If you procrastinate by playing with another potential skill (e.g. instruments, imagining physics, messing with computers, learning about medicine, etc.), then you’ll inevitably expand your curiosities into activities & potential relationships that begin with those commonalities.
“…compound interest from many quick small iterations is greater than the compound interest from a few slow big iterations. Compound interest operates in most intellectual and social domains.” ~@naval
Procrastination isn’t always a zero-sum loss. You can use it to gain momentum!
Procrastination isn’t always a zero-sum loss. You can use it to gain momentum!
Philosopher is a fancy name for a person who contemplates & imagines more than anything else. Engineering is enacting philosophy with technology. Physics is proving some philosophies via geometrical & mathematical proofs of patterns.
Titles are limiting; mastery is an illusion.
Titles are limiting; mastery is an illusion.
“If we were detectives, we might look for something that has been over-looked because it is too obvious, staring us in the face.”
“One has to go outside the whole system to see something so obvious. If one stares at a phenomenon straight on, one often looks right through it.”
“One has to go outside the whole system to see something so obvious. If one stares at a phenomenon straight on, one often looks right through it.”
“By altering the angle of vision, suddenly new and important areas stand out.”
“By treating phenomena philosophically, it is possible to see that we are dealing with an immensely complex bundle of interconnect… which can only be studied if we forget disciplinary boundaries.”
“By treating phenomena philosophically, it is possible to see that we are dealing with an immensely complex bundle of interconnect… which can only be studied if we forget disciplinary boundaries.”
“Gains in one field, for example mathematics or the representation of three-dimensional space, soon feed back into the other… As we have already seen, the intellectual and the material are interlinked.”
I compulsively remind myself of learning hacks & ego release because my biggest fear is gain/growth inflating my confidence beyond the ability to think critically (which requires doubt). It may be annoying to see the notes, but it’s my failsafe — & occasionally they are on-point. 
It is possible to attract and encourage conversion by brainstorming with tweets, but if you are wrong and care about truth more than your public image… then you’ll learn to tolerate public embarrassment from fruitless brainstorming.
If you gain even a clue, it will be worth it.
If you gain even a clue, it will be worth it.
“I spent my life in books only to realize the knowledge preparing me for the turbulence of life is only valuable if one actually lives… being buried away in books during youth is seen as a sacrifice, but understanding excels further with the balance of knowledge and experience.”
Truth is not dictated by your belief or affirmation.
That’s the nature of truth…
It resists the ever-changing bullshit emerging and destroying the world by simply existing… waiting to be understood.
That’s the nature of truth…
It resists the ever-changing bullshit emerging and destroying the world by simply existing… waiting to be understood.
open.spotify.com/track/1Td7UkUk…
I’m not trying to sell you on this idea in the sense of converting you to it. I want you to play with it. I want you to think of its possibilities. I’m not trying to prove it. I’m just putting it forward as a possibility of life to think about. ~Alan Watts
I’m not trying to sell you on this idea in the sense of converting you to it. I want you to play with it. I want you to think of its possibilities. I’m not trying to prove it. I’m just putting it forward as a possibility of life to think about. ~Alan Watts
“If you can't remember the last time you failed, you're failing.” ~@jackbutcher
…You don’t need more discipline…
You need a better reason.
Motivation is only as strong as your desire… your desire is fueled by your interests. Shift your interests and your motivation multiplies.
…You don’t need more discipline…
You need a better reason.
Motivation is only as strong as your desire… your desire is fueled by your interests. Shift your interests and your motivation multiplies.
Employment: external pressure.
Entrepreneurship: internal pressure.
~@jackbutcher
Employment usually breeds products, not innovation.
☯️
Academia: external pressure for approval.
Autodidact: internal pressure to understand.
School usually breeds regurgitation, not understanding.
Entrepreneurship: internal pressure.
~@jackbutcher
Employment usually breeds products, not innovation.
☯️
Academia: external pressure for approval.
Autodidact: internal pressure to understand.
School usually breeds regurgitation, not understanding.
Some indulgences kill you quickly… some deteriorate you slowly.
But if creation or skills become an indulgence, possibilities blossom. 💮
The daily loop you live in can be hell or a blessing, but it is almost always a little of both. The indulgences you choose most shape you…
But if creation or skills become an indulgence, possibilities blossom. 💮
The daily loop you live in can be hell or a blessing, but it is almost always a little of both. The indulgences you choose most shape you…
Don’t be fueled by your past successes…
Be fueled by the passion that urged you to succeed in the first place, before you accomplished projects but when you believed you could… with eyes of awh.
