On this day

October 5th

Why – with Dave Closson

October 5

Why – with Dave Closson

Decision fatigue and productivity, discipline as a path to freedom, and self-reflection.

Better and better and more efficient and more effective, that’s great. It’s about continuous improvement. But I’ve discovered that it’s not just about getting better at what you do, it’s also about getting smarter about how you do it. That’s where the real freedom comes from. It’s like having a well-oiled machine that runs smoothly, and you don’t have to constantly tinker with it.

~ Dave Closson around 17:16

Craig Constantine and Dave Closson begin with finding one’s “why” and how it drives one’s actions and decisions. They stress that articulating a clear why-statement is key to staying focused and avoiding distractions. The conversation shifts to the role of processes and structure, with both speakers emphasizing that they can be liberating rather than constricting, as they help eliminate decision fatigue. Dave introduces the idea of having meaningful conversations with oneself as a way to navigate complex thoughts and emotions effectively.

For more about Dave Closson, see https://daveclosson.com

The Significance of a Clear “Why”: Dave and Craig emphasize the importance of having a well-defined purpose or “why” in various aspects of life. (See Simon Sinek’s Start with Why)

Processes and Structures for Efficiency: Contrary to the notion that processes and structures stifle creativity, their role in providing freedom and reducing decision fatigue is highlighted.

Structured Self-Conversations: Dave introduces the concept of structured self-conversations, a valuable tool for introspection and problem-solving.

Continuous Improvement: The conversation touches on the idea that striving for continuous improvement is not just about getting better at what you do but also getting smarter about how you do it.

Balancing Structure and Flexibility: While processes and structures are valuable, it’s essential to strike a balance between structure and flexibility.

Importance of Restorative Practices: The conversation briefly touches on the significance of restorative practices.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

Test in the kitchen

October 5

Sausages sautéed with potatoes and onions! It’s also highly advisable to have a philosopher or two on hand. A few pages of Plato while working on a baked ham. Wittgenstein’s Tractatus over a bowl of spaghetti with littleneck clams. We think best when we bring opposites together, when we realize that all these realities, one inside the other, are somehow connected. That’s how the wonder and amazement that are so necessary to both poetry and philosophy come about. A “truth” detached and purified of pleasures of ordinary life is not worth a damn in my view. Every grand theory and noble sentiment ought to be first tested in the kitchen—and then in bed, of course.

~ Charles Simic

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Rediscovering movement

October 5, 2022

Play is a big part of our lives as children, but why do we lose our playfulness as we age? I talk a lot about the emotional and physical aspects of play, especially regarding Positive Ageing and aspects of Parkour. So many people feel like play is out of reach as they approach midlife, even though it’s an innate part of you.

~ Julie Angel from, https://julieangel.com/discovering-the-power-of-play-in-midlife/

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Angel doesn’t write often, but when she does it’s something nice like this. I just want to say that physical movement and play are inseparable—without the former, you’re not really doing the later.

Or, perhaps I just want to say two things; That first thing, and that Angel is the film–maker who created my favorite video to share when people ask me, “what is parkour?” Movement of Three.

Actually, I want to share three things: Those two things, and Julie if you’re reading: OMG the cannoli!

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Facing two ways

October 5, 2021

Choose, then, which you prefer, to be loved as you used to be by those who loved you formerly by remaining like your former self, or to be better and not meet with that same affection. For if this latter course is preferable, direct yourself at once to that, and do not let the other considerations draw you away from it; for no one can make progress while facing two ways.

~ Epictetus

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Attitude and assessment

October 5, 2021

It seems likely that Jack Sparrow’s admonishment about attitude is an echo of Aurelius’s reminder to himself two thousand years earlier. This idea that the attitude and assessment is most important has really helped me relax. Things will never be done, and I create all of my problems. I’ve come to understand that concrete goals and clear progress are detrimental to my health. They’re necessary, yes, but detrimental. The more goals I set, the more clear progress I can measure, the worse off I become; Mentally and physically those things grind me down.

