Life Advice
unoptimal and
Life Advice
on the futility of advice
“I hope you live without the need to dominate, and without the need to be dominated. I hope you are never victims, but I hope you have no power over other people. And when you fail, and are defeated, and in pain, and in the dark, then I hope you will remember that darkness is your country, where you live, where no wars are fought and no wars are... See more
Ursula LeGuin (1983)
It’s much easier to write a playbook than it is to do a hard thing.
Julie Zhuo • The Looking Glass: Faith and skepticism
be suspicious of the teachings of any playbook or framework. your exact context is different from what the advice-giver or framework author have experience with.
"Productivity is most important for things you don't want to be doing. Most people want to increase productivity so they can spend less time on the task.
But before you worry about being more productive, think about being more selective. Rather than focusing on increasing productivity, it may be worth asking, "What would I be delighted to spend... See more
But before you worry about being more productive, think about being more selective. Rather than focusing on increasing productivity, it may be worth asking, "What would I be delighted to spend... See more
3-2-1: The excuses we live by, how to handle your mistakes, and when productivity doesn't matter
In the famous book “The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying” author Ware Bronnie, who was caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives, summarized the 5 regrets as follows:
—I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
—I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.... See more
Generic, uncontextualized advice is a menace- by definition it attracts the lost and the confused and only makes them more lost and more confused. Even the seemingly most universal, failsafe advice of the ‘work hard’, ‘try your best’, and ‘believe in yourself’ ilk, can be disastrous for certain people. It can merely act as a motivator and energy... See more
Thomas Bevan • On The Futility of Offering Advice
Court rejection
Ask for things. Ask for things that feel unreasonable , to make sure your intuitions about what’s reasonable are accurate (of course, try not to be a jerk in the process). If you’re only asking for things you get, you’re not aiming high enough.
Ask for things. Ask for things that feel unreasonable , to make sure your intuitions about what’s reasonable are accurate (of course, try not to be a jerk in the process). If you’re only asking for things you get, you’re not aiming high enough.
Cate Hall • How to Be More Agentic
Novelist Charles Kingsley on happiness:
“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”