No More Side Quests
Here’s a good motivational piece if you need to focus:
…That’s the whole thing. My main quest. You won’t see me doing things that don’t advance either aspect of this main quest. If it’s not about raising my children or building RWM, it’s not part of my day. And if it’s counterproductive to the main quest, well, you can forget about it. No matter how tempting, you’re not going to see me involved in anything else. The less I do of the “anything else” the more I can do for the real mission.
You can tell when someone knows their main quest because of the way they carry themselves. The way they use their time. The arguments they stay out of. The long stretches during which you have no idea where they are or what they’re up to.
No More Side Quests by Joshua Brown
Several years ago I wrote a variation on that last paragraph. It’s called The Work You Don’t See.
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Addition by Subtraction
The previous section dovetails nicely with this next one. Bob Seawright’s essays consistently impress me.
Here’s an excerpt from his recent piece “Order of Operations“, which is worth reading in full.
When we seek to change objects, ideas, and situations, we routinely add incentives and fail to consider what barriers we might remove. Addition by subtraction is perhaps the greatest possible inversion.
When seeking improvement, our natural inclination is to add stuff (more tasks, more content, more objects).
We routinely overlook solutions that involve subtraction – doing or having less.Try moving subtraction up in our life order of operation.
Bob Seawright’s “Order of Operations“
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Your Biggest Critic
If criticism from outside proves devastating, it is because it so readily joins forces with an infinitely more strident and more aggressive form of criticism that has long existed inside of us.
The School of Life – How to Take Criticism
H/T Farnum Street – Brain Food Newsletter – November 14, 2021
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Who We Are
We tend to grossly overestimate the pleasure brought forth by new experiences and underestimate the power of finding meaning in current ones. While travel is a fantastic way to gain insight into unfamiliar cultures and illuminating ways of life, it is not a cure for discontentment of the mind.
Who we are inside a venue matters far more than the venue itself. Instead of having the wanderlust of travel guide our search for meaning, we have to look within and embrace the only thing that is present now. The only thing that actually exists today.
Travel Is No Cure for the Mind by Lawrence Yeo
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Long Flight?
Speaking of travel…
On September 28, one small bird completed a very long flight. An adult, male Bar-tailed Godwit, known by its tag number 4BBRW, touched down in New South Wales, Australia, after more than 8,100 miles in transit from Alaska —flapping its wings for 239 hours without rest, and setting the world record for the longest continual flight by any land bird by distance.
These Mighty Shorebirds Keep Breaking Flight Records—And You Can Follow Along via Audubon