Week 74 Wanderings (4-23-2024) – You can’t have it all, Creating the future, Beating choices, Paradox of choice

Forced to make a decision – life isn’t perfect
Accepting the present to make the future
How to beat jealous
Ted Talk on having too many choices

You can’t have it all

“Would you rather have stability or excitement? They generally don’t coexist in the same person”

Oliver Burkeman

From the book 4000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. Still not done with this book and loving the read. Talks about how because we’ve got limited time in Finity, we have to make tough decisions and choose a job, partner, or life we actually want to experience. None of them are perfect. We have to make decisions.

Accepting the present to make the future

‘Once you don’t have a way out, you’re generally happier because the only way out is forward’

Once we accept the present reality as fact, I’ve found it becomes a whole lot easier to move through it. The longer we resist, the more we’re in pain. But once we accept we can start to figure out how to get out.

How to beat jealousy

“Do you want to actually be that person with all of their reactions, their desires, their family, their happiness level, their outlook on life, their self-image? If you’re not willing to do a wholesale, 24/7, 100 percent swap with who that person is, then there is no point in being jealous”

Naval Ravikant

Whole article here. This dude is a wizard. Every time I read or heard some of his work I go “damn, he’s right”. Also tend to be a quite jealous person. This notion, and celebrating the small victories, help quite a bit – Happy being myself.

Excellent Ted Talk on having too many choices

Paradox of Choice – 20 minutes long.

I first watched this Ted Talk about 2 years ago, but find myself citing it constantly. The more choices we have, the less happy we tend to be with each one because we always think ‘What if there’s a better option out there’… but even that indecision is a choice. It’s accepting the reality where we are caught in limbo and don’t get to enjoy any choice. It’s a choice in itself.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

My name is Colin and I like to ramble about life. My mom tells me I’m special and I think the Officials are starting to believe her. I like reading (mostly picture books) and telling people they’re wrong. If you figure this life thing out, pls let me know, it’s a toughie.

You can hear me talk (read?) more about myself here.

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