Patricia Mou

We’re used to outgrowing things that no longer fit. What about when we outgrow everything we thought we were supposed to want?

The linear approach imagines that the meaning of our lives can be reduced to a mission, like the kind that fixes saints, heroes and social reformers in the historical imagination.

8. Relentless Consistency.  Many people are able to produce bursts of energy. Few people are able to produce consistent, steady flows of energy.

A couple of months ago I pursued a new habit. Every night I pulled out a pad of paper and filled a blank page with answers to the question “What do I want in life?” (This is an exercise based on Jim O’Shaughnessy’s excellent six-part Thinker & Prover thread.) Unearthing my desires was painstaking work.

There are a few things that you cannot skip: 1) health, 2) sales/copywriting, 3) new technology/innovations and 4) customer service. No matter what you start and where you end up you need to learn all four.  

If boredom is a necessary ingredient, then portable internet is a disaster for doing the work.

Note that seeking happiness as an end might be counterproductive. Many people report that constantly checking to see if they are happy actually decreases their happiness - a report that fits with the research on "flow." It may be better to seek some of the above goals as ends, and happiness will be a side-effect.

That thing that made you weird as a kid could make you great as an adult — if you don’t lose it.