[Antifragile 4 🔥] 🏔️ Staying ready, ☎️ Genius parenting idea, 🔪 Why your obsession with productivity is killing your productivity & 📚 Reading the same books as everyone else
#58: 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 58th edition of the antifragile 4 🔥.
I really enjoyed writing this week’s edition. As I do most weeks.
But I really enjoyed this one.
It hits on vital several areas; training (body/mind), modern technology parenting, productivity (redefining it) & intellectual independence.
I hope you enjoy.
With love,
Chris
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Here’s this week’s antifragile 4 🔥:
an idea 🏔️ ⚔️ on staying ready
an article ☎️ about a genius parenting idea
Joe Hudson 😣 🔪 on why your obsession with productivity is killing your productivity
an idea 📚 🧠 about reading the same books as everyone else
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1.) an idea 🏔️ on staying ready
You don’t have to get ready if you stay ready.
Backup NFL QB Case Keenum post-game interview after leading his team to victory having not started a game for 2.5 years
We never know what life is going to throw at us.
Which is why it’s vital that we stay ready.
Fortifying ourselves - be it physically or mentally - both prepares us for the knuckleballs the universe is bound to throw our way AND opens us to the wonder and enjoyment that comes with pushing the bounds of our assumed limits.
Physically - it could mean keeping your body strong, nimble and able to endure.
Mentally - it could mean continually strengthening your ability to observe your emotions and not let them steer them ship.
You don’t need to be training for anything in particular.
You’re just training for life.
Epictetus says that the whole point of philosophy is to be able to reply to adversity with one thing: This is what I’ve trained for.
Want to take physical readiness to a new level? Consider staying Everest Ready 🏔️
2.) an article ☎️ about a genius parenting idea
This article describes a group of parents banding together in the war against smartphones.
Their weapon of choice? Landlines.
The description of a little girl “sitting on the floor and twirling the landline’s cord around her fingers” made me so irrationally happy.
The author also cites a Reddit comment about going “full 90s”, which is worth posting in its entirety:
My 14-year-old does not have a phone. It is completely doable. We went full 90s - there is a landline for kiddo to use, we have a computer in the living room, we have an N64, etc;. Kiddo has a rich, full life and in many ways is mentally better off than classmates.
I'm a teacher. I can tell which kids got social media too early. I can tell which kids have unrestricted screen time. On the other hand, I can tell which kids actually read books or have interests they pursue outside of school.
I do not think that it is an overstatement to say that the type of screen time you give your kid can ultimately determine the type of person your kid turns out to be. This is from my experience with hundreds of teens.
Advice: find community with other like-minded families, and send your kid to a school with a bell-to-bell phone ban. They won't be left out of anything during school hours then. Keep your kid busy with stuff that interests them, and give them opportunities to connect socially in person.
For us, no smartphone until junior year.
Here’s what we know; unabated access to smartphones & social media has a demonstrably negative impact on a child’s development.
It creates kids who are more depressed and more anxious.
Kids who are less social and less resilient.
Kids who are less curious to explore the real world. Kids who are less likely to become adults who enjoy the miracle of being alive.
Kids who are less likely to become adults who make our world a better place.
Are landlines + going full 90s the panacea to this plague? No. No such thing exists.
It’s just us millennials throwing what worked for us at the most serious parenting issue of our time.
And while it’s not perfect, what in parenting is?
I think it’s a wonderful piece of the puzzle worth considering.
Thanks to Matt for the recommendation!
3.) Joe Hudson 😣 🔪 on why your obsession with productivity is killing your productivity
I’m moving away from fetishizing productivity and efficiency for it’s own sake (after a long career of it).
Because no amount of purely optimized productivity will leave you fulfilled at the end of the day. If fact, it’ll likely leave you feeling like you still haven’t done enough.
But! I also believe that doing great work - work that you’re proud of - is extremely fulfilling.
As human beings, it’s part of our DNA.
That’s why Joe Hudson’s take on productivity piqued my interest.
He draws a clear line between productivity for it’s own sake…
What I notice is most people, they just get hooked on the dopamine. I got stuff done today and that feels good.
It is literally paramount to playing a video game for eight hours a day. There's a feeling you get at the end of it, which is you're not all the way there, you feel like, oh my God, this was not a great use of my day.
There's an emotional hangover that comes with it, which is where I think a lot of people end a day of productivity.
…vs productivity as a result of pursuing enjoyment & meaning:
Whereas if your productivity is really serving your purpose in life, what you are meant to do, and your productivity is geared towards enjoyment of your life and making your life meaningful. Then it's a very different feeling being productive at the end of the day.
You can boil it down to; productivity as a result vs a goal.
In the effort of producing great work, you and your team’s enjoyment of the process tilts the odds strongly in your favor.
Check out the full episode to dive deeper.
Thanks to Coach Steve for the recommending Joe!
4.) an idea 📚 🧠 about reading the same books as everyone else
If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.
Haruki Murakami
Until recently, I’ve read almost exclusively best-sellers.
In a lot of ways, they’re great: Fun ideas. Easily digested. Creates common ground with others. You may even give the impression that you’re smart.
But of late, I’ve really enjoyed reading books that no one I know has read.
They’re dense. They make my head hurt. I have to re-read passages over and over and over.
But they encourage me to think in novel ways. Challenging what I considered common sense.
And for the first time in my life it feels like I’m intellectually paddling outside the main channel of society.
And that feels really good.
It feels like, after all these years, I’m starting to (gasp) think for myself instead of outsourcing the task to others.
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If this is a path that sounds appealing, I’d strongly suggest following your interests.
DO NOT read because you think it will make you sound smart or worldly.
And definitely DO NOT read out of guilt of what you should be reading or a desire to feel productive.
Read about something because it utterly fascinates you. Because you can’t stop thinking about it. Because, as C.S. Lewis says, you “want knowledge so badly that you seek it while the conditions are still unfavourable”.
I’ll leave you with an adopted version of a question from Naval Ravikant:
What would you read if you couldn't tell anyone about it?
Three last things for you this week:
Find a way to enjoy your work 5% more this week. See how that changes things.
Dig up a book that fascinates you and that no one you know has read. Dive in.
Be fire and wish for the wind 🔥
With love,
Chris
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