The story about the recession in the 1970s should be a awareness starter for all swayed-by-the-issues-of-the-day politicians. Especially an interesting analysis of Enoch Powell’s affairs. Very relevant today, this more intelligent and eloquent British predecessor of our Geert Wilders.
Interestingly, Nooteboom in the book contemplates when he would be able to travel through Europe without having to change money and with a European passport in his pocket. In a wheel chair, he assumes.
He wrote this in 1977, and we can say things have been achieved in Europe after all.
Marcus Aurelius is Holiday’s big example, and the name-giver for the book and the core idea of the book.
“And from what we know, he truly saw each and every one of these obstacles as an opportunity to practice some virtue: patience, courage, humility, resourcefulness, reason, justice, and creativity.”
And he himself quotes non-obvious but remarkable people.
He quotes Henry Rollins. Yes, Henry Rollins from Black Flag – the last person I had expected in this book.
I searched and found where this quote came from. Here is the Henry Rollins quote on being. Or rather his definition being a hero.
“People are getting a little desperate. People might not show their best elements to you. You must never lower yourself to being person you don’t like. There is no better time than now to have a moral and civic backbone. To have a moral and civic true north. This is a tremendous opportunity for you, a young person, to be heroic.”
Holiday quotes Montaigne.
I did not know that Montaigne had a near death experience that became a turning point in his life. I found interesting but not very consistent stories on this here in the Guardian, here on NPR and here.
The book maintains a strong compelling tone.
I made a shitload of notes, as Tim Ferriss would say. All of them make you think. Some make me feel like a lame and lazy sod.
“We’re dissatisfied with our jobs, our relationships, our place in the world. We’re trying to get somewhere, but something stands in the way. So we do nothing. “
I plead guilty.
Ryan Holiday is so inspired by Aurelius that he has divided this book in three parts directly from Aurelius summary of what is needed.
“It’s three interdependent, interconnected, and fluidly contingent disciplines: Perception, Action, and the Will.”
On perception.
The way a person handles his emotions and is aware of his emotions is a key in mastering all situations.
“Where one loses control of emotions, another can remain calm. Desperation, despair, fear, powerlessness – these reactions are functions of our perceptions. You must realize: Nothing makes us feel this way; we choose to give in to such feelings. Or, like Rockefeller, choose not to. And he provides clear guidance to how to go about keeping your nerves under control and stay calm.”
“To be objective, To control emotions and keep an even keel, To choose to see the good in a situation, To steady our nerves, To ignore what disturbs or limits others, To place things in perspective, To revert to the present moment, To focus on what can be controlled. This is how you see the opportunity within the obstacle. It does not happen on its own. It is a process — one that results from self-discipline and logic. “
And he warns us that when we aim high, unpleasant things will haunt us, and this is where self control is your only way to stay up.
“When we aim high, pressure and stress obligingly come along for the ride. Stuff is going to happen that catches us off guard, threatens or scares us. Surprises (unpleasant ones, mostly) are almost guaranteed. The risk of being overwhelmed is always there. In these situations, talent is not the most sought-after characteristic.”
“tranquil courage in the midst of tumult and serenity of soul in danger, which the English call a cool head.”
But who is this guy John Churchill? His name is really John Churchill, son of Sir Winston Churchill, sic! But this Winston lived from 1620–1688. And yes, our 20th century Winston Churchill is a descendant.
I love these details.
“Remaining calm is one of the most important skills to be learned to manage fear. And it can be trained.”
“Uncertainty and fear are relieved by authority. Training is authority. It’s a release valve.”
“The Greeks had a word for this: apatheia. It’s the kind of calm equanimity that comes with the absence of irrational or extreme emotions.”
“Or try Marcus’s question: Does what happened keep you from acting with justice, generosity, self-control, sanity, prudence, honesty, humility, straightforwardness?”
Now clearly that all sounds great in theory, but there are tools that help you achieve this coolness.
“Perspective is everything. That is, when you can break apart something, or look at it from some new angle, it loses its power over you.”
“So what if you focused on what you can change? That’s where you can make a difference.”
“As Laura Ingalls Wilder put it: “There is good in everything, if only we look for it.””
Or some unattributed quote:
““That which doesn’t kill me makes me stronger” is not a cliché but fact.”
On Action
Waiting for things to happen will not move things in the direction you want. Making things happen is.
“If you want momentum, you’ll have to create it yourself, right now, by getting up and getting started.”
“And again, it is in the act and persistence , not so much in the talent you have.”
He elaborates on this point that talent is often overrated.
“Too many people think that great victories like Grant’s and Edison’s came from a flash of insight. That they cracked the problem with pure genius. In fact, it was the slow pressure, repeated from many different angles, the elimination of so many other more promising options, that slowly and surely churned the solution to the top of the pile. Their genius was unity of purpose, deafness to doubt, and the desire to stay at it.”
