What is it about lists that we find so irresistible? As far as I can tell, no one has tried to figure it out (though it’s possible there are psychologists who have solved the mystery, and I just haven’t seen their work). Maybe it has to do with the promise of something both finite and complete, distilling the world down to something you can manage and then be done with. The world is full of photos of cute corgis, but these 37 are the cutest, and once you’ve seen them not only will your day be a little sweeter but you need search no more for cute corgi photos. It could also be the attraction of something easy to read—because it’s broken into small pieces, you know it won’t require too much work to read, you’ll be able to skim it easily, and if you want to read part of it and then stop, you’ll be able to.
What it takes…
An excerpt from an article in The New York Times - Dave Itzkoff interviews Louis C.K. Truth-bombs follow.
~~~
D: Does it matter that what you’ve achieved (…) can’t be replicated by other performers who don’t have the visibility or fan base that you do?
L: Why do you think those people don’t have the same resources that I have, the same visibility or relationship? What’s different between me and them?
D: You have the platform. You have the level of recognition.
L: So why do I have the platform and the recognition?
D: At this point you’ve put in the time.
L: There you go. There’s no way around that. There’s people that say: “It’s not fair. You have all that stuff.” I wasn’t born with it. It was a horrible process to get to this. It took me my whole life. If you’re new at this — and by “new at it,” I mean 15 years in, or even 20 — you’re just starting to get traction. Young musicians believe they should be able to throw a band together and be famous, and anything that’s in their way is unfair and evil. What are you, in your 20s, you picked up a guitar? Give it a minute.
(All emphases above were added by me. Read the full article here.)
~~~
Lesson: Put in the time to hone your craft, rather than fuming about obstacles. Be deliberate and patient with the process.
“Give it a minute.”
~ H
Related:
Till Roenneberg (Ludwigs-Maximillians-University, Munich) on social jet lag / delayed sleep phase disorder*.
Quick bites:
- Body clock = individual’s biological, internal time
- Sun clock = day / night cycle, light-driven time
- Social clock = society-driven time
- Social jet lag = what happens when one’s “body clock” does not match their life’s ascribed “social clock”
- Depending on your sleep-type, your “body clock” may sync up quite nicely with your home’s “sun clock”
Think you have social jet lag?
Think about your sleep patterns on socially-driven timetable days (e.g. workdays) and those when you set your own time (e.g. weekends). Are there differences?
Get curious: Discover your biological night by observing what time you go to sleep and wake up when the choice is 100% up to you (i.e. not driven by professional commitments, family timetables, social calendars, etc.) I wonder: anytime you’re not sleeping according to your biological night (so even if you’re getting enough hours, yet during the wrong times) are you then contributing to your sleep debt? Hmmm….
Implications & applications: education systems, workplace policy, nurturing relationships, output optimization, parenting… the list could go on for days. Piqued.
Simply sharing the video for a quick knowledge-grab - from the longer, more thorough posting on Brainpickings. Maria does a phenomenal job (as usual) with a juicy exposure to internal time, chronotypes, social jet lag, impact quotes, and more. Please do yourself a favor and read her full post here.
Sleep tight,
~ H
~~~
* For me, this is driven by curiosity. It’s not about labeling to exalt / vilify; there’s no necessary correlation between being a ‘late type’ (e.g. sleep from wee hours of the morning until afternoon) and being ‘lazy’. It’s about understanding the self to better function in the world. Let’s steer language in the right direction, and try not to use this as the next set of ‘things to be bullied for / disorders that big pharma can fix’. (Ok, people? APA? Ok, thanks.)
Why Dove’s “Real Beauty Sketches” Video Makes Me Uncomfortable… and Kind of Makes Me Angry
Because the message that we constantly receive is that girls are not valuable without beauty.
Brave, strong, smart? Not enough. You have to be beautiful. And “beautiful” means something very specific, and very physical. (…) And my primary problem with this Dove ad is that it’s not really challenging the message like it makes us feel like it is. It doesn’t really tell us that the definition of beauty is broader than we have been trained to think it is, and it doesn’t really tell us that fitting inside that definition isn’t the most important thing. It doesn’t really push back against the constant objectification of women. All it’s really saying is that you’re actually not quite as far off from the narrow definition as you might think that you are (if you look like the featured women, I guess).
