☕️ saturday mornings #20
beginning life, avoiding rushing & italian economists
Good morning all,
I hope you’re having a lovely start to your Saturday as you kick-off your long weekend.
Below is your edition of “saturday mornings”, a weekly recap of what I’ve been pondering, learning and exploring over the past few days. Thanks for being here.
✍️Quote I’ve been thinking about:
“We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one.”
― Confucius
💡Idea I’m exploring:
No hurry, No Pause
This expression comes from the “9 Principles of Harmony” from Breema, a form of bodywork.
I’ve been writing “Always Forward - No hurry, No Pause” as a daily reminder at the top of my notebooks of the importance of consistency over sheer productivity. I often struggle with the feeling of being rushed - trying to get everything done this instant, and being frustrated with disruptions in my day.
But, this serves as a reminder that I don’t need to move at lightspeed to achieve great results. Not everything needs to be done today. As Tim Ferriss says, “you don’t need to go through life huffing and puffing, straining and red-faced; you can get 95% of the results you want by calmly putting one foot in front of the other.”
As I’ve read more, a lot of extremely productive people highlight a simple recipe that works: (i) be consistent over time (compounding effect creates massive results), and (ii) be willing to do the few critical but difficult things (what others may avoid doing).
To tie it back to some ancient advice, Confucius (Chinese philosopher from 551 BC) believed “it does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop”.
Because, if you view life as a journey, it’s much more enjoyable to move through your days with a sense of ease rather than a persistent urgency and anxiety about everything. Luxury is feeling unrushed.
🎨Picture I loved:
Life Paths
📔Challenge for the week ahead:
80/20 Analysis
The 80/20 Principle, or Pareto’s Law, was popularized by an Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto who, when studying the wealth distribution in Italy, realized that 20% of people generate in a society 80% of the total income.
This relationship was further studied and showed up in a ton of other contexts. Vilfredo found that 20% of the pea plants in his garden produced 80% of the pea pods. Organizational researchers believe 20% of employees in a company are responsible for 80% of the productivity. The list goes on.
The overarching idea is that 20% of the inputs create 80% of the outputs.
This principle is interesting in theory, but much more practical when applied to a personal setting.
Recently, I’ve tried to think about and journal on the following questions:
What 20% of the events/people/commitments in my life are creating 80% of my problems and unhappiness?
What 20% of the events/people/commitments in my life are creating 80% of my desired outcomes and happiness?
As I reflected on each of these prompts, I realized that Pareto’s Law holds: a small number of inputs create a disproportionate amount of both the positive and negative emotion in my life.
The challenge then becomes seeking out ways to reduce or eliminate the negative inputs and amplify or make more time for the positive inputs.
It’s still early days, but I’ve got a lot of utility out of these questions. They’ve provided a lot of clarity around how I should be spending my energy, focus and time as well as how I shouldn’t (which is likely more important).
That’s all for this week’s edition of “saturday mornings”.
And, as always, please give me feedback by replying to this email. Which topic above is your favourite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know.
Thank you for reading, I really appreciate the support.
Have a great long weekend. You deserve it.
Much love to you and yours,
Thomas