That shaped energy is more potent than any confidence successful ventures create.
Be fueled by the passion that urged you to succeed in the first place, before you accomplished projects but when you believed you could… with eyes of awh.
That shaped energy is more potent than any confidence successful ventures create.
Most spend a few hours or more a day on digital devices.
What you do during that cultivates the path you walk…
Sometimes a new lifestyle is simply less social media, more web browser, and more notes… not turning into a gym rat & traveling the world.
Little pursuits compound.
What you do during that cultivates the path you walk…
Sometimes a new lifestyle is simply less social media, more web browser, and more notes… not turning into a gym rat & traveling the world.
Little pursuits compound.
Merging fields often happens during defocalization or casual times, not always intentionally. Procrastinating on carving a skill with another potential skill is a neat trick, but honing in for a few days or weeks on a specific goal that pertains to a single field can be fruitful:
Avoid: “Backfiring effect— a supercharged version of confirmation bias where being presented with evidence that goes against your beliefs makes you double down on your initial beliefs because you feel you’re being attacked.”
Rather rejoice in new evidence unfolding unseen truth.
Rather rejoice in new evidence unfolding unseen truth.
Looking for what you are afraid to find in an area of research can help you uncover the uncomfortable contradictions that lead to vital truths.
During research, leverage the discovery of paradoxes as potential opportunities for innovation.
During research, leverage the discovery of paradoxes as potential opportunities for innovation.
When you only search to confirm your hypothesis (and sense of righteousness), you miss everything that contradicts it… pointlessly creating confidence in an incomplete understanding.
“If identity feels threatened, then we are literally incapable of acknowledging facts.” ~@naval
“If identity feels threatened, then we are literally incapable of acknowledging facts.” ~@naval
The Cycle of Gradually Compounding Curiosity 🏵 🧩 🎯 🧿 🔄:
Intermittent research for expanding possible directions and synergistic combinations.
Consideration over days or weeks+ to narrow down contradictions & unreconcilable collisions through different moods/frames of mind.
Intermittent research for expanding possible directions and synergistic combinations.
Consideration over days or weeks+ to narrow down contradictions & unreconcilable collisions through different moods/frames of mind.
“Anyone who deals with their
restlessness and boredom
in productive ways ends up getting called
talented.”
~@TinkeredThinker
restlessness and boredom
in productive ways ends up getting called
talented.”
~@TinkeredThinker
What you build may be timeless, but nothing is rarer than the present.
Don’t forget that people are more temporary than creations, so cherish them while they are around.
Don’t forget that people are more temporary than creations, so cherish them while they are around.
Obedience is the real opiate of the masses because it’s easier to trust experts than it is to dissect known evidence & think for yourself.
Research & verify how the pieces are put together yourself, or be beholden to misunderstanding from trusting authority & reputation blindly.
Research & verify how the pieces are put together yourself, or be beholden to misunderstanding from trusting authority & reputation blindly.
Holding a broken idea together in denial would be a much greater tragedy than admitting it’s incomplete.
Crises distinguish proof from hype in real-time.
The optimal zone for performance is “slightly hungry.” ~@naval
Restlessness is a side-effect of unfulfilled desire.
If you were truly content, you wouldn’t be looking to build or understand anything.
But unforced contentment sometimes gives you unbiased clarity at roadblocks:
Restlessness is a side-effect of unfulfilled desire.
If you were truly content, you wouldn’t be looking to build or understand anything.
But unforced contentment sometimes gives you unbiased clarity at roadblocks:
Anxiety is unoutletted excitability.
“Enjoyment appears at the boundary between boredom and anxiety, when the challenges are just balanced with the person's capacity to act…
…to transform adversity into an enjoyable challenge improves quality of life.”
~Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
“Enjoyment appears at the boundary between boredom and anxiety, when the challenges are just balanced with the person's capacity to act…
…to transform adversity into an enjoyable challenge improves quality of life.”
~Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Learn how to interact and work with your emotions to best outlet their spontaneous directions and cyclical tendencies.
Suppressing all your emotions isn’t stoic, it’s flying blind.
Suppressing all your emotions isn’t stoic, it’s flying blind.
Time spent philosophizing without aiming toward any fruitful goal is counterintuitively essential to your health and goals in the long-term.
You will learn about yourself and abstract ideas in ways that will lead to benefits you didn’t even intend to gain…
You will learn about yourself and abstract ideas in ways that will lead to benefits you didn’t even intend to gain…
Investing in optimizing your mind body and brain can create unparalleled, and often unforeseeable, benefits throughout all the most precious aspects of life.
Shape your lifestyle or it will mold you.
