Unlike money, everyone is ultimately on a level playing field when it comes to time. We all get the same allowance of twenty-four hours a day. Just as there are ineffective ways of investing your money, there are ineffective ways of investing your time.
If we all have the same amount of this essential resource, why do some people achieve so much, and others so little? Where we start from â in terms of economic class, skills and education â certainly has something to do with it, but there are just as many riches-to-rags stories as there are rags-to-riches stories, so obviously there is another factor at play here.
I found the realization that it’s really my attention that is my limiiting resource to be both liberating and scary. Liberating because it means that all I need to do is focus my attention and long-term success is within my grasp. Applying my attention, even in short stretches, inevitably leads to progress on my favorite projects. And scary because every time I’m tired, run-down, don’t want to do somethingâ every time, food or the Movie-monster call my name, entertainment or distractionâ there are so many opportunities for me to turn my attention away from the things I find valuable.
I must die. If instantly, I will die instantly; If in a short time, I will dine first, since the hour for dining is here, and when the time comes, then I will die. How? As becomes a person who is giving back what is not his own.
Which type of Muppet are you? Youâd think your answer would depend a lot on your innate personality. But it turns out that the tightness or looseness of your environment plays a big part in whether youâre more Gonzo or Kermit.
In fact, Iâve let years of my life go by this way. I could be working on something I truly love, and then Iâd hit a snag. Iâd get frustrated, then avoid it for the rest of the day. I just wouldnât want to be frustrated anymore, so I wouldnât touch it. Thereâs always later. Perhaps if a better mood came along Iâd be willing to tackle it.
In theory, we can let go of every single possession. Sure, for practical purposes, weâll need at least one outfit and shelter and a way to eat and use the bathroom. And even more practically, weâll need a house and things to wear for a job and so on. But letting go of a possession that you donât absolutely need for practical purposes is theoretically possible. So what stops us?
This skillâand it is totally a skill that I had to practice and practice and practiceâis one I USED to struggle with. Years ago, it was definitely fear that was holding me back from letting go of possessions.
Today is it 100% the guilt that I do not want to incur by throwing things into a land-fill. I have a cubic yard of books… not worth a dime, and I’ve already spent a ton shipping hundred of books all over the world racking up points in bookmooch.comâyou want these books? I have TWO Davis Mark 15 marine sextants, âŠwant one? I have a great chain saw that’s probably worth a couple hundred if I had a few hours to waste [I do not] dealing with idiots on Craig’s List. âŠwant an old Jeep that’s fun to play with off road? âŠhow about a perfectly working ink-jet printer? âŠa swage-fitting tool? âŠhow about a one-hundred-year-old, fully restored billiard table?
I’m serious. Hit reply, or join the mailing list and hit reply tomorrowâŠ
The assumed paradigm is that a mattress is essential to good sleep just like a chair is essential to sitting. But why did mattresses become mainstream? When did the buffalo robe and pile of leaves go out of fashion? Could a good nightâs sleep be had if, for instance, we slept on a sandy beach or the equivalent? Why did âtheyâ start saying a firm bed is best, and still provide a two to three foot thick âsystemâ of mattresses just to get you to that âfirm bedâ effect?
I wish I’d found this 12 years ago. It took me forever to figure out a lot about sleep. I’m still working on the shoulder range-of-motion required to side-sleep without a pillow. (I still wake up feeling like I’ve dislocated my sternoclavicular joint.)
âŠanyway, yes, harder and flatter is unquestionably, always better for me. If I’m having trouble sleeping, I sometime get up, and get out my favorite, 1-inch-thick, inflatable air-mattress on the floorâso so comfortable . . . with my fave silk-cotton-blend sleep sack . . . and my fave little pillow . . . zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz every time.
What can we learn about the intersection of philosophy, personal growth, and structured systems within the practice of parkour?
Sandro Widmer discusses ParkourONEâs TRUST concept, his current research and movement journey. Along the way he describes his time in America, and the struggles of studying parkour coaches. Sandro also reminds us to walk through this world with an open mind, as we can never fully understand each otherâs experiences.
I think whatâs most important is to walk through the world with an open mindset. Be tolerant, be open-minded, and have a smile on your face.
~ Sandro Widmer (27:00)
The conversation explores the philosophy of ParkourONE, focusing on the TRuST concept that emphasizes values such as respect, modesty, and trust. This philosophy is visualized through the fingers of a hand, representing key principles like “no competition” and “courage.” ParkourONE’s unique approach to training and community building in Switzerland and Germany is discussed, highlighting the organization’s layered membership process and the responsibilities of its members.
The discussion transitions to Sandro’s masterâs thesis on how personal philosophy influences coaching methods. He shares his methodology for collecting data from Swiss parkour coaches and explores topics such as open versus closed exercises and how parkour principles can be translated into broader life lessons. The conversation concludes with reflections on cultural exchanges during international training events and the importance of maintaining an open and tolerant mindset.
Takeaways
No competition â ParkourONE emphasizes non-competitive practice to foster inclusivity and personal growth.
Be cautious â Practitioners are encouraged to respect their physical limits to ensure sustainable training.
Respect â Respect is shown to the environment, fellow practitioners, and the discipline of parkour itself.
Trust â Trust in oneself and others is a cornerstone of both practice and teaching in ParkourONE.
Modesty â Humility is key to recognizing the continuous challenges within parkour.
Membership as responsibility â ParkourONE’s membership process is selective, emphasizing community contributions and adherence to shared values.
Cultural exchange â Parkour fosters a universal culture of openness and tolerance, as seen in events like American Rendezvous.
