Mental Pivot #39: Incremental, Habit-Forming, Attention
A Zen master’s thoughts on persistent practice, looking to our elders for examples of habit-formation, and economist Tim Harford explores our inability to see what’s in plain sight.
Recently, when I've experienced moments of discouragement, I find solace in the words of Zen Master Hakuin (1686-1767).
Here's his vivid reminder on the importance of steady, incremental progress:
It's like chopping down a huge tree of immense girth. You won't accomplish it with one swing of your axe. If you keep chopping away at it, though, and do not let up, eventually, whether it wants to or not, it will suddenly topple down. When that time comes, you could round up everyone you could find and pay them to hold the tree up, but they wouldn’t be able to do it. It would still come crashing to the ground…
But if the woodcutter stopped after one or two strokes of his axe to ask the third son of Mr. Chang, ‘Why doesn’t this tree fall?’ And after three or four more strokes stopped again to ask the fourth son of Mr. Li, ‘Why doesn’t this tree fall?’ he would never succeed in felling the tree. It is no different for someone practicing the Way.”
Thanks to subscriber David S. for suggesting Robert Green’s book Mastery which introduced me to the above quote.
Now onto this week's recommendations…
Productivity:
How to Take Digital Notes with Tiago Forte: An hour-long video seminar in which Forte describes the core concepts of his “Building a Second Brain” framework including “C.O.D.E.” (capture, organize, distill, and express). The session pays particular attention to the "capture" part of the note-taking process as it serves as a good entry-point for novice note-takers. [Webinars of this sort frequently upsell paid-content. You can minimize the explicit shilling by skipping the introduction and final 15 minutes of the program (the rest of the content is useful and informative).]
My 88-Year-Old Grandfather's Approach to Habit-Forming: Look to your elders for pointers, in many cases they've engaged in repeated activities longer than you've been alive.
Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity: A 2007 post by Mark Andreessen (entrepreneur and investor) with enduring and practical tips: don't keep an overly rigid schedule (engage in unstructured productivity), keep only three lists (a to-do list, a watch list, and a later list), jot down your next-day priorities every night before you go to bed.
Priorities: Ben Werdmüller reminds us to reflect on our relationship with work and what’s important: "Will you wish you spent more time in the office, or more time living?"
Thinking:
How Philosophers Think: The title is a bit misleading, but David Perrell offers a thoughtful critique on fashionable thinking, groupthink, ideological conformity and the way social media incentivizes and rewards superficial ideas. The more contemplative, rigorous, and potentially unpopular conclusions of thoughtful philosophical inquiry is at odds with a world that values likability over the truth.
How to Do Long Term: We know that compounding is a profoundly powerful phenomenon in investing, careers, and relationships, but having the mental fortitude to engage in long-term behavior is tough. Morgan Housel identifies key hurdles.
The Truth about Lying: Research suggests that nonverbal cues believed to be valid indicators of lying (e.g., averting the eyes, shifting posture, etc.) are unreliable. There are promising avenues for improved lie detection, but law enforcement and other institutional authorities are still far behind the curve.
What Magic Teaches Us about Misinformation: Tim Harford writes about the challenge of seeing that which hides under our nose in plain sight. We pay far less attention and observe far less than we think we do, which has far-reaching consequences for the information we consume.
Trends:
Employees are Quitting Rather than Giving up Work from Home: "The push by some employers to get people back into offices is clashing with workers who’ve embraced remote work as the new normal."
How the World Ran out of Everything: Lean inventories, sidelined workers, reduced production and distribution capacity, and a surge in post-pandemic consumer demand have resulted in significant shortages in a wide range of goods from lumber to microchips.
In Praise of Small Menus: Rachel Sugar reports on the post-pandemic trend where small, high-end, and chain restaurants are downsizing their menus to reduce food and labor costs. The upshot: simpler decision-making for non-picky restaurant patrons (something I appreciate).
Innovation is Inherently Controversial: Dave Nadig interviews ARK Invest's Cathie Woods on investment strategy, financial outlook, transformative technologies, inflation, and more.
Podcasts
Freakonomics: How to Get Anyone to Do Anything: Social psychologist Robert Cialdini converses with journalist Stephen Dubner. Cialdini recently released a new, expanded edition of his classic, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (which is the current book I'm reading).
How to Be a Better Human: How to Spend Money to Buy Happiness: Guest Michael Norton suggests that money can buy us happiness, we just spend it on the wrong things. Norton’s recommendations: spend money on others, spend money on experiences, and spend money in advance and consume the purchase later (to increase the period of anticipation). [Shoutout to reader Sam H. who recommended this via Syncify.]
We Study Billionaires: The Psychology of Money: Host Trey Lockerbie's wide-ranging conversation with financial writer Morgan Housel looks at the importance of financial behavior, patience, risk, luck, and the importance of "knowing what game you're playing." Attentive readers will notice this week’s newsletter offers a double-dose of Housel—I never tire of his content.
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