Assorted thoughts, snippets, and observations
We are not merely truth-seeking creatures. We are meaning-making ones. A story does not have to be true to become useful. It only has to explain a feeling people already carry.
—“Antarctica, the Sealed Envelope, and the Stories We Use to Feel Less Powerless"
First of all, you don’t have to make time to read. What you need to do is read every single time you are not doing something else. In today’s world, most people pick up their phones as soon as they get a moment of inactivity. Serious readers pick up their books instead. So an effective way is to replace the time you spend in front of a screen, like PCs, smartphones, and TVs, with reading a book.
— From How to Read More Books
From another great piece by Joan Westenberg, “Why Belief Beats Discipline”:
We are not consistent with our goals. We are consistent with our identities. And if your identity says you’re inconsistent, undisciplined, doomed to flake or drift or binge or relapse, then the moment you raise your standards, your subconscious files an objection. You “forget” your commitments. You postpone things “just for today.” You start researching better productivity tools instead of doing the actual work. All of it in the service of returning to your known baseline - the set of standards you believe you can meet.