Day: September 25, 2020
The problem with love is deciding who’s doing the dishes | Psyche Ideas
Use uncertainty to leverage the power of your predictive brain | Aeon Essays
seth godin newsletter
When can we talk about our systems?
Your team is down by a few points and the game is almost over. What play should you call?
[When can we talk about the system of drafting and training that got your team to this situation in the first place?]
Your back hurts and you think you need surgery to help with the pain.
[When can we talk about the technique you use when you go running every day?]
Your employee shows up late regularly. How can you get them to care more?
[When can we talk about your hiring and leadership approaches?]
There’s racial injustice and unfairness all around us.
[Can we talk about persistent indoctrination around caste?]
You just had an argument with your brother. What’s the best way for him to see that you’re right?
[When can we talk about the narratives your family has developed for generations?]
Universities and local schools are in crisis with testing in disarray and distant learning ineffective…
[When can we talk about what school is for?]
It’s comfortable to ignore the system, to assume it is as permanent as the water surrounding your goldfish. But the fact that we have these tactical problems is all the evidence we need to see that something is causing them, and that spending time on the underlying structure could make a difference.
In a crisis, there’s maximum attention. And in a crisis, we often discard any pretense of caring about systems and resilience and focus only on how to get back to normal. This is precisely why normal is what normal is, because we fight to get back to it.
Changing the system changes everything. And it might be even less work than pouring water on today’s tactical emergency.
Welcome to the era of the smart ‘cyber-bandage’ | Anti Corruption Digest
Dangerous Chinese counterfeit goods are pouring into America, here’s how we stop it | Anti Corruption Digest
Jamesclear.com newsletter i like
3 ideas, 2 quotes, 1 question (September 24, 2020)
“Working to deliver the most wisdom per word of any newsletter on the web.”
Happy 3-2-1 Thursday,
Here are 3 short ideas from me, 2 quotes from others, and 1 question for the week.
3 IDEAS FROM ME
I.
“Feel compliments as deeply as you feel insults.”
II.
“Working on a problem reduces the fear of it.
It’s hard to fear a problem when you are making progress on it—even if progress is imperfect and slow.
Action relieves anxiety.”
III.
“Success is largely the failures you avoid.
Health is the injuries you don’t sustain.
Wealth is the purchases you don’t make.
Happiness is the objects you don’t desire.
Peace of mind is the arguments you don’t engage.
Avoid the bad to protect the good.”
Hat tip to Morgan Housel for sparking this idea.
2 QUOTES FROM OTHERS
I.
Anne Frank on how challenge reveals our true character:
“I’ve learned one thing: you only really get to know a person after a fight. Only then can you judge their true character!”
Source: The Diary of a Young Girl
II.
Architect Christopher Alexander on the importance of high standards:
“In my life as an architect, I find that the single thing which inhibits young professionals, new students most severely, is their acceptance of standards that are too low. If I ask a student whether her design is as good as Chartres, she often smiles tolerantly at me as if to say, “Of course not, that isn’t what I am trying to do. … I could never do that.”
Then, I express my disagreement, and tell her: “That standard must be our standard. If you are going to be a builder, no other standard is worthwhile. That is what I expect of myself in my own buildings, and it is what I expect of my students.”
Gradually, I show the students that they have a right to ask this of themselves, and must ask this of themselves. Once that level of standard is in their minds, they will be able to figure out, for themselves, how to do better, how to make something that is as profound as that.
Two things emanate from this changed standard. First, the work becomes more fun. It is deeper, it never gets tiresome or boring, because one can never really attain this standard. One’s work becomes a lifelong work, and one keeps trying and trying. So it becomes very fulfilling, to live in the light of a goal like this.
But secondly, it does change what people are trying to do. It takes away from them the everyday, lower-level aspiration that is purely technical in nature, (and which we have come to accept) and replaces it with something deep, which will make a real difference to all of us that inhabit the earth.”
Source: Foreword to Patterns of Software by Richard P. Gabriel
1 QUESTION FOR YOU
Who brings out your best qualities? Can you take five minutes right now to schedule time with them?
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Until next week,
James Clear
Author of the million-copy bestseller, Atomic Habits
Creator of the Habit Journal
Racism is baked into the structure of dialectical philosophy | Aeon Essays
Moleskin
WORD OF THE DAY
Moleskin
MOHL-skin
Part of speech: noun
Origin: Middle English, 17th century
1
The skin of a mole used as fur.
2
A thick, strong cotton fabric with a shaved pile surface.
Examples of Moleskin in a sentence
“I found a vintage coat lined with moleskin in exactly my size.”
“I need to buy three yards of moleskin to make my new comforter.”
Did you know
Did you know…
… that today is Bullwinkle and Rocky Day? Bullwinkle J. Moose and his friend, Rocket J. (Rocky) Squirrel, were seen in prime time on NBC, broadcast in color, for the first time on this day in 1961. The syndicated show can still be seen to this day!
~~~
Today’s Inspirational Quote:
“I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.”
— Harry S. Truman
There is now more evidence than ever that China is imprisoning Uighurs | Nathan Ruser | Opinion | The Guardian
word of the day
| WORD OF THE DAY |
| MiscellanyMIH-sə-leh-neePart of speech: nounOrigin: Latin, late 16th century |
| 1A group or collection of different items; a mixture. | 2A book containing a collection of pieces of writing by different authors. |
| Examples of Miscellany in a sentence “There’s just a bunch of miscellany in the attic — nothing valuable.” “My poem will be published in an upcoming volume of miscellany.” |
random acts of kindness
1. Drop off combs, toothbrushes, and toothpaste at a shelter or a soup kitchen.
2. Help someone whose car has broken down
3. Read inspiring stories to a group of children
4. Stop to talk to a homeless person.
5. Tip your waiter generously.
haiku
No longer glad and
There be outstripp’d poem will sourly
The map of thine eyes.
Couplet
O! But citizens turn back? Obviously:
So far greater grief; therefore that thou bear’st.
wisdom quotes
Be the sunshine on someone’s rainy day.
Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud. (Maya Angelou)
==========
Let your dreams, not your nightmares, define who you are.
Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future. (Robert H. Schuller)
haiku
Guests laugh wait and see
Empty bed below true home
Paintings made vivid
Idioms
A Demon Fool.
———————
Working For Oblivion.
———————
A New Night Is A New Day To Some.
———————
Like Screaming In Space.
———————
Using Chairs As Tables.
———————
seasoned nuts quotable
 |
| “Don’t tell me your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I’ll tell you what they are.” — James W. Frick“Economy does not lie in sparing money, but spending it wisely.” — Thomas Henry Huxley |
Prayer of the day
Heavenly spirit, my refuge and salvation, I come to you with a remorseful heart. Forgive me, my greed led me to embezzle money for my family’s sake. I am truly sorry, brighten the darkness in my soul. Punish me as you see fit so I may bask in your glory anew.
Idioms
Making Bread Out Of Sand.
———————
Like Trying To Smell With Your Eyes.
———————
Walking Like A Baby.
———————
A Fool’s Test.
———————
Silence Lets You Hear More.
