Comfort, procrastination, & perfectionism
The Sunday Three: #9
👋 Welcome to this week’s Sunday Three – where I’ll share three pieces of content that resonated with me to either end your current week or start your upcoming week with something new.
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After a slight hiatus, I’ve decided to change a couple of things about this weekly newsletter.
I’ll be spinning out the ideas portion and allowing these ideas to flow into more extensive one-off essays that I’ll publish ever so often (1-2/month)
I’m rebranding this as The Sunday Three. Where I’ll share three pieces of content that highly resonated with me and that will hopefully inspire you. I’ll also sometimes include a small weekly reflection or something fun that I’m enjoying.
This Sunday’s Three:
A quote on comfort, procrastination, and perfection
An article on how de-atomization is the secret to happiness
A podcast on how to recreate your life’s path in 2023
1. Quote
"Perfectionism is a twenty-ton shield that we lug around, thinking it will protect us, when in fact it's the thing that's really preventing us from taking flight"
— Brené Brown
Reflection
Comfort, procrastination, and perfection are best friends. Often the sense of hesitancy before taking a risk is a false guard placed upon ourselves. It is the biological trigger pressing you to stay in comfort, asking you to "prepare more" before taking action.
You can either take action knowing that you must embrace failure and the pain in the process to grow or procrastinate and live with the pain of regret.
2. Article
Learnings: De-Atomization is the Secret to Happiness
Social atomization is the concept of reducing the activities in our lives into their single most basic takeaway.
The example of atomization that Nat Eliason initially uses is fitness. Instead of fitness being a multi-faceted activity, we've fragmented it.
Biking used to be a multi-faceted activity with:
Exercise
Outdoors scenery
Socialization
Biking has been reduced to:
Exercise on a stationary bike
Other examples are eating solely for sustenance or working solely for task completion. Despite our lives becoming more socially isolated, we've continued to atomize our everyday activities for productivity, efficiency, and ease.
It's easier to purchase a meal on your own rather than to purchase groceries and cooking a meal with your family.
It's easier to work from home each day rather than organize a co-working session with local workmates.
It's easier to workout on your own schedule rather than organize an outdoor run at a new hiking trail with friends.
However, while more straightforward, they might not be as fulfilling.
Perhaps (as Nat argues) we'd be better off (and happier) by re-integrating our daily activities to become multi-variate. We aren't robots, so don't set your day up like one.
3. Podcast
Learnings: The Pathless Path
A large portion of determining the life path to follow is figuring out what you value. No number of books, videos, or courses will be able to figure this out. The only authentic way is through experimentation.
If you've ever had your interest piqued by something, Paul Millerd recommends going through the ship, quit, learn process.
Ship — deliver any number of attempts of certain experiments.
Quit — after the experiment has run its course (3-5 iterations), quit.
Learn — did I feel energized by the process or, did it feel like a chore?
An example (that Ali Abdaal is similarly experimenting with, like myself!) is the digital nomad lifestyle.
Ship — try it out in 1 location.
Quit — let the experiment run for five weeks.
Learn — was this a rewarding experience or, was the travelling draining?
Paul Millerd describes this learning process as the following:
"These things compound — The more experiments you do, the more learning you do, the more spaces you discover, the more ideas appear.”
What I’m enjoying
The new Phoenix album!! Super energetic and full of fun, it’s been the best way to start my day during these cold November days.
Personal favourite songs: Alpha Zulu, Tonight, After Midnight 🎧
Thanks for reading this week’s issue of the Sunday Three.
If you enjoyed what you read, I’d really appreciate it if you could forward it to a friend, family member, or colleague who you think might like it as well!
Or, if you’d like to share it on one of your social networks, that’s always great too.
Hope to see you again soon 😊,