3 Minute Monday
Hi friend,
“The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes
This is what comes along with wisdom.
It’s simple to have a rote set of practises that you follow, but true mastery is knowing where the edges of those rules lie.
“In the early stages of training, an aspiring Confucian gentleman needs to memorise entire shelves of archaic texts, learn the precise angle at which to bow, and learn the lengths of the steps with which he is to enter a room.
His sitting mat must always be perfectly straight.
All of this rigour and restraint, however, is ultimately aimed at producing a cultivated, but nonetheless genuine, form of spontaneity.
Indeed, the process of training is not considered complete until the individual has passed completely beyond the need for thought or effort.” — Edward Slingerland describing 3000-year old Confucianism
Increasingly I’m becoming skeptical of one size fits all advice for highly developed people.
It seems to me that each person is so unique and peculiar that trying to create hard and fast rules for how they operate is a worse idea the longer they have been working on themselves.
Sometimes black & white rules work, no matter what stage you’re at.
Sleep with your phone outside of your bedroom.
Don’t drink alcohol for no reason.
Get up at the same time every day.
Principles work and scale better though.
You sacrifice specificity but maximise applicability when you follow principles rather than strategies.
Once you’ve got a few years of momentum with your development, don’t be afraid of trying to find exceptions to the rules.
MODERN WISDOM
I do a podcast which has had 80 million+ downloads. You should subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
This week’s upcoming episodes:
Monday.
Stuart Ritchie – behavioural genetics is one of the most hated sciences in the world. Why is there such an aversion to researching how much our outcomes in life are due to our inherited genes?
Thursday.
James Smith – how do you develop true confidence? Why are unasked questions taking up all your mental energy? How can you deal with failures and setbacks?
Saturday.
Dr Becky Smethurst – black holes aren’t black and they aren’t holes. They also do loads of other mad stuff and one of YouTube’s most popular physicists explains it all.
THINGS I’VE LEARNED
1.
Men and women perceived women with nipple erections as less intelligent, less moral, and more likely to engage in sexual behaviours.
If nipple erection signals/is a cue to sexual interest or arousal, we would expect that women with nipple erection would be sexualized: having a presumed higher sexual arousal and promiscuity and lower mental abilities and morality.
To examine this, 234 participants rated pictures of women with and without salient nipple erection.
Nipple erection is a cue that triggers sexualization and objectification of women; women with nipple erection are thought of as less intelligent, less moral, and more promiscuous by both men and women.
Women reported that women with erect nipples had more male sex partners, lost their virginity at a younger age, and had lower quality relationships.
Women cannot control their nipple erection, yet these data show that it is used by men and women to make presumptions about women’s character and behavior.
Nipple erection, which is an uncontrollable reflex, triggers sexualization and objectification by both men and women who observe it.
— Rolf Degen
2.
You lose more than you realise when you consume content sped up.
“Just because you can listen to it at 2.5x speed doesn’t mean you should.”
3.
The Sandwich was invented by the Earl Of Sandwich.
According to history, the sandwich was created in 1762 in England.
Most food historians agree that the sandwich is the product of John Montagu, “the 4th Earl of Sandwich.”
Montagu was known for being a problematic gambler, spending hours upon hours at the card table.
During one of his long days of playing, he worked up an appetite and requested something from the kitchen that he could eat with his hands, without needing to get out of his seat.
He was brought a sandwich—two pieces of bread filled with meat in the middle.
John Montagu, who currently holds the title, is the 11th Earl of Sandwich and serves in the House of Lords.
LIFE HACK
YouTube Premium.
I’m not usually into repeating Life Hacks but this one affects me personally.
YouTube Premium is free to upgrade to for 30 days and I honestly think it’s worth more than Spotify Premium.
No ads to skip, download videos for offline watching if you’re travelling, window-in-window playing on mobile while you use other apps and videos continue to play audio if you lock your phone.
If you use YouTube even a moderate amount, the time saving alone is worth your money.
Big love,
Chris x
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PS
Thank you to everyone who submitted reviews on Apple Podcasts & Spotify, you are my favourites.
