Reminders for myself
What you leave behind is not what is engraved on stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.
- PERICLES
Kurt Vonnegut, talking about when he tells his wife he’s going out to buy an envelope:
“Oh, she says well, you’re not a poor man. You know, why don’t you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I’m going to have a hell of a good time in the process of b
... See morethere's something transformative about achieving a third-person perspective on the contents of your mind by externalizing them on paper. You know how it's often easy to see what someone else needs to do about their problems? Externalising your thoughts can trigger similar insights on your own behalf. And even when it doesn't, the shift in perspecti... See more
Oliver Burkeman • Three pages a day
50 things I know
open.substack.com
I know that talent doesn’t feel like you’re amazing. It feels like the difficulties that trouble others are mysteriously absent in your case. Don’t ask yourself where your true gifts lie. Ask what other people seem weirdly bad at.
Too many people think the grass is greener somewhere else but grass is green where you water it, remember that.
Yes! Love this.
A great way to understand yourself is to seriously reflect on everything you find irritating in others.
Evolve or remain