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Hmm. The experiences that changed and benefited me most were least predictable. As a result, I try to manage experiences less, and choose the unknown more. But
by daniel_reetz 2y ago
Hmm. The experiences that changed and benefited me most were least predictable. As a result, I try to manage experiences less, and choose the unknown more.
But in the spirit of what you've said, I try to avoid doing dumb, damaging, or boring things twice.
- edanm 2y agoThat's a good point. I'm a big reader - and I have lists of thousands of books I want to read. But one reason I semi-on-purpose still pick up random books that I stumble across and look fun, even if they're less "optimally chosen" by me, is exactly so that I sometimes stumble on things I would otherwise miss. Or maybe just, like many readers, I love buying new books almost as much as reading them, and this is just an excuse to buy more... :)
- feyman_r 2y agoThat last bit resonates with me so much! In fact, there’s a word in Japanese for it - ‘tsundoku’! Ever since I stumbled upon it, I feel almost vindicated :)).
- edanm 2y agoThe funny thing is, I do the same with Audible books too, even if they aren't something I normally physically see. I just can't help buying books :)
- reaperman 2y agoFor many things in life I try to find and loosely follow some ideal ratio of explore vs. exploit. For restaurants I've found 1:3 ratio works well - 3 times eating at restaurants I know I love, then the fourth time eating somewhere I haven't been yet. Usually the new restaurant doesn't live up to my favorites, but sometimes I find a new favorite.
- madaxe_again 2y agoI just got into the habit of saying “yes” to pretty much anything. It has taken me on some wild rides indeed, and I am richer in spirit for it. It forged the bond between my wife and me - “shall we do a road trip across Eurasia?”, she idly asked, expecting at the very most a “maybe” - instead I grasped that nettle and applied for visas that day. Six weeks of utterly madcap adventure ensued. Since, I’ve found myself in an unending series of odd adventures of one variety of another, from fostering rare donkeys to… other stuff I’d be wise to not mention. Some episodes I would call ill-advised in the extreme, but all have been enriching. There’s always a reason to say no, and it’s probably bullshit. It also has the added benefit of uplifting others - it transforms their idle thought into something that actually happens.
- pjmorris 2y ago> It also has the added benefit of uplifting others - it transforms their idle thought into something that actually happens. Hearty agreement, from the experience of both the receiving and offering ends of that gesture.
- pixl97 2y agoIsn't this also just a form of survivorship bias? You wouldn't be posting this from prison for example. Maybe at the end of the day simple platitudes only work for the lucky.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- lukan 2y agoWell, by definition, if you have bad luck, you are unlucky. But sometimes you can move out of a chain of bad luck events by doing something else and not repeating the same stuff while hoping for change.
- TeMPOraL 2y ago> not repeating the same stuff while hoping for change That infamous quote typically attributed to Einstein notwithstanding, really most of learning and progress is done by doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different outcomes.
- teekert 2y agoIf you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you will learn the things you never knew you never knew.
- 7thaccount 2y agoBut can you paint with all the colors of the wind? In all seriousness, I liked that line you quoted in the song. I wonder if there is a literary term for that repetition. It's not alliteration I don't think as the words themselves repeat.
- nuclearnice1 2y agopolyptoton?
- notnaut 2y agoEpanalepsis? Chiasmus? Why are all rhetorical devices given such arcane names?
- uoaei 2y agoRhetoric was invented in Greece
- riskable 2y ago> arcane names That's why they're magic! If people used these words every day they'd end up starting fires or summoning demons.
- InSteady 2y agoCamorepticus? Scremaèlitude? We're just making up words at this point, right?
- sn9 2y agoI think they're just Greek because we got them from the Greeks.
- 2y ago
- FrustratedMonky 2y agoI don't think he is saying, don't be surprised, or have unique experiences. But don't sit and watch YouTube all day. You can curate your inputs to some degree, and limit just sitting and soaking in social media.
- skeeter2020 2y ago>> I try to avoid doing dumb, damaging, or boring things twice. As a parent I tell my kids: "Make lots of mistakes. Learn from them and don't repeat them; avoid the fatal ones". Then I try to remember my own words before I chastize them for their multitude of dumb decisions (teenage boys)...
- riskable 2y agoTo be fair, you have avoided the fatal ones. So at the very least you're not a hypocrite.
- Eisenstein 2y agoIf someone is a current smoker and they eventually die of lung cancer, would you say that they avoided the fatal decision up until they died? I mean, in the long we are all dead, but we have to say that there can be ultimately fatal decisions made in which the person does not immediately die.
- shswkna 2y agoWe start aging, i.e. heading for death, the moment we are born. And with every breath henceforth. Some faster, some slower. So it is relative, in every sense.
- consf 2y ago[dead]
- bts327 2y agoThis is it, combined with the points brought forth by the parent. Like all things, a healthy balance seems to be the optimal strategy. Life’s a journey; good idea to plan but the people and places you find off the beaten path are often the most rich and rewarding.