Don’t worry about efficiency and worry about output

I have always thought that being efficient was the way to go for planning my faily schedule, it is only recently that I have come to discover a better way to do it.

We want to look at what you have accomplished during the week rather than how efficient you made everything. Why care about saving your commute if at the end of the week you didn’t write any stories or blog posts.

From now on I don’t worry about if this is the most efficient way of doing it – I just think – what do I have to get done today! Whats needed to be done this week so that I can achieve my goals.

Like a sniper looks through his sights, this aligns your goals for the week!

Heading nowhere to your goals

Did you set lofty goals at the beginning of this year?

And did you forget about them and now realise it is already October again – this time 2022?

Don’t worry – let’s start again next year in 2023?

You are falling into the trap that keeps you the same every year.

Start on your goals tomorrow!

I will tell you how in my post tomorrow – so stay tuned!

What does the ace of swords mean

Ace of Swords Upright Meaning

This suit represents the rational mind and its ability to discriminate. Swords cut through things in order to pierce illusion to differentiate between fantasy and reality.

In the image of this Ace, a single upraised sword represents your prime motive or guiding ideal — the vision that guides you through life’s changing fortunes with single-minded clarity.

The sword is sometimes shown piercing a silver and/or laurel crown, a symbol of optimism implying evolution, progress, a sense of hope and victory. It is occasionally shown pointed downwards — a darker message, which refers to sacrifice, challenges and a critical environment.

Ace of Swords Reversed Meaning

The Ace of Swords reversed suggests that you are not allowing yourself to see the one thing that matters most. You may be using reason to create obstacles rather than cto cut through them.

Stop clinging to illusions. Look again at your biases, the preconceptions you bring to situations. Ask yourself how you could represent circumstances in a less self-serving manner and perhaps get a better outcome. Reexamine your perspective so you can help break down barriers.

Ace of Swords Advice Position

You are steady–you are about to reach your objective. There may be no need to hesitate. Just concentrate on making your impact. This could be your moment. The arrow is pointed straight at the target. Your eye is keen, your grip is firm. Let that arrow fly! If you set aside distractions and hit your mark, you will be rewarded with insight and clarity.

Remember that this is not the time to hold back, worrying about the consequences. When you access this level of truth, you are very likely to cut through all illusion and nonsense.

Help yourself before you help others

Do you feel like you have the right answer? What you are doing is the correct way to go about things? That you wouldn’t do things any other way?

Well, I can tell you for a fact that you are not wrong – everyone we meet is living with ideas and theories that they think is correct and right. Otherwise they wouldn’t be doing it – right?

When i was younger, the idea that everyone has their own thoughts was foreign to me. As i got older, i realised that everyone is working to achieve the very best for themselfs and based upon the story they tell themselves.

Some familiar tropes that we all often hear:

• she is out of my league, she wouldn’t go for someone like me
• that is so dangerous, you must be crazy to attempt or have that idea
• better settle down before its too late
• we need to trade time for money
• we can’t be happy until we get what we want

The natural narratives and programming that society has established restricts our ability to do what we want and funnels our actions into a narrow subset. Else, if we think in probabities – this is the normal distribution of actions to ensure a stable societ. Whether rightly or wrongly.

The mere thought that you do something outside the familiar tropes will leave you in mediocristan living a median life. That may be good for some people, but i hope it isn’t what you want.

Putting it all together – I think that things that our outside the normal distribution are going to be labelled as crazy, or weird. And we should not let others’ opinion influence our decision.

IF the decision has high upside and low downside. GO FOR IT. There is very little to lose and all to gain.

What i learned from the great book thinking in bets

After reading this book I have noted some mental models or techniques that help you in your decision making

Keeping the door ajar (90% certainty of your beliefs).

Leaving some doubt so that the idea or action can be discussed. If we invert this idea, the likelihood that you are 100% correct 100% of the time is 0. It is irrational to belive that you are 100% correct so why are we so certain of all the choices that we make?

Ulysses contract (be proactive)

A Ulysses pact or Ulysses contract is a freely made decision that is designed and intended to bind oneself in the future. … The term refers to the pact that Ulysses (Greek name Ὀδυσσεύς, Odysseus) made with his men as they approached the Sirens – He tied himself to the mast so he could avoid the beautiful song of the sirens.

10 minutes – 10 hours – 10 years (first order/ second order effects)

Put your position out from where you stand and thinking about the impacts or likelihoods then

back casting (beginning with the end in mind)

If we put ourselves in the final position and look back, do you think of how naive we were for the original idea?

pre mortem (ante)

instead of a post mortem – conduct a premorterm to determine what you have and why you have made these decisions. this will allow you to review and adjust your decision making with the benefit of hindsight.

