3 MINUTE MONDAYHi friend, Struggling to focus? Try my productivity drink Neutonic with free next day delivery in the UK & USA. Charles Darwin was unsure whether he should get married so he made a list. The document has two columns, one labeled Marry, one labeled Not Marry, and above them, circled, are the words “This is the Question.” On the pro-marriage side of the equation were “Children—(if it Please God)—Constant companion, (&friend in old age) who will feel interested in one,—object to be beloved & played with.” After reflection of unknown length, he modified the foregoing sentence with “better than a dog anyhow.” He continued: “Home, & someone to take care of house—Charms of music & female chitchat—These things good for one’s health.—but terrible loss of time.” Without warning, Darwin had, from the pro-marriage column, swerved uncontrollably into a major anti-marriage factor, so major that he underlined it. This issue—the infringement of marriage on his time, especially his work time—was addressed at greater length in the appropriate, Not Marry column. Not marrying, he wrote, would preserve “Freedom to go where one like—choice of Society & little of it.—Conversation of clever men at clubs—not forced to visit relatives, & to bend in every trifle—to have the expense & anxiety of children—Perhaps quarreling—Loss of time.—cannot read in the Evening—fatness & idleness—Anxiety & responsibility—less money for books &—if many children forced to gain one’s bread.” Even experts in mating and evolution struggle with big decisions. — h/t Russ Roberts MODERN WISDOMI do a podcast where I pretend to have a British accent. You should subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. This week’s upcoming episodes: Monday. Thursday. Saturday. THINGS I'VE LEARNED1. “The problem with giving men advice like “don’t be pushy” is that the men who really need to hear it won’t listen, and the men who’d benefit from being more assertive will take it straight to heart.” — @ellegist 2. “A useful thing Twitter taught me is that rude people are almost always stupid. In virtually every case, when someone viciously insults me for something I said, they also misunderstood what I said. This makes sense, because rudeness and stupidity share a root cause: carelessness.” — Gurwinder Bhogal 3. “The only real test of intelligence is if you get what you want out of life.” — Naval LIFE HACKCall your mum. You know you probably need to do it. She’ll appreciate it and so will you. Big love, Share this article with your friends here. PS |
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3 MINUTE MONDAY Hi friend, See my brand new solo live show in the UK & Ireland this October 🚀 Get your tickets now. I’m in Northern California on a meditation retreat. This will probably be the longest time I’ve gone without any screens in probably 20 years. May come back insane or enlightened, stay tuned to find out which. Anyway, onto what I've been thinking about this week... How much should you try to optimise your life? How much should you be thinking about ways to improve? How much...
3 MINUTE MONDAY Hi friend, I’m coming back to the UK & Ireland with a brand new live show. Edinburgh, Portsmouth, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff, Exeter, London, Dublin (Sold Out), Newcastle & Belfast 🚀 Get your tickets now. I came across a great question to help you understand why a decision might be hard. “When I am faced with this decision, how old do I feel?” Maybe you’re trying to decide on something right now, if not then imagine a decision from the past. When you bring up the...
3 MINUTE MONDAY Hi friend, There is a very painful transition that everyone eventually needs to make in their career & productivity journey - from operator guy to idea guy. At the beginning of your career, the only advantage you have is your work rate because you have no experience to draw on, and any natural talent is capped by your inexperience, so you just work hard to get ahead. You answer all the emails, take all the “would love to connect” calls, you send the invoices, write the copy,...