[antifragile 4 🔥] a Shogun quote about good thoughts, the 3-sided column, a better way to shuffle on Spotify, an idea on enjoying life (or not)
#8: a weekly newsletter on leveraging fatherhood into massive personal growth (plus the occasional fun find). on being the fire and wishing for the wind.
Welcome to the 8th edition of The Antifragile Dad’s newsletter, the antifragile 4 🔥.
It’s a weekly 4-item newsletter on leveraging fatherhood into massive personal growth (plus the occasional fun find). Expect it every Friday.
Here’s this week’s antifragile 4 🔥:
a quote from Shogun 🏯 about the effort of good thoughts.
a 3-sided concept 🏛️ from Alfred Adler on facing negativity.
a dynamic playlist from Spotify 🎧 that’s WAY better than regular shuffle/radio.
an idea 💡 on enjoying life right now, or not.
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1.) a quote from Shogun 🏯 about the effort of good thoughts.
To think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If you leave your mind to itself it will spiral down into ever increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires effort. This is one of the things that discipline and training is all about.
-James Clavell, Shogun
🙏🏻 to Coach Steve for sharing.
2.) a 3-sided concept 🏛️ from Alfred Adler on facing negativity.
I found this concept in The Courage to Be Disliked - a brilliant little narrative created by Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga illustrating the ideas of Alfred Adler’s school of psychology. Would highly recommend the audiobook version.
This concept - which is used in CBT - argues that you have 3 responses to choose from when faced with a tough situation.
Blame “that bad person”
Feel sorry for “poor me”
Figure out “what I do next”
Imagine each is written on the side of a triangular column. If you’re stuck looking from the perspective of only seeing the “that bad person” and “poor me” sides of the column, it’s impossible to see the only productive way forward - “figuring out what I do next”.
Do you ever find yourself blaming others or feeling sorry for yourself? Ya brother, me too.
Instead, turn the column and figure out how we powerfully move forward.
3.) a dynamic playlist from Spotify 🎧 that’s WAY better than regular shuffle/radio.
Ever noticed that Spotify’s shuffle & radio play the same songs over and over and over and over? Drives me nuts. Seriously, how many times can Hotel California reasonably play in a 2-hour span?
Enter Daylist - a below-the-radar dynamic Spotify playlist that refreshes every few hours, based on what you usually listen to at that time of day.
Not only does it give a better variety of whatever music you typically listen to, it creates the most wonderful (and downright odd) playlist titles.
Here’s one from a fellow dad 😂. Hoping it doesn’t reveal the future…
The playlist was exquisite though (thus why I saved it!).
This is mine right now 😌:
This link should take you to your Daylist, otherwise just search “Daylist” in Spotify. And for the love of god please share your weird titles with me.
Shout out to Garrett for sharing this! Game-changer!
4.) an idea 💡 on enjoying life right now, or not.
If you can’t enjoy your life as it is right now, you’ll have a hard time enjoying it at some distant point in the future. No amount of money or possessions or new jobs or travel or achievements will change that.
It’s your mind that must change.
Figure out how to enjoy life today, exactly as it is, and you will enjoy it forever.
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I have 3 asks for you this week:
Tell someone they’re incredible. Can be for a reason or just because.
Schedule some kind of quiet time, just for dad. Could be meditation, could be journaling, could be walking, could be doing nothing. You pick. 5+ Minutes.
Be fire and wish for the wind 🔥
With love,
Chris