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Raptitude.com

Raptitude.com
What’s Taking Up Your Mental Bandwidth Right Now? Just as your eyeballs are, your mind is always pointed at something, and it matters what it is. If...
2 weeks ago
12
2 weeks ago
Just as your eyeballs are, your mind is always pointed at something, and it matters what it is. If you spent most of your day preoccupied with thoughts about a past failed relationship, for example, that makes for a different kind of day than one in which you’re preoccupied with...
Raptitude.com
Fix Three Broken Things Seneca pointed out that people tend to be reflexively stingy with their money, but almost comically...
3 weeks ago
18
3 weeks ago
Seneca pointed out that people tend to be reflexively stingy with their money, but almost comically wasteful with their time. There are at least two ways to take this. One is that Seneca thought he used his time better than you and I do, and maybe he did. Another interpretation...
Raptitude.com
The Tiniest Mission Sometimes doing a small thing can be extremely satisfying, out of all proportion to how easy it is:...
a month ago
31
a month ago
Sometimes doing a small thing can be extremely satisfying, out of all proportion to how easy it is: placing a jigsaw puzzle piece into the right slot, wiping your phone screen spotless, returning a tool to its designated hook, or making a nice diagonal cut across a lovingly-made...
Raptitude.com
How to Avoid Getting Lost in Thought Say you’re walking through Death Valley, trying to find your way back to the highway. Luckily you’ve...
2 months ago
63
2 months ago
Say you’re walking through Death Valley, trying to find your way back to the highway. Luckily you’ve got a good paper map. As you walk, you scan the territory around you for landmarks. You see some large-scale details: hills, rock formations, and gullies. Also some minute ones:...
Raptitude.com
How It Seems vs How It Is The other day I replaced an old, cracked mirror in my bathroom. When I took the existing one down,...
2 months ago
28
2 months ago
The other day I replaced an old, cracked mirror in my bathroom. When I took the existing one down, suddenly the room seemed to lose half its size. Turns out it’s just a claustrophobic little room with a toilet, sink, and tub. The sense that there’s open space in front of me while...
Raptitude.com
Humans Are About to Learn Like Never Before Humans aren’t good at predicting the future, but sometimes you can see a trend that promises...
3 months ago
28
3 months ago
Humans aren’t good at predicting the future, but sometimes you can see a trend that promises something great — like “a genie is granting your wish” great. I think this might be happening right now with one of my genie wishes, maybe yours too. For me it has to do with the piles of...
Raptitude.com
Two Ways to Change Your Momentum This is hardly a brilliant insight, but I’ve noticed that making small, “good” decisions early in...
4 months ago
22
4 months ago
This is hardly a brilliant insight, but I’ve noticed that making small, “good” decisions early in the day makes the whole day work better. If I wake up and avoid screen time and loafing around, I get more and better work done, I make more sensible meal choices, I’m less needy and...
Raptitude.com
Growth Means Choosing a Different Kind of Pain I never threw a party until I was in my late 30s. I was always afraid people wouldn’t show up, or,...
4 months ago
22
4 months ago
I never threw a party until I was in my late 30s. I was always afraid people wouldn’t show up, or, even worse, that they would show up and quickly want to leave. It felt like this particular fate could not be risked, which meant party-throwing was off the table. Other people...
Raptitude.com
In Favor of Reading Aloud When I read Jane Eyre, I stalled for a full year between the opening part at the boarding school and...
5 months ago
18
5 months ago
When I read Jane Eyre, I stalled for a full year between the opening part at the boarding school and the rest of the book. I tend to dislike boarding-school openings in books, but the real problem was I found myself having to reread too many of Charlotte Brontë’s winding,...
Raptitude.com
Somebody Has Already Figured It Out for You Let’s say you want to cross a river. There’s no bridge, because it’s 3000 BC and you are a nomadic...
6 months ago
19
6 months ago
Let’s say you want to cross a river. There’s no bridge, because it’s 3000 BC and you are a nomadic goat herder. You’ve never seen a bridge that wasn’t just a log over a creek. Crossing a big river is something you haven’t figured out. Maybe nobody has. You could maybe make a...
Raptitude.com
Do Quests, Not Goals South Island, New Zealand, a.k.a. Middle-Earth If you were to make a list of what you want to get...
6 months ago
14
6 months ago
South Island, New Zealand, a.k.a. Middle-Earth If you were to make a list of what you want to get done this week, it would mostly consist of things you have to do. Get groceries. Book a hair appointment. Get back to so-and-so. Read that health and safety thing for work. If you...
Raptitude.com
What Human Civilization is All About An assassin is coming to kill you! At midnight tonight! Unless you do 100 pushups first, that is. If...
7 months ago
7
7 months ago
An assassin is coming to kill you! At midnight tonight! Unless you do 100 pushups first, that is. If this were true, you would do the pushups, no question, no problem. Any motivation issues would evaporate, thanks to your assassin. If the assassin did this every weekday, you’d...
Raptitude.com
Push the Fence I know how to replace a kitchen faucet. If you have a janky old faucet that needs to be replaced...
7 months ago
7
7 months ago
I know how to replace a kitchen faucet. If you have a janky old faucet that needs to be replaced with a smoothly operating new one, I can do that for you or show you how. This wasn’t always true. It became true May 27, 2024, after pulling everything out of the under-sink...
Raptitude.com
Feedback is What Makes Everything Work The other day I closed a savings account at a tiny credit union branch. I expected it to take about...
8 months ago
8
8 months ago
The other day I closed a savings account at a tiny credit union branch. I expected it to take about five minutes, but the teller took so long that I started to experience time distortion. I knew it had been at least fifteen minutes, but perhaps it was much longer. Twenty-five...