(…)
Dove was right about one thing: you are more beautiful than you know. But please, please hear me: you are so, so much more than beautiful.
A few excerpts I resonated with, from a thoughtful critique by jazzylittledrops on the recently viral Dove Real Beauty Sketches campaign. (Read her full post here.)
Context, contrast, challenge. All sides, all ways.
Your thoughts?
~ H
Related:
~~~
So this video started going around my facebook today, with about a dozen of my female friends sharing the link with comments like, and “Everyone needs to see this”, and “All girls should watch this,” and “This made me cry.” And I’m not trying to shame those girls! I definitely understand why they would do so. And I don’t want to be a killjoy. But as I clicked the link and started watching the video, I started to feel a slight sense of discomfort. I couldn’t put my finger on why that was, exactly, but it continued throughout the whole thing. After watching the video several more times, I have some thoughts…
It is okay to be at a place of struggle. Struggle is just another word for growth. Even the most evolved beings find themselves in a place of struggle now and then. In fact, struggle is a sure sign to them that they are expanding; it is their indication of real and important progress.
“Turns out that I’d been running as fast as I could in the wrong direction.
(…)
Faced with epiphany, I turned around and started walking—not running—in the right (one).”
How Joshua Fields Millburn got Debt Free.
Big change: seemingly simple, sometimes. Hardly ever easy. 100% worth it, if it is true to you.
Baby steps.
~ H
“The Constant and The Flux”
Love the expressions - anticipation, joy, excitement, amusement, concentration…
Same yet different; different yet same.
~ H
» via cameronchristopher.
25 signs...
Titled “25 Signs You’re A Writer”. Given many of the points, I’d say this applies just as fittingly if one is:
- a creative
- an entrepreneur
- a curious human
Excerpts from 13 of the points pulled below. The full post here.
1. You take a pen and paper with you everywhere, sometimes even into bed with you, just in case you have an idea at three in the morning that absolutely must be remembered. That idea never usually ends up good, but like everything you say when you’re stoned, it sounded very good at the time.
2. You really, really want to buy a typewriter, even though you never expect to actually use it. You just want a typewriter because you’re one of the 10 people in the world who still finds them romantic and sexy. All of those people are writers.
4. You buy a lot of books you never, ever end up reading — just out of the thought that you might find time to read it someday. (…)
5. You will use almost anything as a bookmark or a writing pad in a jam — like receipts, money, bank slips, old envelopes, newspapers, unopened mail or death threats from your bank. You can’t throw out anything in your apartment without checking to see if it has writing on it first. That bag of popcorn could be important.
6. When you hear the words “I’m on deadline,” you immediately burst into action, a Pavlovian response to a) always having something due and b) always being behind on it. You’re certain that if they were able to make your procrastination into an energy source, it will solve our nation’s fuel crisis. Or at least make gas cheaper.
9. There are Amazon deliveries at your door almost every day. You’re certain that at this point, they have to know you by name.
16. Your dream job is to one day have a career that affords you to be in your pajamas all day or do all of your work from bed (…)
18. You sometimes refer to your self-imposed writing schedule as “going to work” or “working” and are often known to say “I have to work from 9 to 5 tomorrow.” (…)
21. People sometimes know things about you before you actually told them, like choice anecdotes or oddly personal information that you wouldn’t share on a second date. Then they tell you that they “read your blog” or “follow you on Tumblr.” (…)
22. You have a bad habit of solving your problems or conflicts by writing the person a letter, rather than just confronting them about it. (…)
23. You never stop writing something after you’re done with it, which makes publishing difficult. (…)
24. You have certain punctuation marks you can’t stop obsessively using (anyone who has read my work knows that girl loves dashes) and others you want obliterated from the face of the earth.(…)
25. You often put off major things until you’re done with this poem or this article — like showering, eating or (occasionally) breathing. (…)
Different yet same - we all have more in common than we may think.
~ H
“Everyday Things You Never Knew Had Names”
Fun lexical lesson to wrap up your Monday.
A bit of Friday love from dear Aristotle.
To provide context.
To lend a lens of relevance.
To ground in personal interest.
To ignite the passion for learning.
Head + heart.
~ H
Get curious - read this freebie. Serious knowledge-dropping, timeless advice. Apply liberally.
- How to Study - George Fillmore Swain (1917)
