This Week’s BIG Idea
Soon, I’m going to find myself with some time off from work, so I’m thinking about some future projects. To be honest, that means that I’ll do a variation of what I’m already doing. No matter what happens, I’m sure I’ll exercise, read books, write articles, and socialize. But there are many things I put off regularly. Now that I’ll have more free time, I’ll have no excuse to avoid them.
Some of the things I want to do include minimizing my wardrobe even more. I also want to organize my digital spaces (some examples include phone contacts, my Amazon wishlist, Kindle book collections, and movie collections). Finally, I’d like to start playing guitar again at some point. As grand as those plans seem, the thing that excites me the most is the simplest one: I want free time to read more books. Also, I want to dedicate entire afternoons to work on website-related projects.
When I was younger and I had some time off, I’d have these ambitious plans. As soon as the break started though, I ended up doing the same thing I was already doing. I think this happened for two reasons. First, habits are powerful and even if you want to convince yourself that you’re going to do something different, you always gravitate toward the same thing you’re used to. Second, ambitious plans involve a series of steps, and the more steps it has, the more difficult to achieve they become. By simplifying the process and making it as accessible as possible, you’re making things easier for yourself. In other words, I want the upcoming break to be similar to what I’m already doing and as simple as possible.
What I’m Working on
I’ve been working on some new book summaries to post on the site this week. Stolen Focus by Johann Hari discusses how our ability to focus has changed over the years and what we can do to get it back. Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish (the same Parrish behind the incredibly popular blog Farnam Street) provides a framework to recognize important moments and use our intelligence to make the best decision possible.
What I’m Listening to
The Diary of a CEO – The Love Expert (Logan Ury): In this episode of The Diary of a CEO, Steven Bartlett interviews Logan Ury, the author of How to Not Die Alone and relationship expert. I literally just started listening to this episode, so there’s not a lot I can share. That said, I have read the book and I also listened to Ury on podcasts before. I found both the book and her podcast appearances useful enough to give this interview a chance.
What I’m Reading
The Anthology of Balaji by Eric Jorgenson: I’ve been reading this book since the day it came out. The summary I’m writing will probably take a few days because I’m taking my time with the book. For those unfamiliar, Eric Jorgenson is the author behind The Almanack of Naval Ravikant, one of my favorite books ever. In that book, Jorgenson compiled ideas from Ravikant’s tweets, blog posts, and interviews and turned them into an unforgettable book. Similarly, The Anthology of Balaji compiles Balaji’s wisdom in a book that’s accessible and hard to put down.
What I’m Watching
Camus in Ten Minutes: as much as I like to convince myself that I know a lot about philosophy, I have many blind spots. For the past week, I’ve been trying to learn as much as possible about certain philosophers and it’s been more difficult than I had anticipated. While watching ten videos that condense that information is great, it’s hard to internalize certain concepts. I’ve been considering going to the source. This means that at some point, I might read some of the most accessible philosophy books out there.
This Week’s Quote
“A good decision is risking little for the opportunity to gain a lot. Similarly, a bad decision is risking a lot for the opportunity to gain little.”
Marc Manson
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