[antifragile 4 🔥 - constraints edition ⛓️] key constraint to record-breaking ultramarathons, stoics on the greatest constraint of all, Dr. Seuss' 50-word challenge, a book on doing less but better
#30: 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.
Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere. - GK Chesterton
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Welcome to the 30th edition of the antifragile 4 🔥.
It’s 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. Some weeks will have a theme, others will meander. Expect it every Friday.
This week, we’re talking constraints ⛓️.
My life has been purposefully built around freedom & flexibility. I hated my first corporate job out of college and never wanted to be forced into that life again. So, after being indoctrinated by the Four Hour Work Week, I set out to create a life “on my own terms” (or so us millennials say).
This involved some intention and plenty of luck (namely finding my wife & finding PlayBetter). But it worked out. I had very few formal constraints in my life.
And while this is a gift many people would kill for (and one I don’t take for granted), it wasn’t until I had some cute, diaper-wearing constraints birthed into my life that I realized the infinite freedom & flexibility I had created may have actually been preventing me from doing things I wanted to do.
It’s completely paradoxical, but for years I had claimed to want to 1.) get up before 5AM to exercise and 2.) write a consistent publication. I never did either for more than a few days.
Guess what? With two kids, I do both of those things now. While also running a business + doing everything else that modern life demands. WTF is going on??
Well, if I don’t exercise at 5AM, I don’t get to exercise. Period. And Daddy needs to move his body.
As for the writing, it’s less of a time constraint and more of a focus constraint. Being an incredible dad doesn’t necessarily mean you need to think about fatherhood a lot. But it sure helps me. And writing helps to process the glut of ideas that line that road of modern parenting.
It’s wild to say, but it’s because I had kids - and the constraints that come along with them - that I’ve finally been able to do some of the things I’ve always wanted to do.
That’s why this week is the constraint edition ⛓️. Perhaps one of the items will inspire you to experiment with new constraints or even see existing constraints as gifts, rather than obstacles.
Here is this week’s antifragile 4 🔥 - constraint edition ⛓️:
ultramarathoner David Roche ⛰️ 👶🏻 on the key constraint to his record-breaking performances
the ancient Stoics 🏛️ on the greatest of all constraints
a 50-word challenge 🍳 laid down by Dr. Seuss’ publisher
a book 📚 on the power of pursuing less
+ AI Image of the Week 🤖 🎨
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1.) ultramarathoner David Roche ⛰️ 👶🏻 on the key constraint to his record-breaking performances
Last year, David Roche smashed the course record at the Leadville 100 ultramarathon. I wrote about him previously. We’re also oddly similar - same age, same age kids, from Maryland, lived in Colorado, similar-ish mile paces (😅). Maybe we’ll be friends someday.
He’s making a documentary on his road to the Western States ultramarathon (the oldest & most prestigious ultra in the world) and he said something towards the end of the first episode that inspired this newsletter edition:
One really wild thing about my athletic journey is that a lot of the biggest breakthrough in ultras didn’t happen until we had our first kid.
David Roche
It’s not just the focus but the outpouring of love that comes with bringing a child into the world. A potent combination for any journey.
2.) the ancient Stoics 🏛️ on the greatest of all constraints
Death. The granddaddy of all constraints.
At the core of Stoic philosophy lives the concept of Memento Mori, which translates to “Remember that you must die”.
It’s helpful to remember that our days are not infinite. There is no guarantee on any set amount. We could go at any time.
Why not use that as motivation to live the life you want to live? To eat the frog you’ve been putting off for so long. To mend the relationship. Take the chance. Say “I love you” a few more times.
Here are a few bangers from the Stoics on death:
Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.
Marcus Aurelius
Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life's books every day.
Seneca
It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.
Epictetus
You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.
Marcus Aurelius
3.) a 50-word challenge 🍳 laid down by Dr. Seuss’ publisher
In 1960, Dr. Seuss's publisher, Bennett Cerf, bet him that he couldn't write a book using only 50 unique words. Dr. Seuss took the challenge.
The result?
Green Eggs and Ham.
One of the most beloved children’s books of all time.
I’ve read it to my older son no less than a hundred times. And it was sparked by what feels like an impossible constraint for writing a book.
4.) a book 📚 on the power of pursuing less
Essentialism by Greg McKeown. (I read this years ago, but upon revisiting for the newsletter I’ve decided I need to read it again. So good.)
Less but better is the TL;DR of this book.
It teaches that embracing constraints allows you to focus on what truly matters by eliminating the trivial and channeling your energy toward the essential.
Here are a few of my favorite highlights from the book:
If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will…When we don’t purposefully and deliberately choose where to focus our energies and time, other people—our bosses, our colleagues, our clients, and even our families—will choose for us, and before long we’ll have lost sight of everything that is meaningful and important. We can either make our choices deliberately or allow other people’s agendas to control our lives.
Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done. It doesn’t mean just doing less for the sake of less either. It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.
Only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.
AI Image of the Week 🤖 🎨
The Stoics and the Grim Reaper running an ultramarathon in the rocky mountains.
Two last things for you this week:
Pick an existing constraint or build a new one and lean into it. Proudly say NO more often. Do less, but better.
Be fire and wish for the wind 🔥
With love,
Chris
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