Welcome to Monday Dispatch, a bonus publication for premium subscribers with additional notes, deep dives, reading recommendations, and business updates.
Before getting started, I want to plug a podcast conversation with some of my favorite thinkers on productivity, performance, and how we interact with technology. If you enjoy my writing, you’ll enjoy Farewell’s episode 31: Let’s Make Work — and Technology — Less Insane.
Ten Mantras To Live By
While I’m skeptical of simple solutions to complex problems, I find there’s something powerful in having mantras.
Mantras, in this context, are concise and memorable wrappers for nuanced concepts or values. They work as handles you can use to lift an otherwise complex schema of ideas in your working memory or metaphorically hand it over to a family or team member that shares that meme (of the Dawkins kind).
Recently, I’ve been gathering mantras to help me stay focused, grounded, and committed to improving.
Here are the ten I’ve been using the most.
I hope you’ll find them as valuable. Let me know what you think.
1. Problems Are Inevitable. Problems Are Soluble
This is one of the core ideas from The Beginning of Infinity.
Problems are inevitable. There is no such thing as equilibrium or sustainability because every solution creates a new set of problems.
But that’s okay because problems are also soluble—once you know how to do so.
The proviso is crucial. Problems won’t solve themselves. We need to roll up our sleeves and get to work on them.
2. The Obstacle Is The Way
The problems are obstacles between the state you are in now and the state you want to be.
In The Obstacle Is The Way, Ryan Holiday channels the writings of Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and other Stoic philosophers to remind us how each challenge in life is an opportunity for growth.
The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition.
3. Don’t Wish It Was Easier. Wish You Were Better
A natural reaction when facing a problem is to wish it was easier. When you find an obstacle, it’s natural to wish it wasn’t there.
Jim Rohn encourages us to take a different, proactive approach. Don’t wish things were easier. Wish you were better.
Problems won’t solve themselves. Obstacles won’t magically get out of your way.
The only rational approach is to get better yourself.
4. Discipline Equals Freedom
Getting better takes time.
Whether you want to be stronger, learn new skills, or get a better job to support your family, those improvements don’t happen overnight. You need discipline to keep showing up day after day, regardless of how you feel and regardless of how little progress you seem to have made.
Eventually, all the work you put in compounds in noticeable improvements. Those improvements give you freedom.
You buy freedom with discipline.
5. What can I do today that will make everything else easier or unnecessary?
This is a question, but who said that questions, even long ones like this, can’t be mantras?
I wrote about this question, which I discovered via Gary W. Keller, in the past. It’s a helpful lens to adopt during decision-making.
Asking it throughout the day is a great way to bring attention back to your goals and priorities. It’s a way to make life easier for your future self.
Looking for actions that can make everything else easier or unnecessary reveals connection and second-order effects. Instead of mindlessly picking up the next item in the queue, you force yourself to think of the bigger picture. You purposely imagine the unfolding chain of events and how to stir them in your favor.
6. Pay Now Or Pay Later
Most things in life come with a price. Either you pay now, or you risk paying later—with interest.
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