When I was much younger I thought the word "Goofle" was a clever invention
This morning I woke up at 5 am. I only got 4h 19m of sleep, according to my Oura ring (reply if you want a referral discount [I don't want to put it here lest it's perceived as spam]). I tried reading, meditating, even some doom scrolling on Instagram. By 6 am I gave up and did some Mandarin lessons on Duolingo before my workout (6:46-7:42).
After that I had so much time over I decided to write just one chapter on my book. This time about trying new things, about never being done with a project or with oneself. Here is some of it:
"Knowing yourself isn’t just a trope,
it’s the key to a life well lived"
Chapter Summary: There is a “commit” in “Commit and quit”
in line with the idea of low thresholds to begin at all, you should be open to changing course, or to scrap an idea or project altogether
Just as you risk shooting yourself in the foot with fixed targets, rarely consider anything fully finished
Try things without hesitation, immerse yourself and commit. Then continue with what works for you, what gives you meaning, pleasure and takes you forward. Discard what doesn’t, albeit not too soon. There is a “commit” in “Commit and quit”
Focus on interesting and rewarding processes over end products. Find an enjoyable balance between consumption today and building platforms and tools for tomorrow
Let your projects be open-ended
My insight came when I was tinkering with electronics in my teens. There was no use in soldering, gluing or in other ways attaching the various components of my computer to each other 'once and for all'. Rather, I realized that the harder I tried to fixate reality, the worse the trouble when things inevitably shook loose sooner or later.
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Being frustrated with constant glitches when working with my gutted computer, with the innards spread over an entire table as I was constructing my own joystick from a hockey puck, copper cables, the naked plastic keyboard membrane of a Spectrum 48K, and tin foil (!), I seriously mulled pouring glue all over it to freeze all the problems in time once and for all.
Somehow my inner simulator told me it would work brilliantly for just a little while; and then the computer would be irreversibly damaged.
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It was more productive to prepare for or just accept future glitches than trying to avoid them. The experience and thought experiment also taught me that a project is never completely done or finalized, so there’s no use in exhausting oneself reaching for that elusive end point. There is no end, and that’s a good thing.
It’s still a good idea, however, to pretend the finishing line is just around the corner. Not least in the gym or on the the track or treadmill. In reality however, you’ve just done the one, not the one more. You’re not done yet. I hope I, and you, never will be.
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Expand your experience — that’s why you’re here
For your overall personal development I suggest setting aside some time every week or month for trying new things. Google used to let its employees work on any (weird) project they liked for a full day a week. You should try that too. A few hours a week are probably enough for most: meet new people, try new sports or games, food, culture, or use public transport if you typically don’t. Surf YouTube or social media for new ideas, fool around and find out what hurts and what doesn’t. Google and fool around. You might find yourself at the end of the rainbow.
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Try new things without hesitation,
and let go just as easily
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Goofling around like that is a great way to break out of homeostasis, of stagnation, and find new and more effective and rewarding ways of doing things. The aim is as always increased perspective, experience, awareness, and not least meaning — through insights, knowledge, skills, productivity and joy.
Goofling can drive innovation, as well as the process of identifying one’s abilities, desires and purpose. Knowing yourself isn’t just a trope, it’s the key to a life well lived.
It’s a bird, it’s a plane... No, it’s a prototype!
Don’t just dig where you stand; if you do, you risk finding yourself in a hole; or climbing the closest hill, just because it’s closest not because it’s the best or most suitable. Finding a better spot, perhaps waiting for a better spot might feel like procrastinating*, but you still shouldn’t just start where you happen to be. Think about it and be a bit strategical, or at least plan for expanding your search area once you get going. Just getting going is good, but there is a certain risk of myopia. So, sometimes you should just start. For the sake of it.
* Actually, there’s research showing some procrastination leads to better results, due to the afterthought, and taking the time to evaluate alternatives
Yes, yes, I know, I am telling you to simultaneously start right away, and also to hold off a little. I’m telling you to both stick to the process, and to only look at your feet, putting one in front of the other, rather than the horizon.
It’s both. It’s not one or the other, it’s a dialectic process between both perspectives. Everything important actually follows that same superposition formula. The answer to questions of How/Which/When is always “both, and somewhere in between”. All answers lie along the full spectrum of potential, and we are here to explore them all.
God's own prototype
Knowing yourself is not about finding out once and for all who you are at the core, because there is no such you. You are a work in progress, a beta release, a prototype. Your self is unfolding in the sense that it is being created through your every decision, action and experience. We are all prototypes, never to be finished, always searching, always growing.
Kind regards,
/Sprezza
P.S. This is just one(more) P.P.S. Two recent interviews in English: Kook Jester and Curious Worldview P.P.P.S. The English version of The Investing Course (www.finanskursen.se in Swedish) should be done by April or May, so keep a lookout if you're interested in investing and finance. The first year will be about half price for a skeleton course but will give access to the expanded full-price material in the future
KARL-MIKAEL SYDING
Hedge Fund Manager https://antiloophedge.com/
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former Mg Dir, Senior partner and PM at Futuris (Brummer)
The HFR European Hedge Fund Of The Decade (2000-2009)
____________________________________________________ Host of the "Antiloop", "Future Skills", "25 minuter" and "Outsiders" podcasts Video interview, July 2020
____________________________________________________ www.mikaelsyding.com https://mailchi.mp/mikaelsyding/investeringsprinciper sprezzaturian@mikaelsyding.com
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The fund Futuris received numerous awards, including several HFR Best Directional hedge fund over ten years, and not least European Long Short Equity HF of the year 2008 and HFR's award to The European Hedge Fund Of The Decade 2000-2009 (all categories)
