[antifragile 4 🔥] pantsless baseball, efficiency and meaning with Alabama, new protocol for X/Insta, future life dreaming, death quotes for life

#43: 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 43rd 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.

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I’m adding a short section with a snapshot from the week. A moment, big or small, that stuck with me…but under 50 words.

📸 50-Word Snapshot: We’re potty training. Day 1 is sans pants. Non-stop hilarity. My favorite was him (very seriously) lining up and then crushing his baseball off his tee…all with his cheeks hanging out 🍑 ⚾️.

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Here is this week’s antifragile 4 🔥:

1. Stephen West, Tim Ferriss and…Alabama? 🫱🏻 on efficiency and meaning

2. A new protocol I love 👀 for X & Instagram

3. the power of ✍️ dreaming about your future life

4. Martin Heidegger & The Eagles ☠️ ☺️ on death leading to life

❌ (no AI image this week)

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1.) Stephen West, Tim Ferriss and…Alabama? 🫱🏻 on efficiency and meaning

Before this interview, I had never heard of Stephen West or his podcast, Philosophize This!. I’m now a couple episodes in and completely hooked.

But what caught me in the conversation was the exchange at 54:18 on trading efficiency for meaning:

I will sacrifice efficiency for meaning a lot of times. And it doesn’t make me the most productive, but it — the way I justify to myself is, it’s a long play. I want to still be doing this for my family in 20 years. I want to still be writing and loving what I’m doing.

Stephen West

Tim then responded with this…

If you land on some type of number, whether it’s ill-defined or very precisely defined, for what you are worth, what your time is worth per hour, you can end up feeling the agony of wasting time, anytime a minute is sacrificed doing something that you don’t think is high leverage, and that ends up being a very painful way to go through life.

Tim Ferriss

I know the agony he’s referring to. The agony of not choosing the efficient path.

Of not sticking militantly adhering to my “Most Important” task list.

Of not planning my day out in neat 15-minute blocks.

Of choosing the easy task first instead of Eating That Frog.

For god’s sake, I get pissed at myself for not taking the most efficient route to get Indian food. Even taking the less efficient route through my own home to the kitchen.

And for what? What am I rushing towards? What gruesome fate awaits me if I don’t produce at 100% efficiency, 24/7/365?

Brings to mind this 90’s country wisdom from Alabama…

I’m in a hurry to get things done
Oh I rush and rush until life’s no fun

All I really gotta do is live and die
But I’m in a hurry and don’t know why.

Alabama

I love to create, to produce. But on occasion (perhaps most occasions), I need to remember to slow down. To enjoy the views, the smells, the moments.

None of us are getting out of this thing alive. No sense in rushing it.

(Bonus: The music video for “I'm in a Hurry (And Don't Know Why)” is the most 90’s thing ever created. You are so very welcome.)

2.) New protocols I love 👀 for X & Instagram

Until recently, I’ve been off X & Instagram. I felt curious, so I got back on both. Here’s what I found:

1. I find some really interesting ideas on X.

2. The longer I’m on X, the worse I feel about everything.

3. I really dislike looking at Instagram alone.

4. I love looking at Instagram Reels with my wife.

So, based on these, here are the new protocols I’ve been enjoying:

1. I look at X until I find ONE valuable nugget. I document it, and I close it out. This gives me a little taste, a little value and has (so far) avoided doomscrolling.

2. I mostly look at Instagram with my wife. This one is easier because of how “shouty” it feels watching it alone. But we were in tears last night watching these reels. Hard to think of a better use.

Simply the next iteration in my perma-journey of learning how to use social media in a net-positive way.

Question - does anyone use Blue Sky regularly? Do you find it provides different value from X? I’ve heard lots of mixed reviews. Interested in your experience.

3.) the power of ✍️ dreaming about your future life

Speaking of X…here’s one of my nuggets!

I’ve written future "Visions” of myself since my early twenties and am still astounded at how much of it has come true. Most of these entries I have zero recollection of writing. But whether it has to do with my relationship, or kids, or creativity, or work, or wealth, or fitness - there are eerily accurate predictions sprinkled throughout.

Granted, there’s plenty of stuff that hasn’t happen yet (still waiting on that photo in NatGeo).

But there’s something magical about laying the groundwork for what you want your future to look like. It’s a practice I’m going to be revisiting.

4.) Martin Heidegger & The Eagles ☠️ ☺️ on death leading to life

We haven’t had a good death quote in a while.

If I take death into my life, acknowledge it, and face it squarely, I will free myself from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of life – and only then will I be free to become myself.

Martin Heidegger

Memento mori. Remember that you will die, so that you may live.

To quote one of my dad’s favorites:

We may lose,
and we may win.

But we will never be here again.

The Eagles, Take it Easy

The days are fleeting. Beauty is everywhere. Enjoy it.

AI Image of the Week 🤖 🎨

We’re taking a break from AI Image of the Week.

Go touch some grass 👐 🌱

Two last things for you this week:

1. Find beauty in something small. The back of your hand. A leaf. Tree bark. The reflection in your coffee. Breeze on your face.

2. Be fire and wish for the wind 🔥

With love,
Chris

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