cases, slavers who used the task system even gave monetary bonuses for achievement above set targets. They “dangled the carrot” in a way that resembles not just Gantt’s methods but those of the gig economy today. Indeed, except for the base payment and the critically important ability for workers to quit, Gantt’s new system was in nearly every respect the same as the system used by some slaveholders, a fact that Gantt made no attempt to hide. Rather, he acknowledged that the word “task” was “disliked by many men” because of its connection to slavery, and he regarded this negative connotation as its “principal disadvantage.”
📚Book Summary of the Post
I gazed over the book called The Three Alarms this week, it is free through here. It was a bit of a cheesy read to be honest, nothing new and special. Maybe it is because it is free? However there are some worthy bits.
This memory of author reminded me of Sundar’s words, but I fact-checked and learned that it has been falsely attributed to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. It appears to come from a 1991 Georgia Tech commencement speech given by former Coca-Cola CEO Brian Dyson.
Prioritize what is important and protect it for all costs:
“Descending seemed to last an eternity, and I was terrified my heart would stop just before I reached safety. I certainly wasn’t thinking of everything I’d accomplished or all the successes I’d experienced. Instead, I immediately thought of my five-year-old son, waiting for me at home. Maybe I’d joined the 2% Club when it came to my work, but that didn’t matter when I thought I was about to die. What mattered was that I’d failed to prioritize my health and my son as much as my work. I didn’t want to die having never been the best father I could have been for my boy.”
Four traps that causes us to lose the sight of what is important:
TRAP #1: LACK OF INTENTIONALITY
TRAP #2: PERFECTIONISM
TRAP #3: TOO MUCH STRUCTURE
TRAP #4: PROCRASTINATION
You need to change your identity to stick to the new habits, not create habits to change your identity.
In Atomic Habits, bestselling author James Clear writes about the etymology of the word identity: it is made up of two words meaning “repeated beingness.” This is how habits happen: by repeatedly assuming a new identity. It is also the difference between saying, “I want to stop procrastinating” and “I want to be a person who does not procrastinate.”
The author’s best day routine, I agree with exercise before 8.30 and at least 45-60 minutes reading or deep work.
Getting eight hours of sleep.
Completing ninety minutes of high-quality, focused, distraction-free work by 7:30 a.m.
Completing at least twenty minutes of moderate exercise by 8:30 a.m.
Shutting down my day by 6:30 p.m.
Practicing a digital sunset by 8:30 p.m.
One of the important points I have added to my life is weekly review. I’ll try that to see whether I can examine what worked best and what does not. Determining your top 3 Most Important Tasks are important.
I typically use one hour to complete my weekly review on a Sunday. Some of my coaching clients prefer doing their review on a Friday afternoon instead. During my review I note the following: My big wins, or proudest accomplishments, for the week My performance against the Top 3 objectives I had chosen for the week What went well and what didn’t, generally speaking My appointments for the week ahead The Top 3 objectives for the week ahead Where and when I will complete next week’s Top 3.
You need to rethink and embrace your stress. McGonigal wrote a quality book about it.
Author Kelly McGonigal is a health psychologist at Stanford University. In her book The Upside of Stress, she explains that “the best way to manage stress isn’t to reduce or avoid it, but rather to rethink and even embrace it.” It is indeed our perception of stress that will determine its impact.
McGonigal’s research demonstrates that an anti-fragile mindset actually enhances performance and productivity. A person with this mindset believes that stress improves health and vitality, while also facilitating learning and growth. They believe the effeects of stress are positive, and a force to be utilized. A person with an antifragile mindset is “more likely to view stressful situations as a challenge, not an overwhelming problem.”
Some questions you need to consider carefully to direct your life:
What’s your most important goal right now?
What obstacles or problems stand in the way of achieving that goal?
Think about the factors that are creating this problem. What’s really driving the issue?
How might you overcome this issue? Design a solution.
When can you take action to implement the solution?
Try to imagine your possible best self. It will give you a direction to go for.
But once again, the changes happen very gradually. In a recent session with an entrepreneur I coach, I explained how your ability to respond as your best-self happens in five stages: Stage 1: Simple awareness. The mere act of defining what your best looks like on the relationship or home front elevates you to a different plane. You now have something
To constantly remind yourself of what the highest priorities are, author suggests:
Author suggests that you can use three alarms for your utmost important roles throughout the day. Adjust this framework to your needs.
P.S. Ali Abdaal brought my attention to this book, below you can find how he utilizes this framework. Check out his full post:
Stoic Lesson of the Post (#2)
Practice, then, from the very beginning to say to every disagreeable impression, ‘You’re an impression and not at all what you appear to be.’ Then examine it and test it by these rules that you possess, and first and foremost by this one, whether the impression relates to those things that are within our power, or those that aren’t within our power; and if it relates to anything that isn’t within our power, be ready to reply, ‘That’s nothing to me” - Epictetus, Enchiridion, 1.5
Lesson two: Reality is nothing but an impression. We all have our biases, mental models, experiences and upbringings we are using while understanding the world. In every decision we need to apply different tests to break down our so-called realities.
Keep this part of the quote in mind whenever you see, hear, read something and try to jump to conclusions “Hold on, you are just an impression, and not necessarily what you seem to be.” This quote will force you to slow down, take your time and gather more sense to your reaction to the situation. It’s easy to get caught up in the moment, especially when you're busy, anxious, stressed, pressed by deadlines or you name the situation. But if you don't take a moment to consider your actions, you might be making a mistake. If you don't stop and think about your actions, you'll be acting on impulse and might regret it later.
This is especially true when it comes to how we perceive other people. In other words, it might not be as simple as “you are what you seem to be” —in fact, you could be something very different than what you appear to be on the surface. There are thousands of interactions you make in your professional life. Everybody seems perfect, friendly, supportive and selfless at first. You learn much more about the people while you work with them. Do not love and trust somebody quickly, do not hate somebody quickly also. There are millions of little things you might not know about him/her. Take your time. Be patient.
This also reminds me of Frank’s quote: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Choose growth and freedom.
🦋 Poem of the Post
Mary Oliver again, you are not surprised I know. I am not that good at breaking some rules.
🦋 Film of the Post
It is always good to watch Bill Nighy.
I wonder, Mr. Wakeling, if I may now turn to matters you may consider more personal. I have no wish to belittle our playground... but I put it to you that it was, all the same, a small thing. And that it will, before long go the way of most small things. It may fall into disrepair, or be superseded by some grander scheme. To speak plainly, we can not assume to have erected a lasting monument. Should there come days when it's no longer clear to you to what end you are directing your daily efforts, when the sheer grind of it all threatens to reduce you to the kind of state in which I so long existed, I urge you then to recall our little playground and the modest satisfaction that became our due upon its completion.