Good morning all!
Happy Saturday. I hope you have a lovely start to your weekend.
What I’ve been up to:
I returned back to Canada after 4 weeks in Europe. It's good to be home.
I tried my hardest to rest and relax while traveling (it's a work in progress). But, now that I'm back it's time to get down to business. I have a big work sprint planned for the next three months.
Below is your edition of “saturday mornings”, a weekly recap of the coolest things I’ve been pondering and exploring this week.
I want to condense these newsletters by ~50%. Same wisdom, fewer words. Saves you time and gives you a higher ROI on your attention.
I also want to be more playful in writing. I’m rarely serious in real life, and I’m slowly trying to drop the notion “writer Tommy” has to be all professional.
Let me know if you have any feedback on the new format.
Thanks for being here. You’re the best.
✍️ Quote I’m pondering:
“I keep wondering, how many people you need to be, before you can be yourself.”
— Ian Thomas
📕 Book passage I loved:
“Rule of thumb: The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it. The degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance.
Therefore the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul.”
— The War of Art, Steven Pressfield
What an idea.
Fear is an indicator. That which we fear is exactly what we need to do.
The greater the fear, the more important the task.
💡 Idea from me: Give & Takes
My return trip from Vienna to Toronto was quite the melodrama.
My train to Prague to catch a flight was 30 minutes late. But, I breezed through security at the airport.
My flight to London was over 1 hour late. But, I quickly connected to my flight to Toronto.
I was stuck on the plane after landing in Toronto for 40 minutes. But, I still made the train to get home on time.
Travel, like life, is a series of gives and takes. Some things will go your way, and some won't. In the end, it usually balances out and you get where you need to go.
If you get caught up in the short-term, each road bump feels fatal. Emotions rise.
We extrapolate minor setbacks into trends. Getting turned down from one job interview turns into “I’m never going to get a job… I’m fooling myself thinking things will ever work out for me. Who am I kidding?”
It makes things much more painful than necessary.
In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius reminds himself “the fact that my son is sick - that I can see. But “that he might die of it,” no. Stick with first impressions. Don’t extrapolate.”
If you can think long-term, you can put road bumps into perspective. You can trust that life ebbs and flows - gives and takes.
You still get where you need to go, but with less upset, less pain, and less suffering.
Asked what advice he would give to his 20-year-old self Naval Ravikant replied he would tell himself “do everything you were going to do, but with less angst, less suffering, less emotion. Everything takes time.”
If you asked me today what the number one thing I'm trying to work on, my answer would be simple: thinking long-term.
🤔 Question for reflection:
If you repeated what you did today 365 more times will you be where you want to be next year?
(Source: Kevin Kelly)
That’s all for this week’s edition of “saturday mornings”.
If you have any feedback, I’d love to hear from you.
Reply to this email, leave a comment, or find me on Twitter @tommy_dixon_
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Have a fantastic weekend.
Much love to you and yours,
Tommy