Weekly Wisdom #308 - Marking Time, Structured Procrastination, We're All Going to Die, Finding Consistency & 38 Life Learnings

Marking Time, Structured Procrastination, We're All Going to Die, Finding Consistency & 38 Life Learnings

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Happy Monday!

I wrote a couple weeks ago about the following quote from The 4-Hour Workweek: "Excitement is the more practical synonym for happiness."

There have been a lot of changes for my friends, and in my work life lately, and my reaction is always the same: I'm excited for them, as change usually brings excitement, and happiness as a result.

Amongst these changes, and as spring moves into summer, I was also reminded of a rule of thumb I read about some time ago: that we measure time by the number of memorable events that happen to us.

It's why the COVID pandemic period feels like "lost" time: because most of us had no specific events going on.

And it's why some periods in our lives—often summers—feel like such a good period in our lives: because we fit in so many memorable events.

So, as we shift into spring and summer, keep that in mind: the more memorable events you can create, the more excitement you can generate, the more you'll feel like you've spent the time well.

Have a great week!

Graham

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Links

📖 Structured Procrasination - John Perry - A hilarious read on how to use your procrastination tendencies to get a lot done.

The opening quote: "...anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment." —Robert Benchley, in Chips off the Old Benchley, 1949

📖 Your Real Biological Clock Is You’re Going to Die - Tom Scocca - If you need a kick in the pants to make the most of your time, this piece is probably it.

"The clock is running, only it’s not a clock: It’s a sandglass."

🎧 The Tim Ferriss Show - Seth Godin — Coaching Tim on Overcoming Resistance, Writing Secrets After 8,500+ Daily Blog Posts, The Dangers of Authenticity, and Much More - This was the first podcast episode I've listened to twice in a row in a long time.

It's a short episode, but there's so much good stuff in there, especially for people struggling for consistency in what they're working on, and for writers.

Some of my takeaways/reminders to self:

Blogging and sharing your knowledge is a generous activity.

Treat blog posts as a question or a provocation, rather than an answer or prescription.

Remind yourself: This doesn't have to be the best thing I ever publish.

A good post goal is to say something that most people already realize, in a way that they'd like to share with their friends.

Speak your ideas into a voice note that's maximum 5 minutes long, and post that.

Announce to your reader at the beginning of your post what it will be (set expectations).

Avoid parentheticals.

Imagine the "character" of yourself that writes your stuff; adopt that character when you're writing and publishing.

Blog post structure: assertion that creates attention, and then a release of that attention that lands an idea.Ex: Seth's fav blog post: "You don't need more time. You just need to decide."

Creating a vacuum is required so that I will do the hard work of filling the vacuum.

Life is a series of projects. It's not a job.

The biggest payoff of writing blog posts is quieting the noise in your head, and being happy you did it. Does this thing bring you joy even if no one read it?

Tweet of the Week

Andrew Wilkinson is a Canadian entrepreneur building the "Berkshire Hathaway of tech" with his holding company Tiny. This is a recent list he published of 38 things he's learned in life so far:

Andrew Wilkinson-->

@awilkinson

In January, I turned 38.

I'll probably die in about 17,824 days (ChatGPT's best guess).

Here's a list of 38 things I've learned over the last 13,952 days of my life so far:

1. If you're nice to someone, they'll probably be nice back.

2. Criticizing someone's ideas will only… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1772309667500408938

2:8 PM • Mar 25, 2024

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