I wrote a list of all the big decisions I made since entering adulthood (post high school) and looking back after 15-20 years it’s mathematically 0.94 decisions per year that I considered to be important, positive, and life changing.
I’m sure I missed some but the takeaway for me is that approximately one big decision per year is the right amount.
A lot of the big decisions I'm most proud of (starting biz, getting married) both came about through somewhat spontaneous clarity. Sure, I had wrestled intellectually with both for a long time, but the moment of clarity in deciding each was not a result of some list, the inspiration came all-of-a-sudden.
Something I've been fascinated with this year is related to your idea of slowing down.
We read a lot about the benefits of focus, concentration, etc. and why we should get better at managing distractions. In fact, I teach people how to do that as part of my job!
In my world, people sometimes think "mind-wandering" or "distraction" all bad. So they counsel ways to cultivate focus and get us off autopilot.
But I've changed my mind as I've read new research that make the case that this mind-wandering state is *as essential* as the focused state.
We want to create open, free, blank spaces in our lives and to allow our mind to wander, just as much as we want to create focused, concentrated spaces in our lives to delve deep into a piece of work.
Long walks with no headphones, uninterrupted time in nature, or anything where we remove the stimuli of the modern world should help us be more creative, intuitive, and "productive" in our decision-making.
I wrote a list of all the big decisions I made since entering adulthood (post high school) and looking back after 15-20 years it’s mathematically 0.94 decisions per year that I considered to be important, positive, and life changing.
I’m sure I missed some but the takeaway for me is that approximately one big decision per year is the right amount.
How many were non-positive?
I framed the question to myself as “big defining moments that got me to where I am today.”
Since I’m happy with where I’m at I see them all as positive with some being more difficult than others, but not negative.
Totally agree with lots of what you've written.
A lot of the big decisions I'm most proud of (starting biz, getting married) both came about through somewhat spontaneous clarity. Sure, I had wrestled intellectually with both for a long time, but the moment of clarity in deciding each was not a result of some list, the inspiration came all-of-a-sudden.
Something I've been fascinated with this year is related to your idea of slowing down.
We read a lot about the benefits of focus, concentration, etc. and why we should get better at managing distractions. In fact, I teach people how to do that as part of my job!
In my world, people sometimes think "mind-wandering" or "distraction" all bad. So they counsel ways to cultivate focus and get us off autopilot.
But I've changed my mind as I've read new research that make the case that this mind-wandering state is *as essential* as the focused state.
We want to create open, free, blank spaces in our lives and to allow our mind to wander, just as much as we want to create focused, concentrated spaces in our lives to delve deep into a piece of work.
Long walks with no headphones, uninterrupted time in nature, or anything where we remove the stimuli of the modern world should help us be more creative, intuitive, and "productive" in our decision-making.
Okay, time to get off Substack and go for walk...
I also tried Midjourney and then spent another hour making random stuff. The cover looks really cool 😯
Is it weird that my heart skips a beat whenever I see your newsletter in my inbox?
Exceptionally good writing :)