#22: Is Work Worship?
#decision-making #mindset #self-care #workaholism #productivity
👋 Welcome to this week's Pursuit. My name is Amir, and each week I go over 10 hours of content in pursuit of living a meaningful, fulfilling and balanced life. I'm grateful to share my findings with you and hope I can have a tiny impact on your life. Subscribe now if you haven't already!
This week’s discovery:
🎲 How to Be a Good Decision Maker
😶🌫️ Being Poor vs. Feeling Poor
🧹 To Be Untidy Is to Be Alive
🕍 Is Work Worship?
💭 Productivity as a Dream-Oriented Approach
🗒️ A Quote I'm Pondering On
🎵 Music Tracks I'm Listening To
🎲 How to Be a Good Decision Maker
If you want to be a great decision-maker, you need to be able to identify the "one-way doors" vs. the "two-way doors." One-way doors are the decisions that, once made, can't be undone. These are the decisions that require a lot of thought and consideration. On the other hand, two-way doors are decisions that can be reversed if things don't go as planned. These decisions require speed and agility. When it comes to one-way doors, take your time and think it through. But when it comes to two-way doors, don't waste any time. Make a decision and move on. Remember, you can always fix a mistake as long as it's not a mistake of integrity.
🎧 5-min
😶🌫️ Being Poor vs. Feeling Poor
To be something is to accept the facts of what is, similar to how an emotion is simply the unconscious processing of an event. If you make a million dollars a year, you’re rich. If you lose your eyesight, you’re blind. And so on. But to feel something is to overlay the facts with your interpretation of them. This is how a millionaire can feel poor instead of rich, and a blind person can feel empowered instead of depressed. The way you feel about something is the result of your conditioning, your values, and perhaps most importantly, your framing of the situation.
📖 5-min
🧹 To Be Untidy Is to Be Alive
Every time I reread Lisa’s essays, I feel warmth in my heart and light in my chest. She truly knows how to touch humanity with her writing.
I’ve been told to control nature, mine included, instead of learn from and listen to it. I’ve spent a lot of time forgetting what’s important — and a lot of time forgetting that what’s important lacks a certain neatness. To be untidy is to be alive. Letting it all be untidy means dropping my ideas about how it should go so I can more fully lean into how it’s actually going. Letting it all be untidy means surrendering to the pace that is most true, rather than the pace I assume will take the least amount of time or effort. Letting it all be untidy means trusting the unpaved path, the unclear outcome, the longing to do the thing before having clarity around how it will go. Letting it all be untidy means looking at the pile of dishes or the unswept floor and seeing them as visions of tending to what matters more instead of proof of inadequacy.
📖 6-min
🕍 Is Work Worship?
I’m sure you know people who worship work, or at the very least the hazy, splendid notion of ‘ambition’. For some, it’s important to merge their life with their job. To maximize and fulfil their intelligence or potential. It’s a spiritual quest. And isn’t that the dream: to love what you do? Workaholism and actual interest start to blur at some intensity though, and it gets harder to tell if someone likes their work or just likes to work. Perhaps both.
I am most inspired when people tell me their work feels like play. Like flow. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, and actually it can also be laborious, but that you wake up every day feeling like you get to do this thing, that you chose it and it feels meaningful somewhere deep inside of you. It has to be rewarding in its process, not just its outcome. I’m extending this definition of work beyond what you get compensated for, what you clock in and out of, what you submit to a manager to. Work can mean a side project, a blog, a relationship, a realm of care, faith. These are ambitions too.
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy...that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist... The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.
📖 6-min
💭 Productivity as a Dream-Oriented Approach
If you're feeling overwhelmed by the idea of productivity and goal-setting, take a step back and think about your dreams. What's your horizon? What's the point on the horizon that you want to reach? It could be something as simple as watching all the black and white movies with your partner before you die. The key is to choose a dream that truly means something to you. Once you've identified your horizon, start taking small steps towards it. Don't worry about having a five-year plan or knowing exactly how you'll get there. The most important thing is to keep moving forward and accumulating skills and experiences that will ultimately lead you to your dream. Remember, productivity should be dream-oriented, not about grinding yourself down. So choose your dream and let productivity help you get there.
🎧 3-min
🗒️ A Quote I'm Pondering On
Wisdom tells me I am nothing. Love tells me I am everything. And between the two my life flows. ― Nisargadatta Maharaj
🎵 Music Tracks I'm Listening To
🎧 You’ll find mostly Ethnotronica, Organic House, World, Disco, and Organic Electronic here:
Last week, I was in Greece for my brother's wedding. It was a wonderful experience seeing family members after 20 years, making new friends, and embracing nature. In my opinion, Greek people are probably the nicest people on earth. At every restaurant we visited, the owners gave us dessert, ouzo, or fruits on the house. They genuinely want you to have a great time in their country and experience their culture and way of life. I am looking forward to going back soon.
Previously on Pursuit:
wow the beach view looks really amazing