Fantastic piece. This should be your next book. Social Media (and other factors) has put an insane amount of pressure on people to 'max' everything, and even though things are going well on paper overall, everyone is miserable. This is upstream of why the social fabric is fraying and why our politics are so dumb. I would pay real money for a data sourced deep dive on how regular people can find happiness and satisfaction while still living in the world. I assume it's mushrooms, but there's probably more to it than that.
I put single-point probabilities on geopolitical outcomes for a living, so I should be the last person agreeing with this. But the longer I do it, the more I think the point of pricing something at 35% isn't the number. It's the 65% you're admitting you can't see.
Measuring uncertainty doesn't make it smaller. It makes you honest about how much you're guessing.
I totally needed to read this today as I thoroughly enjoyed a hazelnut chocolate bunny left over from Easter in my cottage fridge while I waited for a contractor to come. The day is sunny, warm and breezy up here in the Muskoka area of Ontario, Canada. Life is good. I'm an 80/20 kind of healthy person and Scott, you gave me permission to enjoy the 20% of my day's calories, guilt and measured free! The other 80% is healthy of course. I think the 20% of life that provides the 80% of value can be the fun, guilt free pleasures. Balance is the key.
Galileo’s famous maxim, "Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not," highlights the power of quantification.
Good to cut out all of the stuff in life that does not matter and focus on the stuff that does. The experiences that bring joy rather than buying more stuff that simply fill the cupboards.
Yes, I go with the good habits 80 percent of the time. A routine that involves exercise and eating healthy 80% of the time.
As Garfield once said when on a strict diet, I may not get to live longer but it will feel like I have.
As a lifelong fan of Warren Zevon, I have always loved his “enjoy every sandwich “comment on the David Letterman show. And have joked with my family that that will be the epitaph on my tombstone. This was one of your best posts ever. Thanks for sharing.
I found this article to be so helpful in letting go of some of the many metrics we are now in pursuit of as proxy to living a good life. I love your timeline which opened my eyes to how crazy we have become pursuing measures, instead of things far greater.
Man, I love this reminder Scott. It reconnected me to one of Charles Eisenstein’s comments in his book “Climate,” where he describes the human predisposition to reductionist problem-solving because that allows us to think we’re influencing an outcome just because we’re controlling a variable we can measure. And it may not even be a variable worth controlling.
Bryan Johnson spends $2 million a year optimizing for longevity. What this man has actually done is just reinvent aging, slap a Groucho mustache and some glasses on it, and charge admission.
What kind of idiot spends this much money on things like waking up early? I've been waking up at 4:30am for free since the second Bush administration. He tracks hundreds of biomarkers? I track the same ones except I call them symptoms. He hangs out in a hyperbaric chamber; I have a recliner that does most of the same work and came with a cup holder. In his body every calorie "must fight for its life." Every guy I play basketball with is trying to do the same thing, except we're not the ones doing the optimizing. We're the calorie.
Mr. Johnson is Oldmaxxing thirty years early. The disguise is the only real innovation.
I learned the Pareto Principle as a young Bain and Company consultant and had never thought about applying it to my lifestyle balance as well. Thank you for the wisdom, insight, and perspective!
Fantastic piece. This should be your next book. Social Media (and other factors) has put an insane amount of pressure on people to 'max' everything, and even though things are going well on paper overall, everyone is miserable. This is upstream of why the social fabric is fraying and why our politics are so dumb. I would pay real money for a data sourced deep dive on how regular people can find happiness and satisfaction while still living in the world. I assume it's mushrooms, but there's probably more to it than that.
I put single-point probabilities on geopolitical outcomes for a living, so I should be the last person agreeing with this. But the longer I do it, the more I think the point of pricing something at 35% isn't the number. It's the 65% you're admitting you can't see.
Measuring uncertainty doesn't make it smaller. It makes you honest about how much you're guessing.
I totally needed to read this today as I thoroughly enjoyed a hazelnut chocolate bunny left over from Easter in my cottage fridge while I waited for a contractor to come. The day is sunny, warm and breezy up here in the Muskoka area of Ontario, Canada. Life is good. I'm an 80/20 kind of healthy person and Scott, you gave me permission to enjoy the 20% of my day's calories, guilt and measured free! The other 80% is healthy of course. I think the 20% of life that provides the 80% of value can be the fun, guilt free pleasures. Balance is the key.
Galileo’s famous maxim, "Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not," highlights the power of quantification.
Good to cut out all of the stuff in life that does not matter and focus on the stuff that does. The experiences that bring joy rather than buying more stuff that simply fill the cupboards.
Yes, I go with the good habits 80 percent of the time. A routine that involves exercise and eating healthy 80% of the time.
As Garfield once said when on a strict diet, I may not get to live longer but it will feel like I have.
As a lifelong fan of Warren Zevon, I have always loved his “enjoy every sandwich “comment on the David Letterman show. And have joked with my family that that will be the epitaph on my tombstone. This was one of your best posts ever. Thanks for sharing.
I was going to buy the new Google Fitbit Air. Now I don't think I will
I found this article to be so helpful in letting go of some of the many metrics we are now in pursuit of as proxy to living a good life. I love your timeline which opened my eyes to how crazy we have become pursuing measures, instead of things far greater.
Man, I love this reminder Scott. It reconnected me to one of Charles Eisenstein’s comments in his book “Climate,” where he describes the human predisposition to reductionist problem-solving because that allows us to think we’re influencing an outcome just because we’re controlling a variable we can measure. And it may not even be a variable worth controlling.
Excellent. Thank you, Scott.
One of your best pieces ever.
👏👍👊👌✌️
If only there was some metric for how happy a person is with their life.
If only there was some metric for how honest & righteous a person was living their life
I call this arithmocracy. Your post is perfectly aligned with my writhings on my latest 📕: https://a.co/d/09v6XWCp
Bryan Johnson spends $2 million a year optimizing for longevity. What this man has actually done is just reinvent aging, slap a Groucho mustache and some glasses on it, and charge admission.
What kind of idiot spends this much money on things like waking up early? I've been waking up at 4:30am for free since the second Bush administration. He tracks hundreds of biomarkers? I track the same ones except I call them symptoms. He hangs out in a hyperbaric chamber; I have a recliner that does most of the same work and came with a cup holder. In his body every calorie "must fight for its life." Every guy I play basketball with is trying to do the same thing, except we're not the ones doing the optimizing. We're the calorie.
Mr. Johnson is Oldmaxxing thirty years early. The disguise is the only real innovation.
I learned the Pareto Principle as a young Bain and Company consultant and had never thought about applying it to my lifestyle balance as well. Thank you for the wisdom, insight, and perspective!
This is brilliant, Scott. Thank you. 🙏❤️