Related books

• thinking win- win. Story about battling with your partners. Losses of serotonin when someone ‘loses’. Change the frame
• Sharpen the saw (cointunous improvement – habits book)

Visual Intelligence – sharpen your perception

A few cliff notes that i remember about the book

• When we describe a scene, we should aim to be thorough and use objective language and not leading (subjective). For example, when looking at a picture of a older lady and baby, we should not jump to the conclusion that she is the baby’s mother. We simply do not have enough information to reach this conclusion. This is similar concept of being more rational (limiting your language to more discrete descriptions).
• When we look at a painting, the interesting thing is not the painting itself, but our life experiences affecting how we describe the painting. For example, a dentist will tend to look at a peron’s tooth first, a doctor look for medical signals and an architect will admire the background. This is what is interesting about paintings beause it creates discussions from the alternative viewpoints created by people’s life experiences.
• The perceiving eye vs the observing eye. When we look at an item we see it and recognise for what it is. We make a decision on this item in a snapshot (honed in from our forefathers – lest we get eaten by bears). We do not have the luxury of time to take a step back to really understand what is happening and examine our first impressions. So understand your first impressions and examine their weighting regiously. Take a step back and use our perceiving eye.
• So really we should consider it in two-fold action. We can perceive and try to fit within our existing mental models, but we should also describe only what is happening and to free our mind from jumping to conclusions.
• This is the next level and you can really see the problems created by using particular language. You are there to sell and enforce your language set and have the person react to this new language system.
• When using the perceiving eye, it pays to turn your head and not be target focused and only look at one thing. We should observe the communiation /language that leaks from the body. Touch is something small and can be perceived greatly by a women because you are invading her persona space. Something that does not happen daily. We are separated from our connection with the physical word – focusing on the experience of our minds
• Understand that things are different from another angle. If you control frame or tackle the problem from the side this is enough to break down any resistance or to apply force from another angle. Just like in bjj – there is only resistance on one side. And you can try to overpower on the one side or seek another path which is easier. To complain that they are ‘too strong’ releases you have the onus to seek another solution/path. Take a step back and revaluate your choices and actions.

My takeaways:

• Guard the language that I use and recognise my first impressions and provide weighting accordingly
• Keep my thoughts in the present and actually listen to what the person has to say
• Don’t get caught up in my thoughts and use my perceiving eye

My takeaways from the Sovereign Individual

I recently read this book and is what I learnt:

• The recent period of middle class and less inequality was a outlier and not the norm. Throughout history you will you find examples where there was a wealth disparity between peoples. This is in effect of compounding your habits (or wealth) where in those productive people kept on producing. Causing inequality of outcomes
• the internet will break down abritrage opportunities. No longer will your job be priced to be done in the country you live in if someone else from a lower cost location can do it. Note that this is also includes your fellow countrymen living in those lower cost locations. Those lower cost locations are no longer the deprived locations as seen in ages past.
• the internet forces you to compete with everyone, and also gives you opportunity to network with anyone. Harder to get in, but when you do – there is alot more money to be made
• we live with the tyranny of location – the internet will allow you to be break free from that and thus the government will act more like businesses nowadays, trying to entice the best customers

After understanding the above things, here is how to put it into practice

• Build that second and third income on the internet
• Put a discount factor on buying properties that have no location advantage. If we break free from the tyranny of location than it will be of fact that the old idea of living next to the city is not as advantageous – you can work from next to the beach, on a farm, in a low cost location
• Look for places that are advantageous. e.g. close to nature, next to airport, good community

Don’t return to old habits

As always – i need to try and fail. If i don’t risk it then there is no gain.

Do i want to leave my life in fear of losing?

No, I want to seek the gain.

It is irrational to think too far ahead and try not to be rejected.

How can I make a decision for her if I don’t even know what she wants?

That is irrational and is not the right decision making tree.

Remember to meditate and work through it…

free the mind – by subtracting

How often do we watch a movie and follow the main character as they start their journey carrying just the bag on their back. We see the character evolve and develop as they overcome challenges and experience new things on their journey.

One thing which we do not notice as we follow the character – is actually how uncomfortable it would be to undertake. If you have ever been camping or backpacking, you know that the comforts and the specialised equipment (like coffee machine) that you use daily are sorely missed. On a joruney you do not value this item enough to lumber it around , so you simply live without.

What this does is it focuses your mind on what is essential and it breaks the habit. It frees your mind from the burden that you just have to use the item that you bought. On the journey, you are now free to buy coffee, accept coffee from others because you have no other choice.

Though i am not on a travelling journey, i like to see myself in a journey of life. My current wardrobe is filled to the brim and I have a habit of not throwing items away – lest they become useful in the future. My biggest hangup is spending money on an item that I had previously bought.

After work on a friday i set aside some time and I went through all my stuff again. And I was supprised at all the things i have accumulated over the year. There were definitely duplicates of items (cables) and stuff that i had never used before (beach ball). This beach ball I have kept for nearly 2years without any use!

Doing this exercise allowed me to reconcentrate my efforts and, put in front of myself, the things that truly matter and are important to me. I feel that there is still some more things that I can throw away (old boxes) and monitor which will free up even more space for me.