*enter cute derivative word for quarantine* Diaries — PART VII

This quarantine showed me:

- how little I actually need stuff

- with how little I can be happy

- to be grateful for what I have, — recheck myself periodically for it

- what it means to live one day at a time

But it also made me ponder, was I already living one day at a time? Is my love for video games the grand escapism show that I'm putting myself subject to in the face of my gargantuan lack of purpose in life?

I mean, what do I want my life to represent?

Having a family and kids was never the ultimate goal. That's just something you're brainwashed about. Being wild and free, doing what you want when you want makes things ambiguous, unstable. But isn't that what's fun about it? The moment you stop and settle, you're doomed. It's death.

Trying to achieve that constantly-rising level of basic needs. Like trying to touch the horizon. Fulfil the glass of destiny that has a hole in its bottom.

Great weather outside but no solitary sunbathing in parks okay?

#justpondering

It's the kind of war that prepares you for war.

*enter cute derivative word for quarantine* Diaries — PART VI

I figured it out:

The convenience of finding information on internet is what's keeping me from concentrating on reading.

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I made a calculation, — after I listened to Tim Ferriss do one for himself, of how many more books I would read for the rest of my life span.

If I live until I'm 70 (family average if I'm lucky), I have 32 years left on earth. (wow just made me realise the better half of it is gone pouf.)

If I read 1 book a month on average, that makes 384 books in 32 years.

This doesn't leave room for much and makes me wonder if I should really read that Ernest Cline's Armada or Carol Tavris' Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me). Shouldn't I invest more time in books like Carlo Rovelli's The Order Of Time and Soren Kierkegaard's Either/Or.

I think one answer to this dilemma is speed reading. I first learnt it on a Mindvalley video with Jim Kwik (it was a private link but there are many videos of Jim Kwik on YouTube explaining his method). And my reading speed tripled in 15 minutes! Later I stumbled upon a video from Tim Ferriss explaining his own method.

By speed reading I don't mean using apps such as Blinkist or Joosr to listen to the gist of a book according to that 'specific' person who wrote it, I don't also mean apps like Spritz which Ryan Holiday passionately spits on in his article about how speed reading misses the point. Ryan has got a point on the most important thing, reading should be a habit not something you rush about. (and he's right about every other thing he mentions in that article but...)

I want to speed read because I want to squeeze more books in my short existence. I don't want to die without reading some important books. There are already around 100 in my reading queue that I already bought. Another 100 in my Amazon wish list. All staples of world literature, science and philosophy. I don't really have time for Lena Dunham's Not That Kind Of Girl.

Let's get back to Jim Kwik's method a little bit. 

It is about minimising the wandering of the eye throughout the book's periphery by using a pen to follow where we are on a page, and by this I mean follow each and every line all the way from left to right. (If you only move the pen over the middle of the lines, your brain won't retain the information on the two sides) The pen doesn't have to touch the paper (you don't want to cause a fire). This method improves concentration and visualisation, thus reading speed, and it helps us remember what we just read.

Now time 1 minute and start reading something how you would normally read. When the time is up count how many words you read. Repeat it reading another part (so you're not familiar with the content) with the above technique. How many words did you read this time? Did you have to go back? Did you understand everything you read. 

Trust me it gets better with practice. Being able to fully concentrate on the book, I even end up reading longer periods of time. I'm not reading a book in a day, but I fully grasp what I read and I remember more of it. (Because I read mostly non-fiction books, another thing I do is underlining, taking notes on the book, going back to these parts later on and engrave the knowledge in my head. I think it was Ryan Holiday who said something like this, "If I'm not going back to the books I read, what's the use of having a library?")

Eliminating the obvious distractions like mobile phone, any kind of notifications with sound or with vibration has been very useful for me. Instead of my phone (on which I habitually take notes) I started keeping a pen and a notebook with me while reading.

But the ultimate tweaking of course concerns a behaviour that is engulfing a good part of my personal time: streaming. 

