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Choose the outcome that you're willing to struggle for.

Wisdom from Mark Manson, Carl Jung and Oliver Burkeman.

Author

Enda Mac Nally
August 28, 2024 • Read it in: 4 minutes

SMALL UPDATE: I’ve moved the newsletter from Convertkit to Beehiiv
You might notice a few small differences here and there. Let me know if anything’s not working!

I’ve been out of action. 🤢

Turns out there’s a simple 2-step process for reaching your ideal weight:

1- Catch gastroenteritis
2- Wait 7 days

That's what happened to me anyway.

I'm down 5kg, I've had a horrifying week, and I’m done talking about it.

Here are 3 things that have been on my mind this week:

Happiness requires struggle.

So which struggle do you choose?

From Mark Manson:

"What we get out of life is not determined by the good feelings we desire, but by what bad feelings we’re willing and able to sustain to get us to those good feelings,"

[...]

"What determines your success isn’t “What do you want to enjoy?” The question is, “What pain do you want to sustain?”

Knowledge workers and people who work from home have discovered a tricky new issue- how the fuck are you supposed to switch off?

Here’s another great insight from Oliver Burkeman.

Forget being finished. Focus on what’s good enough for today.

This chimes well with Dale Carnegie’s idea of living in ‘day-tight compartments’. In other words, focusing only on today’s work.

"When you end the day feeling like there’s vastly more you ought to have done, you’re telling your nervous system it can’t take a break; and you’re reinforcing an idea of your work as an oppressive and insatiable force. And all of that invites a counter-reaction of procrastination: due to fear, or defiance, or a mixture of both, it gets harder and harder to make yourself work."

[...]

"What you realise, the moment you ask “what would it mean to be done for the day?”, is that the answer can’t possibly involve doing all the things that need doing – even though that’s the subconscious goal with which many of us approach life, driving ourselves crazy in the process. If there are a thousand things that need doing, you’re going to need to arrive at some definition of “finished” that doesn’t encompass them all."

Carl Jung, from the 'Red Book':

Here are some other things:

🎧 Pieter Levels x Lex Fridman [PODCAST]
Great conversation. Pieter has launched 70+ projects, and only 1% makes money. Stop overcomplicating things and hit publish!

✍🏼 Advice on writing from CS Lewis [TWEET]
Simple advice to a young fan.

🌚 ’In McDonalds’ by Burial [MUSIC]
I’d forgotten how brief and beautiful this track is.

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