The earliest people did this. Their oral traditions were passed on, repeated around campfires, and learned by heart in some cases. Today we have media which make it easy to re-visit stories. What hasn’t changed is our need to keep these stories close to us.
Author: James Walpole
James Walpole is a writer, startup marketer, intellectual explorer, and perpetual apprentice. He opted out of college to join the Praxis startup apprenticeship program and currently manages marketing and communications at bitcoin payment technology company BitPay. He writes daily at jameswalpole.com.
Troll the World with Positivity
This is true trolling – to overwhelm conventional wisdom with unconventional wisdom. You will troll the trolls by taking their art form and using it for good. You will troll the world with positivity. You will be absurd in your joy until everyone else realizes they are being absurd in their misery.
Instead of Good vs. Evil: Creative vs. Destructive Acts
Many people in our post-religious world are skeptical of the categories of “good” vs. “evil.” And they should be. Most of us inherit duty-based moralities that have tradition behind them, but little enough clear reasoning. And since most inherited religious moral codes differ from modern peoples’ intuitions and inclinations, most people are even more likely to write off “good” and “evil” as outdated notions. But we all still ask the question “how should we act?”
Pay Attention To What You Laugh At
It’s too bad that laughter which comes from shock sounds about the same as laughter which comes from delight. The practical effect of that is that the person saying reprehensible things feels that you are in on their joke. They feel affirmed. And many conversations go just this way.
Use a Rule of Improv To Co-Create Great Adventures with Friends
My night went from ordinary to extraordinary due to the combination of saying yes to the randomness and building upon it. I built upon the momentum life gave me (forgetting to register, the lecture) by engaging with curiosity (talking to the stranger) and involving more friends (hanging out afterwards) in the game.
Don’t Fake Your Way Out of Naïveté
“Faking it till you make it” is at its best a confident, earnest approach to a problem, with the hope that your “old college try” will bring you closer to mastery. If (like me) you are a relatively inexperienced young person in the professional world, that’s a necessity. But “faking it till you make it” goes wrong when you try to fake your way out of your naïveté.
Save Drama for the Big Stuff: Opportunity Cost and Emotional Energy
If we choose to act dramatically about small drama – worthless drama – we sacrifice any ability to handle anything bigger. Worrying, doubting, fighting, and losing sleep over little things like your opinions or your comfort or your current social status will cost you.
Don’t Self-Identify As Something You Don’t Respect
When you find ourselves in the middle of doing something you don’t respect, it’s all too easy to identify as a person with things you don’t respect: flakiness, klutziness, cowardice, dishonesty. You might even go so far as to label yourself. Stop doing this.
10 Life Tweaks I’ve Been Enjoying Lately
I’m skeptical of “simple tricks to get a better life.” If you aren’t working on the core stuff (integrity, productivity, courage, kindness, etc), all the modifications and habits and gear in the world won’t work to improve your core sense of well-being. But when you are working on yourself, there are some real “life tweaks” that can help you down the very, very long path to “the good life”.
Be (At Least) Better Than Your Bad Days
All you have to do is be (at least) better than your bad day. Be better than what a bad day would turn most people into. Be better than what you were on the last time you had a bad day – just a bit more forgiving, a bit more self-controlled, a bit more courageous. This is how the progress will come, not from judging yourself against your ideal-on-a-best-day self.