If I establish the discipline of reading a book instead of streaming, I can double my reading average to a whopping 768 books! Then I would easily have more time to explore books like James Franco's Palo Alto or David Marsh' For Who the Bell Tolls.

PS1: Not so many years ago, books used to paint our minds with so many emotions. Still no screen adaptation can capture and reflect the true essence of written form (although I think the first Harry Potter film was spot on and Miyazaki's adaptation of Howl's Moving Castle surpasses the book, but those are exceptions).

PS2: When I was living in Japan and immersing myself in mangas, I remember thinking their black and white nature with simple pen strokes left so much more space for imagination as opposed to western comics that I was used to reading.

PS3: I never read a book digital, never will. I need to see the physical book with all its physical pages in front of me at all times.

#justpondering

*enter cute derivative word for quarantine* Diaries — PART V

Everybody be like, "Now I have time for that project of mine"

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The first week all I could see was total despair and my dreams crashing. I became self-aware on everything about myself, physical and mental. My body hurt in different places on different days. My ever-existing depression was heightened. I couldn't sleep at night without taking a Xanax. 

3 weeks is over. I am now readjusting expectations, changing perspective, making daily financial forecasts (as gloomy as it may sound this is helping me cope with my current situation and feel better)

Things I stopped doing:

• checking currency rates 
• immersing myself in corona news 
• reading other people write about corona
• worrying about the future

Things I am doing instead:

• not spending my money on unneeded things
• following essential info about corona on official channels
• reading non-fiction books to help re-strategise my life and cope with the now
• making the most out of today by working on my business’ market position and job hunting

I downloaded WOW back the other day, and successfully refrained myself from re-subbing. I am a proud gamer. Instead I carry on with my brief evening online gaming session playing Destiny 2. Surprisingly playing Destiny just before bed time makes me like jello. So here is my secret healthy alternative for my nocturnal mistress Xanax.

This is the book I recommended THE MOST in my life. Can't think of a better time to read it.

The Obstacle Is The Way, Ryan Holiday

Here's the book description on Amazon:

We give up too easily. With a simple change of attitude, what seem like insurmountable obstacles become once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Ryan Holiday, who dropped out of college at nineteen to serve as an apprentice to bestselling 'modern Machiavelli' Robert Greene and is now a media consultant for billion-dollar brands, draws on the philosophy of the Stoics to guide you in every situation, showing that what blocks our path actually opens one that is new and better.If the competition threatens you, it's time to be fearless, to display your courage. An impossible deadline becomes a chance to show how dedicated you are. And as Ryan discovered as Director of Marketing for American Apparel, if your brand is generating controversy - it's also potentially generating publicity.The Stoic philosophy - that what is in the way, is the way - can be applied to any problem: it's a formula invented more than 2,000 years ago, whose effectiveness has been proven in battles and board rooms ever since. From Barack Obama's ability to overcome obstacles in his election races, to the design of the iPhone, the stoic philosophy has helped its users become world-beaters.  

#justpondering 

*enter cute derivative word for quarantine* Diaries — PART IV

Settle in, settle in! Gather around! Settle in!

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Is there space yet for extraordinary things in our lives?

Why do I use first-person plural personal pronoun when I actually talk about myself? Am I more than one?

Will I find the chance again to do something that I'm passionate about? 

Will I find meaning?

Will I fall in love again?

Will I fall in love when I'm old?

Resistance, survival, resilience for what?

#justpondering

*enter cute derivative word for quarantine* Diaries — PART II

Johann Hari mentions in this TED Talk that exposure to the natural world is a really good anti depressant.

Humans are supposed to live in a tribe. Yet we are the loneliest society in the human history. We may be surrounded by many people but we can still feel lonely. Sharing meaningful experiences with others is what matters.

Hence, can we safely say that loneliness and corona are the two pandemics in our lifetime?

Is having a video chat on Hinge really scratch the itch?

I watched this one twice already. Johann Hari is a lovely person, follow him on Instagram. 

Goes well with Adam Grant's article about Loneliness for The New York Times.

Also you can listen to this awesome podcast with Tim Ferris and Adam Grant.

#justpondering