Thoughtful living

I think there’s a certain kind of clichéd version of memento mori in the culture that says that life is very short, so you’ve therefore got to cram every minute of every day with being as impressive or unusual or generally high-octane as you possibly can.

And I don’t think that’s the point. I think the point is that when you really begin to let it... See more

It’s rare that life situations fall into a neat and tidy yes or no in terms of value alignment. We might be moving away from some values and toward other ones

the sense of fighting against time, the sense of being hounded by or oppressed by time — that is a very modern thing.

I think it’s a thing that people in the medieval period, for example, just wouldn’t have had to trouble with. This specific sense of racing against time — of trying to get on top of our lives and in control — and to make this the... See more

Do we really need to say that the only viable way for making a difference in the world has to be from this place of deficit? Do we all have to be what psychologists call “insecure overachievers” who are doing lots of things in the world but doing them fundamentally to fill a void or plug a hole?

So where I’m headed with all of this is to try to... See more

if someone wants to live an aesthetic life, then engaging with thought-provoking art can be transformative for them, compared to someone who isn’t interested in these values. It also matters how reflective the person is. Self-reflection might be what binds experiences together to make them count toward a well-lived life. When we deeply reflect on... See more

I was happy to stumble, a few months back, across the concept of MTO goalsetting, which fits perfectly here. For any goal you’re aiming to accomplish, this approach involves setting three levels of success: the Minimum, which you’re confident you’ll achieve; the Target, which is realistic but a bit of a stretch; and an Outrageous outcome, which... See more

The truly valuable skill is the one the three-to-four-hour rule helps to instill: not the capacity to push yourself harder but the capacity to stop and recuperate, despite the discomfort of knowing that the work remains unfinished.