Since they’re necessary—without them, it seems I’d simply devolve to being a blob on a sofa—I must have something in my life which counters the damage so that I can continue setting some sane number of goals and measuring some concrete progress. One of those things is practicing my attitude and assessment. I set aside time for this each morning. It’s not meant to take long. 15 minutes is really long enough. I read through a prompt from a set that I’ve created for myself. I read through a selection from some key books. I write in my journal, usually copying a single new quote from my collection as the beginning of the journal entry. I write some thoughts. I write some observations from the previous day.

Unfortunately, just about every morning, my urge—affliction? addiction?—to measure and create goals creeps into my morning reflection. Why am I taking all this time? (I’m up to something like 4,000 hand-written pages of journals!) Am I getting benefit from all this reflection? What’s the optimum “dosage” of reflection which yields the most benefit? How do I even measure the benefit? Is that page—that one I just wrote, an instant before these questions pop into my mind—worth writing? If I read that page in a year, will it in any way help me? Is the entry for today long enough? Should it have more “here’s what I did yesterday,” type stuff, or less? Maybe I should be also making a small note on my mood, or how I feel physically? Maybe I should… Oh, crap.

Close the journal, and go on with today!

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Professional

October 5, 2020

This, in one sentence, is the difference between the laborer-for-hire and the entrepreneur. This is the Professional Mindset.

~ Steven Pressfield from, https://stevenpressfield.com/2017/02/tk-ths-job-n-shove-it/

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Pressfield’s example—I’m always assuming you’ve clicked-thru and read—is oversimple: the factory worker. But that laborer-for-hire mindset is real. The shift required is real, and really difficult. Hard like: This is the air I’ve always breathed. …and I want to be a fish, so I need to grow gills, get in the water and learn how to swim in water without seeing the water—in the same way I used to be oblivious to the air. That is to say: Impossible.

Morning friends! How’s the air?!

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Letting years go by

October 5, 2018

In fact, I’ve let years of my life go by this way. I could be working on something I truly love, and then I’d hit a snag. I’d get frustrated, then avoid it for the rest of the day. I just wouldn’t want to be frustrated anymore, so I wouldn’t touch it. There’s always later. Perhaps if a better mood came along I’d be willing to tackle it.

~ David Cain from, https://www.raptitude.com/2009/03/protect-your-dreams-from-contamination/

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I’m not sure I agree with how easy it sounds the way he puts it. But he’s dead on with the point.

Here’s another spin on it, the late, great, Jack Vance as Curly.

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How the brain really works, butterflies

October 5, 2017

The key insight: the brain is a multi-layer prediction machine. All neural processing consists of two streams: a bottom-up stream of sense data, and a top-down stream of predictions. These streams interface at each level of processing, comparing themselves to each other and adjusting themselves as necessary.

~ Scott Alexander from, http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/09/05/book-review-surfing-uncertainty/

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This seems to be rocking my world. There’s an actual theory of how the brain works?

So we are likely getting more lead, more omega-6 (and relatively less omega-3), and less lithium than people in 1850. If there has been an increase in crime and other undesirable/impulsive behaviors, I think these biological insults are at least as worthy of examination as political changes that have occurred during that time.

~ Scott Alexander from, http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/02/18/proposed-biological-explanations-for-historical-trends-in-crime/

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…and my brain thought that this (aside from the actual data and science in the article) seems like a very compelling look at the big scale; tiny changes making subtle tidal shifts at the hundreds-of-millions-of-people scale.

Butterflies and radar: http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/butterfly-blob-mystery-weather-radar

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…and this popped up today, right before I saw a Cosmopolitan (aka Painted Lady) this afternoon.

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Interesting

October 5, 2017

Found this in the camera roll from last weekend – I rounded the corner to this park and had a major case of deja vu… until I realized a very important scene from #personofinterest was apparently shot here… anyone else agree? Finch in the wheel-chair, with the car bomb . . .

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