☕️ saturday mornings #13
☕️ saturday mornings #13
looking backwards, prioritizing & world class books
Hi all,
Happy Saturday and congrats on getting through the week.
As I write this, I’m tucked away in an intimate local café in Old Montreal enjoying a latte.
Below is your weekly dose of saturday mornings, an overview of some of the coolest and most interesting things I’ve been pondering and exploring over the past week in the world of the esoteric.
Quote I’ve been thinking about:
“Your current life is the result of your previous choices. If you want something different, begin to choose differently” – Joe Tichio
Stoicism excerpt I’ve enjoyed:
Here is the proverb; it is an excellent one: “The fool’s life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future.”
For we are plunged by our blind desires into ventures which will harm us, but certainly will never satisfy us; for if we could be satisfied with anything, we should have been satisfied long ago.
Therefore, continually remind yourself, Lucilius, how many ambitions you have attained. When you see many ahead of you, think how many are behind!
- Letters of Seneca, Vol 1, Letter 15: On Brawn and Brains
Article I’ve been pondering:
When you are trying to decide what task to place at the top of your to-do list, it can sometimes be hard to choose which priorities to focus on. That’s when a strategic approach can be helpful. The MoSCoW method is a simple, effective way to bring order to potential requirements by placing them into four distinct categories: must, should, could, won’t.
What I’m reading (funny):
Subtitled “In 2011, after nearly a century together, Galápagos tortoises Bibi and Poldi called it quits. We still don’t know why.” I found this article’s in-depth breakdown of these turtles’ relationship turmoil to be quite amusing. If you’re looking for a fun read, I’d recommend checking it out.
Love it and List it:
Top 5 Books of 2021 (so far)
1) When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
As the description says, “This novel is a profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir by a young neurosurgeon faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis who attempts to answer the question 'What makes a life worth living?'”
2) Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
In Being Mortal, author Atul Gawande “tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending” and how the medical system has failed the elderly.
3) Dune by Frank Herbert
Dune is widely regarded as one of the best sci-fi novels of all time. Frank Herbert does a fantastic job at creating an immersive universe with characters and a storyline that are easy to get lost in. Dune is also coming out as a major motion picture this Fall.
4) The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
This book really opened my eyes to entrepreneurship and all the outlets that exist in today’s world to be “entrepreneurial” outside of the traditional model of building a business. The mental models Tim applies to approach problems were contagious. He often achieves massive breakthroughs by challenging and testing basic assumptions and asking himself “what would this look like if it were easy?”. As such, the book disaggregates being efficient versus being effective, and promotes delegating or automating unessential work and leveraging the 80/20 principle in tackling essential work. Adapting some of these models has really changed how I approach work and has saved a ton of time.
5) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
As the description says, “here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself”. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the “longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right”.
If anyone has any favourite books from this year, I’d love to hear from you. Just hit reply to this email.
That’s all from me this week folks. I hope this has provided some interesting points and a bit of fun to kick off your weekend.
Thank you for your continued support – it means the world to me.
Much love to you and yours,
Thomas