macro
- why you’re doing what you’re doing
- what the end goal is
- whether what you’re doing will actually help you to reach your goal
- Tim Kreider
Bridging critical thinking and hope
Critical thinking without hope is cynicism. But hope without critical thinking is naïveté. I try to live in this place between the two, to try to build a life there, because finding fault and feeling hopeless about improving our situation produces resignation of which cynicism is a symptom and against which it is the futile self-protection mechanism. But on the other hand, believing blindly that everything will work out just fine also produces a kind of resignation because we have no motive to apply ourselves toward making things better. And I think in order to survive, both as individuals and as a civilization, but especially in order to thrive, we need to bridge critical thinking with hope.
Source: Maria Popova: Cartographer of Meaning in a Digital Age, OnBeing with Krista Tippett
False promises
When enough people make false promises, words stop meaning anything. And there are no more answers only better and better lies.
Wise words from Jon Snow in Game of Thrones, S7:E7.
#lies #meaning
Lincoln's logic
You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time.
#quote
Democracy and the media
If a government is corrupt and fails to improve people’s lives, enough citizens will eventually realise this and replace the government. But government control of the media undermines Lincoln’s logic, because it prevents citizens from realising the truth.
Source: 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by #YuvalNoahHarari
Invention
Humans were always far better at inventing tools than using them wisely
Source: 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by #YuvalNoahHarari
Your network is your net worth
Your network is your net worth. The people you surround yourself with most have a significant influence on your behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and performance.
– George Raveling
Source: George Raveling’s newsletter 30/03/2019
#quote #networks
A Lopsided Arms Race
Notes from the introduction and chapter 1 of Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
In the introduction, Newport highlights:
“the necessity of cultivating high-quality leisure to replace the time most now dedicate to mindless device use.”
The emphasis in the quote above is my own, this mindless device use is something I’m very aware of in my own life and something I’m actively trying to eliminate. In a world where we’re all feeling increasingly busy and like we don’t have time to do the things we want to do, we need to identify the activities we do that have little benefit and replace them with something more rewarding. I’d say this is my drive behind reading the book.
Chapter 1 takes us back to the early days of smartphones and social media. Reminding us of their original selling points, for example the key feature of the first iPhone was that it combined your mobile phone and mp3 player into one device. It evolved from there to become something far more ubiquitous:
“We added new technologies to the periphery of our experience for minor reasons, then woke up one morning to discover that they had colonized the core of our daily life. We didn’t, in other words, sign up for the digital world in which we’re currently entrenched; we seem to have stumbled backward into it.”
From this point, the rest of the chapter goes on to argue that our autonomy in this area of our lives has been taken away.
“People don’t succumb to screens because they’re lazy, but instead because billions of dollars have been invested to make this outcome inevitable.”
The question here is that if we now know this, why do we continue to engage with the technologies, and the companies who make them, that are apparently doing more harm than good? The two reasons Newport gives are intermittent positive reinforcement and social approval, both of which are manipulated by features of the systems, eg tags and likes.
Come the end of the chapter we’re well primed to hear how Newport’s philosophy of digital minimalism can help us regain control.
#CalNewport #technology #DigitalMinimalism
Personal productivity
Bookmarked: Why time management is ruining our lives
“Personal productivity presents itself as an antidote to busyness when it might better be understood as yet another form of busyness.”
There are some very interesting points in this Guardian article, relating to productivity and procrastination. Focusing on how I do my work, rather that actually getting on and doing it, is something I’m certainly aware of doing myself. It’s even something the very people who have come up with the productivity techniques we strive for are concerned about, eg Merlin Mann, who came up with the system of Inbox Zero.
#bookmark #time #productivity #busyness
Reading time
Had an interesting conversation with my partner this morning about why we’re struggling to finish an audiobook. There’s something about knowing how long it’s going to take (16 hours in this case) that makes dedicating the time to it harder.
Whereas, with a book, where it’s not obvious how long it will take to finish, it’s so much easier to say “I’m going to read for half an hour”. And just keep doing that until it’s done.
#reading #goals #time #note
What do you want your days to look like?
Bookmarked What your days look like
“What do you want your days to look like?” is a question I ask myself whenever I’m trying to make a decision about what to do next. In fact, I believe that most questions about what to do with one’s life can be replaced by this question.
What career should I choose? Should I go back to school? Where should I live? Should I get married? Should I have kids? Should I get a dog? Should I take up the piano?
“What do you want your days to look like?” forces you to imagine the day in, day out realities that making such choices will present you with.
#question #bookmark #quote
Fear of the unknown
New Project? Every time… by @bryanMMathers is licenced under CC-BY-ND
I need this reminder constantly. The only way to overcome the fear is to start and break down the big scary thing in to small achievable pieces.
#procrastination #fear #projects #creativity #image
Then what?
Bookmarked The Parable of the Mexican Fisherman (via Laura Hilliger)
If you find yourself asking:
… then read this.
#perspective #purpose #bookmark
Slay the dragon of resistance
Every time you ship, you plunge your sword into the dragon of resistance and you silence the fear.
Source: How to Build an Audience of 1000 True Fans in a Noisy World
For the next time you pause when pressing publish or send.
#fear #procrastination #quote
Discretionary time
Time to read is seen as a luxury, a flower broken by the storm. The first thing we lose under pressure is discretionary time, and yet without this investment in ourselves, we are destined, forever, to be ourselves. To deny the opportunity to become the person who we have the potential to be. To grow is to thrive. If we lose ourselves in the busyness of the everyday, we are simply surviving.
Source: On Reading
#busyness #time #growth #JulianStodd #quote
Rest ≠ Fun (and vice versa)
Bookmarked Rest Isn’t Always Fun (and Fun Isn’t Always Rest)
fun activities that we enjoy and find pleasurable can be depleting, leaving us happy and appreciative–but not well-rested.
It’s the ‘fun isn’t always rest’ element of this article that interests me most. My partner and I were planning holidays recently and discussing where we’d like to go. We ended up categorizing the locations by the type of holiday: relaxation (rest) or adventure (fun).
Our choice of destination will be determined by what we need at what time of year. For example after the busy summer retail period and financial end of year in August, my partner needs to relax. Whereas in Spring after we’ve hibernated all winter, we’re looking for adventure.
#rest #EdBatista #bookmark
Time and quiet
Time and quiet should not be luxury items.
Source: Time Off
At the end of the Time Off episode 10 Actions From 2018 there’s some bonus content, Tim Kreider’s audio essay on busyness. It’s similar, although not identical to his 2012 opinion piece in The New York Times.
This quote stood out to me. He’s right, time and quiet, space to think, should not be luxuries. We need to be able to build this into our daily lives. It’s a theme I’ll be thinking and writing more about this year.
#busyness #TimKreider #quote
Idleness
Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets. The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration — it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done.
Source: The ‘Busy’ Trap
#quote #gtd #busyness
Begin again
If the last year went awry and the supply of new ones is not unlimited, here, at least, is one more.
Source: Begin Again
The poetry of this post from Martin Wroe struck a chord. The sentiment too, of taking time to pause, reflect, and then, begin again.
Tags: #bookmark #reflection #pause