Dumber means better. Hello Ms. Philosophy. Squirrel! What's penmanship? Own your choices. Attention/Distraction. Grump. Disappearing platforms.
It’s so freeing and beautiful in a way, to have a great failure. There’s nowhere to go but up.”
– David Lynch
Programming note: I spent some time updating my list of sources. I hadn’t realized how long it had grown. These aren’t my only sources, but they’re the ones to which I have subscriptions, and in some cases, pay for. It’s all here: sources.
1. “The dumber the disagreements, the better the world actually is.”
Minimum Levels of Stress – Morgan Housel – (Collab Fund)
A very simple premise:
As the world improves, our threshold for complaining drops.
Housel lists several ways the world is actually much better than ever, and thus the threshold for complaining also lower than ever. Important: no one is saying the world is perfect. Any time anyone mentions some things being great, there are people who must jump in with a long list of “whatabouts”. Housel acknowledges that there are problems, but this does not invalidate the overall state of the world.
Do this: Try to maintain perspective.
Support 7 Takeaways
(Or just forward this to a friend.)
2. “Invite Lady Philosophy into your own life”
How My Struggle With Wittgenstein Can Make You Happier (gift link) – Arthur C. Brookes – (The Atlantic)
When I started meditating (many years ago), it was with a particularly secular focus. I wasn’t interested in religion or, so I thought, philosophy. Slowly thereafter though, both Stoicism and Buddhism (again philosophies, not dogma) slowly became more interesting. They “clicked” for me. My path now with 7 Takeaways has me stumbling into other philosophies that, while not “clicking”, are certainly interesting to consider.
Whether or not you decide to fully adopt a particular philosophy, simply studying different ones is good for both your intellectual prowess and your humility.
I’ll emphasize the humility part of that statement. Among other things, it makes me think.
Do this: Try to identify your own personal philosophy.
3. “Focus is hard”
Why You Can’t Focus – Scott H. Young – (blog)
It does seem like it’s harder and harder to focus on any single thing these days. Many people blame smart phones, social media, and other distractions that are “training” our brains to be less tolerant of things that require even the slightest increase in commitment. In reality, Young says, we’ve not really changed. It’s the various opportunities we’re presented with that have.
He goes on to describe a framework consisting of pull — “how much an activity draws in and motivates us to sustain our attention” — and friction — “how much resistance, difficulty or effort is required to sustain engagement in an activity”. Based on that he suggests some ways to shift those two factors in favor of those things we want to spend our energies on, and away from those that we don’t.
Shifting to a more focused life takes time and work.
Do this: Be intentional about your focus.
4. “Handwriting is disappearing”
Signature moves: are we losing the ability to write by hand? – Christine Rosen – (The Guardian)
It’s no secret at all that handwriting is on a rapid decline. Mine was always horrid, but my career in front of a keyboard cemented its demise.
We lose the sensory experience of ink and paper and the visual pleasure of the handwritten word.
Honestly, I never enjoyed the sensory experience, or any visual pleasure. Of more importance to me, though, are the cognitive side effects. For example with respect to note taking:
we retain information better when we write by hand because the slower pace of writing forces us to summarise as we write
It’s almost like the slower pace forces us to be more mindful.
Do this: I’m not going to say start handwriting (though of course you’re welcome to), but instead simply be more mindful of what you write and how you write it.
5. “Righteous indignation and what a waste of time it is”
Hey, You Chose This. Why Be Righteously Indignant? – David H. Lawrence XVII – (The VOHeroes Podcast)
David’s a voice-over coach, an actor, and coincidentally, a friend. In this episode of his podcast he calls out those in his industry that complain about the realities of the very industry they’ve chosen.
These rules were not unknown to you and especially if you’re yelling about it you know that these rules exist you chose to be in this business and with that choice comes pluses and minuses.
What immediately came to mind for me is the more general “pearl clutching” that so many seem to resort to — that same righteous indignation — for the very real situations they choose to put themselves into. It’s not limited to any industry, or even any situation, but we so often make choices and then are aghast at the completely predictable results of those choices.
Do this: Make your choices wisely, then deal with the results of your choices.
6. “Like trying to meditate in a strip club”
The Attention Crisis Is Just a Distraction ($) – Daniel Immerwahr – The New Yorker
Are our attention spans getting shorter? How do we even measure attention spans, anyway? And the people saying this, are they more concerned that we’re not paying attention to them, rather than how long our attention spans might be? Could it be that we’re just busier, and spending our limited attentions elsewhere?
Besides, as we’ve heard before, there have always been panics about some new technology being the downfall of human attention span and intelligence, only to be nothing of the sort. Why should today be any different?
The overheating of discourse, the rise of conspiratorial thinking, the hollowing out of shared truths: all these trends are real and deserve careful thought. The panic over lost attention is, however, a distraction.
These are just some of the issues discussed in this lengthy (is that ironic?) essay. It’ll have you thinking differently about the attention span panic.
Do this: Pay attention to where and how you pay attention.
7. “Grumbling doesn’t make anything better”
It’s Easier Than You Think – Sylvia Boorstein – (ebook)
I’m in the middle of re-reading Boorstein’s very readable introduction to Buddhist philosophy. In many ways it’s reassuring, and reminding me of tools to help cope with – well – everything, at least a little.
I always alight on statements about anger and grumbling because I find those actions to be so harmful. Unless they’re accompanied by action, they really do make things worse. Perhaps it might even be possible to act with purpose, rather than anger.
No one likes to be around the person who’s constantly grumbling. It’s human nature. That doesn’t mean you need to adopt an unrealistic, pollyanna-ish approach to life, though. Some of the most attractive people are those motivated by purpose.
Do this: Give your anger a purpose. And then try to set the anger aside so you can focus more clearly on the purpose.
8. “A lesson every online business person needs to learn”
The Biggest Lesson From TikTok – Leo A. Notenboom – (Blog)
Last week’s disappearance and reappearance of TikTok reminded me of a very important lesson that so many online entrepreneurs fail to grasp until it’s too late.
To be clear, this isn’t just about TikTok. This is about any service you rely on exclusively. Don’t assume it’ll always be there. It’s extremely risky to build a business or hobby relying on any single platform or service and assuming it’ll be around forever.
It won’t be.
Do this: Diversify your risk.
#entrepreneurship #social-media
Random links
- Democracy Isn’t Dead—Stop Writing Its Obituary
- TikTok’s ‘cute winter boots’ trend explained (hint: it’s little to do with footwear)
What I’m reading
In progress:
- Cajun Fried Felony – Jana Deleon
- A Little History of Philosophy – Nigel Warburton
- It’s Easier Than You Think – Sylvia Boorstein (re-read)
- The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century – Steven Pinker (audio)
A full list of my common sources is on the sources page, and I list the books I’ve read on my Reading List page.
Support 7 Takeaways
Your support helps keep 7 Takeaways viable. I appreciate your consideration VERY much. I have options for recurring Support (Monthly/Quarterly/Yearly options) as well as one-time support over in The Ask Leo! (my “day job”) store. Purchasing any of the books using the links on my Reading List also helps.
Another thing that really helps is sharing 7 Takeaways with a friend. Just forward this email on. And if you received this email from a friend, you can subscribe at 7takeaways.com to get your own copy every Sunday.
Thanks!
-Leo
If you’re having difficulty viewing this email, visit 7takeaways.com/latest.
If a link to a source below leads to you a paywall read my note: Paywalls.
If someone forwarded you this email, subscribe at 7takeaways.com.