3-2-1: On The Benefits of Sleeping In, Self Deception, Birth and Death
Wisdom Wednesday #23
Hey fam,
You may have noticed that there was no Wisdom Wednesday last week. That's because my son decided to be very unlike his father and be early to something—in this case, 5 weeks early to his own birth—so we were in the hospital all week.
He is fine and will be coming home soon (here is a pic), and I will be sure to educate him on the proper etiquette for being a Grimes (ie late and lazy) as soon as he learns english ;).
Anyway, it is now time for me to get back to work and bring you your weekly dose of wisdom!
Here's 3 ideas from me, 2 quotes from others, and 1 question for you to mull over this week.
3 Ideas From Me:
I.
Waking up earlier will increase your productivity. Waking up later will increase your creativity.
We all have inbuilt chronotypes that dictate our energy hormones regardless of when we actually wake up.
And while we cannot change them, we can hack them.
Getting up one or two hours before your body is ready will generally make you more productive, as you'll be deep in to the momentum of the day by the time your energy kicks in.
Getting up one to two hours after your body is ready will generally make you more creative, as your energy will have largely kicked in while you're still in a lower consciousness/theta wave state.
II.
To make the best decisions, base them on a world in which you have ten other options.
Humans are built for scarcity. For 99.9% of our history it was "crappy option or no option".
And while the modern world has largely solved the scarcity problem, our minds have not yet caught up.
We can manually trigger an abundance mindset by asking "What would I do if I knew I had ten other options?"
It's rare we ever truly have this many, but the confidence and clarity that comes from this deceptive perspective almost always outperforms one based on scarcity.
III.
Prioritize based on impact. Act based on energy expenditure.
Every day, determine the five most important things you want to get done.
Then do the highest priority one you currently have the energy for. Ideally, it's number one, but sometimes it's number ten.
You will find that, on the days you don't have much energy, the flood of dopamine you get from completing a task (even if it's lower priority), will fill you with motivation to then take on the more important ones.
2 Quotes From Others:
I.
Philosopher Immanuel Kant warning us not to misdiagnose the things holding us back as they are often also the things holding us up:
"The light dove, in free flight cutting through the air, feeling the resistance, could get the idea that it would do even better in airless space."
[For clarity: the same "resistance" that prevents a dove from flying faster is also what makes flight work (the force of air under the wings is what creates lift). Removing this resistance may seem like it would make flying easier, but what it would actually do is make our dove come hurdling toward earth like a stone.]
Source: The Critique Of Pure Reason
II.
Physicist Max Plank on how even the apex of "reasonable" institutions, science, is still subject to all the typical human foibles:
"A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."
Source: Scientific Autobiography and other papers
1 Question For You:
And finally, here’s one question to ponder this week:
Is this a growth week or a recovery week?
That's all for today!
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Catch you next time,
Matt