Weekly Wisdom #320 - The quality we should all be cultivating

Resilience, Eating Alone, Read Later Apps, Blackout Blinds & the Antidote to Envy

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Happy Monday!

There's a lot more science and thought being given to how children interact with media and technology these days, with wide variations in opinion on what is good and what isn't.

A closely related, but less popular topic, is that of resilience.

Resilience is the ability to overcome difficulties or setbacks. "Toughness" some might say.

One of the things I've noticed lately, with all the distractions of the modern world and alternative ways to spend my time, is that I find myself giving up more easily.

I'll start something at work, and when I hit a dead end, that will be it, and I'll move on to something else.

Or I'll start a little side project, hit a blocker, and put it on the back burner in favour of watching a TV show or scrolling Instagram.

Of course, this isn't all on us individually.

The world is getting busier and faster every day, and it's harder to even find the time to be resilient. No one has time for setbacks!

But it also means that the bar for succeeding is lower than it's ever been—it's easier than ever to be one of the few that persist and work through difficulties, because so many of us are giving up sooner.

Resilience in kids has been shown to improve math outcomes in studies like this and this. Math is a good thing to study as there are provably correct answers, and it's one of the things kids learn at an early age.

But I think all of us would do well to take the broader lesson from those studies: resilience helps us solve more problems.

And it's never been easier to stand out as one of the few who works through their problems instead of avoiding them.

Have a great week!

Graham

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Links

📚 Book Notes: It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy At Work - David Heinemeier Hansson & Jason Fried - One of my favourite books on how things can be better at work, and how we can find a little more time to be resilient—finding time to work on the things that matter, and ignoring or eliminating the things that distract us.

📖 The Art of Eating Alone - Riley Harper - This short piece struck a chord with me, as eating (out) alone is also strangely enjoyable for me.

Like him, I often enjoy taking a book and notebook (or iPad as both), going to a local restaurant and having a drink or a meal, reading until I've got enough ideas to start writing things.

In fact, here's a photo I took last week writing this newsletter, while having a pint mid-afternoon on a Saturday.

Few things make you feel more like a local than going out for a drink or meal alone and watching the world around you.

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⚙️ Readwise Reader - Pocket, my preferred read-it-later app, is being deprecated by Mozilla.

I'm already a user of Readwise, and have heard good things about their new read-it-later app, so I'm trying it out as a replacement.

🪟 Guard Total Blackout Blinds - I've been using blackout blinds for some time now, enough that I need a truly black room to get my best sleep.

One of the challenges is always finding blinds that are a) truly blackout, b) not terribly ugly, and c) semi-affordable.

These are innovative in that they move horizontally, and look like a nice design overall. I'll be trying them out soon.

Tweet of the Week

Lawrence Yeo-->

@moretothat

The antidote to envy

2:0 PM • Nov 1, 2024

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