Influence of philosophy on coaching â Sandro’s research explores how a coach’s philosophy shapes their teaching methods and practice.
Open versus closed exercises â ParkourONE values giving students space to explore and develop their own solutions.
Sustainability in movement â Long-term physical and mental health is prioritized to ensure lifelong mobility.
Resources
ParkourONE â Philosophy and values behind ParkourONE’s training approach.
American Rendezvous â An event fostering cultural and training exchanges among parkour practitioners.
ADAPT Qualifications â Certification system mentioned in comparison with ParkourONE’s coach training.
Johanna Herrmann’s Thesis â Research referenced in Sandro’s master’s thesis on parkour philosophy.
When youâre trying to stay focused on the actions, thoughts will come up and attempt to occupy your attention again. Most thoughts are not useful in the moment; theyâre just conditioned mental reflexes, and there are triggers all over the place. To keep your attention on what youâre doing, make a general policy of dumping a train of thought unless the thought determines the next action you take. Nineteen times out of twenty, it doesnât, and youâre better off ditching it.
There’s a serious down-side to this once you’re good at it: The rest of the sheeple don’t think this way, so interacting with them requires a bit more effort.
But it’s also a chance to be a positive influence on the world, so there’s that. I suppose it’s a question of whom do I place first, myself or everyone else. Care to guess my answer? (Hint: In case of sudden loss of cabin pressure, whose oxygen mask are you advised to put on first?)
Meanwhile, privately, we all know that much of life consists of trying to hide the extent of our own stupid-aspect, while accentuating the smart stuff so that others might think weâre made of it through and through.
They who wanted to do each other good are now handling one another in an imperious and intolerant manner, and in the struggle somehow to get out of their untenable and unbearable state of confusion, they commit the greatest fault that can happen to human relationships: they become impatient.
Watching TV, for example, or playing massively multiplayer online games, can feel relaxing and even stimulating at times. But those hours spent relaxing and stimulating yourself can really add up, and when you tally the eventual sum of the life benefits, it ends up awfully close to zero. Many other leisure pursuits (complaining, ATV riding, shopping) often end up the same way.
If youâyou reading this right nowâare NOT making mistakes, you are not learning.
Put another way: If you are always certainâor if you canât take action until you are certainâthen you are not doing the work you need to be doing.
The practice of triage is a challenge of consciousness. Itâs easy to lose sight of the big picture when youâre staring at a project screaming for your attention. But you still need to muster the awareness to ask, âIs this the most important thing that must be done by me right now?â Whenever you fail to ask this question, you can bet thereâs a more important project being stalked by the Grim Reaper.
There are many variations of this. My favorite is currently a large note above my desk which readsâŠ
2018: “HELL YES!” or “no”
Regardless, Covey’s quadrants are an excellent way to triage things.
I’m adamant however, that one’s goal should be to do nothing in Covey’s quadrants 3 and 4âthings which are “not important”, wether they are urgent or non-urgent. See also, Time management.
Before you require a second factor to login to your accounts, you should understand the risks, have a recovery plan for when you lose your second factor(s), and know the tricks attackers may use to defeat two-factor authentication.
I repeat: Do not enable two-factor authentication until you understand how it works and what you are doing. You know who is usually locked out of your car, house, etc. right? You are!
This is a great article surveying a myriad of things you should consider before enabling two-factor security. Yes, it is more secure, but that means it is also more likely that you’ll lock yourself out, permanently.
SoâŠ
Are you currently really good at keeping track of passwords and security questions? Do you use a unique password for every service and web site? âŠare the answers to your security questions completely random things you made up and stored in your security system, or did you really use your easily-learned mother’s maiden name? âŠand is your “security system” not post-it’s on your monitor, but rather a real, secure, system?
And how aboutâŠ
Do you have a system in place to give your beneficiaries access to your stuffâand ways to permanently lock-and-destroy things you don’t want passed along?
âŠif not, then turning on two-factor is not a good idea. You’re about to make things even more complicated when you are currently not doing the basic things well. Instead of blindly enabling two-factor authentication, you should move off of the bell curve and stop being an easy traget.
Step one: Learn how to use a password manager like 1Password or LastPass, and start using unique passwords.
The annotated version of the visualization (shown above) highlights the GEOS FP modelâs output for aerosols on August 23rd, 2018. On that day, wildfires caused huge plumes of smoke to drift over North America and Africa, three tropical cyclones took place in the Pacific Ocean, and high winds over the Sahara caused wind-borne dust particles to fill the sky. All of these produced aerosols which are represented in the visual by different colors.
An unexpected benefit of all this self-imposed change is that it helps protect you from forming bad habits, which are hard to change once you get them. In fact, change itself becomes the habit, which is a good one to carry with you through your life. The willingness to experience change brings opportunity, wealth, learning, and happiness for most of us who embrace it.
I think about all of the miserable people in my psychiatric clinic. Then I multiply by ten psychiatrists in my clinic. Then I multiply by ten similarly-sized clinics in my city. Then I multiply by a thousand such cities in the United States. Then I multiply by hundreds of countries in the world, and by that time my brain has mercifully stopped being able to visualize what that signifies.
The really interesting part of the article is where he whipped up a random “person” generator and fed it the best-estimate percentages of various problems. (Chance of drug addiction, chance of certain psychosis, etc.) He then generated a bunch of random people and, as is to be expected when the percentage chance for problems is low, he got a significant number of people who are “no problems.”
âŠand then he sketches (from his own direct experience) several typesânot specific examples, but a type of person whom he sees many examples ofâwho fit into the “no problems” bucket of the “random person generator.” The take-away is that, yes, things are VERY bad.