And the destiny is not the goal, it is the process to that goal, and you should focus on the process if you want to move forward.
“Okay, you’ve got to do something very difficult. Don’t focus on that. Instead break it down into pieces. Simply do what you need to do right now. And do it well. And then move on to the next thing. Follow the process and not the prize. “
“The process is about doing the right things, right now.”
And get your boots dirty:
“Only self-absorbed assholes think they are too good for whatever their current station requires.”
Bang!
“Think progress, not perfection. Under this kind of force, obstacles break apart. They have no choice. Since you’re going around them or making them irrelevant, there is nothing for them to resist.”
On will
If your have the right mindset, you are taking actions. Now it is the time to get going.
“To be great at something takes practice. Obstacles and adversity are no different.”
Anticipate hardships.
“Always prepared for disruption, always working that disruption into our plans. Fitted, as they say, for defeat or victory. And let’s be honest, a pleasant surprise is a lot better than an unpleasant one.”
About persistence and perseverance.
“Persistence. Everything directed at one problem, until it breaks.”
“Persistence is an action. Perseverance is a matter of will. One is energy. The other, endurance.”
Determination.
“Determination, if you think about it, is invincible Nothing other than death can prevent us from following Churchill’s old acronym: KBO. Keep Buggering On.”
And that finally comes from the Churchill we know, Sir Winston …
The Dutch subtitle of Bill Bryson’s book Shakespeare is “Een biografie” (A Biography). I read the book and found this subtitle misplaced.
The subtitle of the english original is “The World as a Stage”. How does that translate to “Een biografie”?
Bryson writes right in the beginning of the book that very little is known about Shakespeare. So little, that you realistically can not expect more from a book about Shakespeare than the description of a handful of meagre facts, augmented with assumptions, phantasies and preliminary conclusions about the life and times Shakespeare.
Bryson even admits this is the reason the book has such a modest modest size.
To start with the same introduction that Austin Kleon uses at the beginning of his book Show Your Work.
I just read Walden by Henry David Thoreau, a book that I had to let go of. I could not consume these elaborations on his simplified way of life any longer. However, I found his worldview interesting. I also liked the way he exchanges philosophical elaborations with down-to-earth statistics and lists of stuff he bought and sold for his house or from his gardening.
But Show Your Work reads very well. It is practical and motivational.
And the conclusion: Do The Work. This keeps coming back so often. Pressfield wrote a book about it. Get the fuck out of their chair. Start typing.
Kleon takes the myth out of most things. Everything is basically common sense. Don’t bullshit. Find an easy way of sharing work.
Do not do networking, but let the network do the work while you add value to your network.
The amateur is king: the amateur is not afraid to do things a new way, another way than the established professionals.
Naivety = openness to new things.
“Watching amateurs at work can also inspire us to attempt the work ourselves. “I saw the Sex Pistols,” said New Order frontman Bernard Sumner. ‘They were terrible. . . . I wanted to get up and be terrible with them.’ Raw enthusiasm is contagious.”
Interesting, as Johnny Rotten/Lydon has always referred to punk as a similar notion:
“Punk is a state of mind open to new ideas, with a desire to constantly evolve, to find the next step, not only in music but also in the world around us.”
“I constantly try to deliver this message: “Admire someone’s work, but don’t imitate it, don’t lose your personality.”
Kleon is a Buddhist, I think. He writes:
“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.”
Some time go I read Buddhism for Dummies, Jonathan Landaw, Stephan Bodian, and Gudrun Bühnemann:
“Buddhism has always considered death to be one of the most powerful teachers, but this doesn’t make it a joyless or life-denying religion. Buddhism simply acknowledges that death has an unparalleled capacity to force you to look deeply into your own heart and mind and recognize what really matters.”
Kleon later on expresses:
“The experience of shaping the work is what matters”
Klein does bother about sharing his knowledge and experience with competitors. He knows his value. He even put it stronger as a competitive advantage:
“Teaching people doesn’t subtract value from what you do, it actually adds to it.”
Packed. Informative. Entertaining. A little chaotic. Jumping quickly between styles, digressing, then getting back on track. Interlaced with stories illustrating his points.
Do expect the “rich” in the title to be taken literally. Although the book offers monetary advice, the “rich” mostly relates to a mindset.
And it is not just aimed at employees either.
Typical James. Very commercially smart title to broaden the audience for the book. It suggests richness is also achievable for the employees. And of course there are many more employees than non-employees (probably implying entrepreneurs). And these employees are craving to be rich. In many ways.
I am thinking how you would summarize his main idea. Independence comes to mind. Make yourself independent from your employer. Make your value independent from where you work. Make sure you have plan B and C. Prepare for disaster. Become antifragile, comes to mind (Nassim Taleb).
