Anything You Want, Speed & Plastic - Weekly Mix #156

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Anything You Want, Speed & Plastic

Happy Wednesday !
I hope you're having a great week, and I hope the Canadian readers enjoyed their long weekend. Here are some things I've been checking out and working on the last week:

Anything You Want

This week I spent a lot of time thinking about an excerpt from Principles by Ray Dalio:

"You can have virtually anything you want, but you can’t have everything you want.

Some people fail at this point, afraid to reject a good alternative for fear that the loss will deprive them of some essential ingredient to their personal happiness. As a result, they pursue too many goals at the same time, achieving few or none of them."

Funny enough, the activity that prompted me to think about it at length was the motorbike build my brother and I have been working on.

I realized a couple weeks ago that to finish by the end of the summer, some serious time had to be put into working on the bike. Most of it was grunt work–sanding and painting on repeat–but it had to be done, so that we had enough time to figure out what parts we needed, and then order and install them.

This meant that most evenings, after finishing work and eating dinner, I would go out to the garage and work on the bike for 2-4 hours.

But what this also meant was no more daily workout, or trip to the driving range, or time spent reading.

Perhaps because these were routine, clearly different activities, the trade-off became more apparent for me.

But these trade-offs exist throughout our lives.

How long do we spend on our phones each day? Time that could be spent with loved ones, or exercising, or reading, or improving ourselves?

How much time do we spend on trivial things at work? Instead of productive output?

How much time do we spend distracting ourselves from tougher work?

There is always a trade-off. The challenge is recognizing what the trade-off is.

Book Notes I Added: Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

I've been trying to read more fiction lately, particularly before bed (in non-screen form). This book was the second I've read by Amor Towles (the other being A Gentleman in Moscow), and I enjoyed both immensely. The writing is a pleasure to read, and the storylines transport you to a glitzy American past, with shades of The Great Gatsby. This is a fiction book, so it is more of a collection of quotes than actionable notes.

Articles I'm Reading:

Be Impatient - Ben Kuhn - This article makes the case for being impatient, and optimizing for speed over almost everything else. "...moving quickly is an advantage that compounds. Being twice as fast doesn’t just double your output; it doubles the growth rate of your output. Over time, that makes an enormous difference."

I'm A Very Slow Thinker - Derek Sivers - As a counter-point, this article outlines why your first reaction is probably wrong, and you should think more about it. "People say that your first reaction is the most honest, but I disagree. Your first reaction is usually outdated." This is from Derek's new book, which I just bought, but have yet to read.

Ideas That Changed My Life - Morgan Housel - A short list of high-impact ideas, including:

"Everyone belongs to a tribe and underestimates how influential that tribe is on their thinking."

"Everything’s been done before. The scenes change but the behaviors and outcomes don’t."

Coronavirus and the Return of Plastic - In Pictures - The Guardian - Pictures often have a bigger impact than words, and these certainly do for me. I can't quite fathom the amount of plastic the world will have used when this is over, but I have no doubt that we will feel the impact for decades to come, and it makes me sad to think about it. It should serve as even more incentive for us to reduce plastic consumption where we can, so that we can afford it when required.

Product I'm Admiring: Parlee Custom Road Bike

I got a new (used) road bike last week, and then got lost in the WeightWeenies forum, a site dedicated to those looking to shave grams from their bikes. For anyone that admires beautiful engineering, design, or bikes, this one is gorgeous.

Have a great week!

Graham

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