[Antifragile 4 🔥] ✍️ claiming elusive habits, 🧠 dropping IQs, 🔌 pulling the plug on a screen, 🪷 passage from Siddhartha
#59: a weekly 4-item newsletter created to inspire dads to use the challenges of fatherhood as fuel for building an incredible life & an antifragile mind.
Welcome to the 59th edition of the antifragile 4 🔥.
This week we’re talking about elusive habits, IQs starting to drop and small steps to a more fulfill day. Plus a lovely breathe of fresh air from Siddhartha.
I hope you enjoy.
With love,
Chris
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Here’s this week’s antifragile 4 🔥:
how to ✍️ 🎨 do that thing you say you want to do but haven’t done yet
some thoughts on 🧠 📉 the Reverse Flynn Effect
an experiment 🔌 📱 with pulling the plug on one screen
a lovely passage 🪷 from Siddhartha
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1.) how to ✍️ 🎨 do that thing you say you want to do but haven’t done yet
After years of trying and failing to make time for her illustration work, by taming her to-do list and shuffling her schedule, Abel saw that her only viable option was to claim time instead—to just start drawing, for an hour or two, every day, and to accept the consequences, even if those included neglecting other activities she sincerely valued.
Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks
No amount of hyper-efficiency or schedule massaging will give you the time you need to do that thing that you’ve always said you wanted to do.
You must claim that time instead.
You must claim it in spite of money.
In spite of your to-do list.
In spite of expectations.
In spite of what your own brain is screaming at you.
In spite of the negative forces Steven Pressfield calls Resistance.
Resistance is the most toxic force on the planet. It is the root of more unhappiness than poverty, disease, and erectile dysfunction.
Steven Pressfield, The War of Art
You must simply do the thing. Whatever it is.
Write, paint, draw, sit, watch, listen, read, dig, tinker, walk.
And accept with open arms the guilt and fear and worry that will be heaped on in generous portions.
But know that doing the thing (your thing) is an act of bravery. It’s an act of defiance against a culture that tells you to shut up and produce something “worthwhile”. Something it considers “useful”.
So claim your time. Make it 30 minutes or make it 8 hours. Whatever.
And start doing the thing you’ve wanted to do.
2.) some thoughts on 🧠 📉 the Reverse Flynn Effect
Since WWII, measured IQ scores have consistently gone up - a trend first noted by James Flynn and coined the Flynn Effect. Our society was getting smarter. A lot smarter (30+ point IQ rise over the 20th century).
This was attributed to improved education systems, better nutrition & healthcare and generally more cognitively stimulating environments.
But in the last 15 years, scientists have noticed IQ scores in certain countries beginning to dip (Reverse Flynn Effect). And while it’s important to note that these are not massive dips (we’re not on an express train to Idiocracy), it is a signal we need to be paying attention to.
But what’s the cause?
There’s no smoking gun, but many suspect that supercomputer in your pocket might have something to do with it.
Granted there are plenty of other significant contributors (obesity), but being that IQ tests required deep abstract thinking and screen time incentivizes the exact opposite in shallow, distracted browsing, it’s hard to not count it as a primary factor.
I offer this as simply another data point for you to consider in developing a philosophy of technology for you and your family.
3.) an experiment 🔌 📱 with pulling the plug on one screen
Speaking of screens…despite the fact that I successfully limit the time spent browsing on devices, I still manage to find myself plunked in front of the things for 8-12 of my waking hours.
I work and write on my laptop.
My kids’ monitors are on an app.
My wife and I often watch something at the end of the night.
Plus whatever additional obligatory phone screen time is required for modern life.
It feels like digital quick sand.
But there’s one screen I’m deciding to experiment with pulling the plug on; my Kindle.
Despite the fact that it’s the dumbest of all the devices I own (10 years old, incapable of internet browsing), there’s something about bathing my face in white digital light before I fade into sleep that doesn’t feel aligned with my developing philosophy of technology.
I want fewer screens and more tangible things.
It’s not revolutionary. Lots of people do it. But it’s one of those small adjustments that could lead to a more enjoyable day. And I’m trying to stack those.
4.) a lovely passage 🪷 from Siddhartha
Here’s a beautiful passage to take you into your peaceful weekend.
The Buddha went on his way, modestly and deep in his thoughts.
His calm face was neither happy nor sad. He seemed to smile quietly and inwardly. With a hidden smile, quiet, calm, somewhat resembling a healthy child, the Buddha walked, wore the robe and placed his feet just as all of his monks did, according to a precise rule.
But his face and his walk, his quietly lowered glance, his quietly dangling hand and even every finger of his quietly dangling hand expressed peace, expressed perfection, did not search, did not imitate, breathed softly in a continuous calm, in an undying light, an untouchable peace.
Herman Hesse, Siddhartha
Three last things for you this week:
Is there a screen you can pull the plug on? Can you plug in something tangible?
Be fire and wish for the wind 🔥
With love,
Chris
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