Even become independent of your own streams of thought, I mean do not let them dominate you. Get on top of them. That is probably a very buddhist idea
If you have read James’ post you may have seen a lot of the content already.
Start a business on the side.
Refers to Cialdini a couple of times. Read that one some time ago. Influence. Recommend that too.
Read about this idea muscle, how important it is to train it. And then how lazy i am writing down the stuff racing through my mind during the day. Ideas I then forget because I don not write them down. I think starting to even write down ideas you have even how stupid they may sound is a great idea.
One of these is an idea for an internet media company. Any media but video. Well, also video, but not just. Podcasts, radio, whatever. I do not understand why cable companies do not heavily invest in this. The carrier is commodity. Content is king. That is what they said in 2000 about the internet, refering to web sites, when the carier was still important (or rather: limited. It was important because badnwidth was so scarce). And today it is even more true, now all deregulation of cables has been realised. Sorry, I mean with the disappearance of the big state owned telephone / cable companies. That was one of my ideas today. It probably exists already, but I am too lazy to go find out now.
Another idea, for Amazon kindle. You can put books purchased elsewhere on your Kindle (using Calibre for that great stuff), but notes will not be sync-ed with your kindle.amazon.com. Provide it. I guess it is a stupid measure to make sure you purchase your books on amazon. Is there already a service extracting notes from your kindle? O I googled and found Calibre might be able to. Will check that out.
Another one: be able to search books and add to wishlist from Kindle.
Another one: integration with Evernote (typing this in evernote).
James tosses the idea of choose yourself meetups. Chooseyourself.me. AA type gatherings. Might work, but definitely not for me. Nor James I am sure. Too shy.
References in the back great: to Fedora training creation – O now I have a new business idea for courses. I can turn any business problem from my job, generalise it and create a (micro) course out of it. In the media company too? Was just talking to my wife last night how out of date the current system for higher education is, with all the new media courses (for free) coming online.
The Monk etc is a great book about how startups really work. From the mouth of a top advisor of VCs in Silicon Valley. That sounds strong and confident and so is the book. Illustrated with great real life example and stories around that – funeral.com, the Amazon of funeral goods, for heaven’s sake… Talks about the business side, but also discusses the need for a vision the founders need on what they want the startup to achieve.
What are investors really look for. For them your business plan is one in very many.
Is there a big market? Can the product win and defend a large share? (Peter Thiel – look for a monopoly in Zero to One). Can the team do the job?
They are looking for passion. Money should not be the driver. Passion should.
Make plans, but don’t assume you can stick to them for very long. Be flexible. Also the investors should recognize this.
“In a Brave New World startup, there’s no existing market, no incumbent competitors, and no economic model, you’re literally investing the business as you go along.”
I take that opportunity to link to Fried and Heineman say in Rework – a plan is ok but it is all guesswork, they say, so do not worry too much if it needs changing; actually expect it to change (or you would be psychic).
Jason Fried and David Heineman Hansson are furthermore a lot less stern but and take a more relaxed standpoint. But they are from the other side of the table.
Their book has a number of nice bangs: Learning from mistakes is overrated. I like that one against the “fail fast” silicon valley hype. Do it for yourself – ignore the world (Ignore Everybody from Hugh Macleod). Do not listen to your customer they do not know either (read Clayton Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma“). Working too hard is stupid. Small is fine – big not an objective. Entrepreneur, a word that it sounds like a members-only club.
I like that.
Very practical no-nonsense advice. In short: don’t bullshit around, do the work (Do The Work – Steven Pressfield).
Tony Robbins, Money Master the Game. A big book on peronal finance, from a big hyperactive guy.
First time I say him was at TED. I thought he was a kind of Schwarzenegger but talking way faster.
And that voice. Scared me like hell.
Then Tim Ferriss interviewed him for his podcast. What are these rules he promised in Tim Ferriss’ interview. Well, mmm. But I decided to read this book after the interview.
The introduction is lengthy. Very lengthy. And so many “I”’s … I thought this is full of himself. (Still do, after having read the book.)
Oh, then I read he does this on purpose, this repetition and long-windedness: it’s his method. Irritating, was my first impression, but I read on, it might work.
It does make the book readable and lively.
But it goes on. So much repetition… but also lots of valuable information for the layman looking invest for his pension.
Undressing complicated investment products. Use a cheap index fund instead. Or simple and cheap annuity which is investing in index fund.
Then it gets somewhat technical and very US oriented talking about the 401(k) pension rules.
I am skipping pages.
The book not only covers investment improvements, and advice on tax. More importantly good savings advice. Where to cut costs.
And the big big secret that Tony drags you with through a number of chapters: invest in a diversified set of portfolio, comprising domestic and international stocks, real estate and treasuries.
Some interesting numbers for the layman, actually basic math. If your investment grow 10% annually, the money will have double in 7.2 years. If 5%, it is still 14.4 years. Simple things like that give you another view on saving.
Of course we want stuff now. Therefore the idea to save salary increases instead of just adding them to your salary is a good one. Hope my wife agrees.
The abundance of words continues to make the book hard to read. Information density is so low. It keeps going on and repeating the message. But I admit: it makes me shift my view on a money machine, as Tony calls it. And the calculations grounding the machine.
Then I am done with it. I skimmed through the last chapters. Interesting, but the abundance is nauseating and the material too US oriented.
We should have something like this for every country or for Europe, but we don’t have a Tony. If we get one, I hope he is a bit more concise.
Enige tijd geleden bezocht ik het Prado in Madrid. Er was een speciale tentoonstelling over Van Dijck, genaamd El Joven Van Dijck – de jonge Van Dijck.
Een ongelooflijke verzameling meesterwerken. De 2 uur die ik tussen andere activiteiten door had, waren veel te kort.
Mijn winnaar is De Bewening van Christus is mijn winnaar. Bloed druipt van het doek. De weerkaatsing van het licht op de huid.
De Habsburge onderkaak is alom aanwezig.In de schilderijen, in de beeldhouwwerken. Na een tijdje wordt het afgezaagd en grappig. Al die grote keizers met die enorme kinnen drukken een ziekelijke afwezigheid van vreugde en medelijden uit. Als er een emotie is die ze uitdrukken, is het er een van afstandelijkheid en meedogenloosheid.
El Greco laat zien dat hij een expressionist avant la lettre is.
Velazquez is ook sterk aanwezig. Zijn monsterlijk grote paarden en mensen met veel te kleine hoofden lijken uit het perspectief van een kind of een dwerg te zijn genomen.
Some time ago now, I visited the Prado in Madrid.
There was a special exhibition on Van Dijck, called El Joven Van Dijck – The Young Van Dijck.
An incredible assembly of masterpieces. The 2 hours I had in between other activities was massively insufficient.
My winner is The Lamentation over the Dead Christ is my winner. Blood drips from the canvas. The reflection of the light on the skin.
It is full of Habsburg Jaws. In the paintings, in the sculptures. After a while this becomes corny and funny. All of these great emporers with these massive chins express an sickly absence of joy and compassion. If there is an emotion they express, it is one of detachment and ruthlessness.
El Greco shows he is an expressionist avant la lettre.
Velazquez is also greatly present. His monstrously large horses and people with far too small heads seems to be taken from the perspective of a child or a dwarf.
I ordered Twelve Tomorrows. I never really liked science fiction (exceptions like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – not even sure even that would qualify for science fiction). But I wanted re-evaluate my taste.
The twelve futures in summary:
Instead of getting electronic detention, limiting the freedom of movement, persistent criminals are blinded. as a replacement for their natural eyesight they get electronic glasses through which they can only observe a pre-filtered reality. In this augmented reality, criminals are tagged, or branded, and everyone can see these brands as a warning sign.
Biological modification of humans, first under “acupuncture anesthesia”, then in next generations through DNA modification.
Cybercrime 22h century. Electronically (remotely) scanning a person’s digital identity information to get access to a bank account.
Genetically manipulated life forms start leading their own life and thus become a threat to human life.
Modification of human behavior through electronics implants in the human brain, also allowing remote control over a person.
Human life has moved into space, to other planet amongst which Mars and the Moon. Technology like human hibernation made possible. (A bit of 2001 A Space Odyssee, hmm).
The internet of stuff, a second internet smart devices, unregulated and avoiding dictatorial suppression (already exists).
Cyborg man is synthesized with his intelligent leg and can survive his body. His personality is transferred to another computer by the soul of the leg.
Man cures from a hyperactive damaged brain, chemical drugs (SMOOTH TM) is surpassed by a nanotechnology that can enter the body through the skin when wearing a medical t-shirt.
Talented, intelligent young girl in Afghan invents a new kind of semiconductor in a repressive Afghan society.
Internet surveillance in hyperconnected world. Secret services can follow everything you see, through your eyes, extract experiences and take over control. Everybody is under this kind of surveillance.
Gene modification aimed at producing fossil gas, turns out to thrive also in the human body. But not for long, people start exploding
I found it difficult to get through the stories. Most of them sketch a dark, unpleasant future. I am trying to understand why that is. Is it because we generally tend to expect the worst of the future? Or is it maybe simply because of the dramatic needs for a story or book. Also, the science factor was not very original, and the writing not very good.
Got up early to get a head start on my collegues.
massive chins express an sickly absence of joy and compassion. If there is an emotion they express, it is one of detachment and ruthlessness.
eptions like 
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