#99: Does it matter to my future self?
Explore the power of following true obsessions, simplifying daily choices, using money as a tool for freedom, and finding peace in self-knowledge.
👋 Welcome to Pursuit, where we explore the art of living well. My name is Amir, and each week, I go over 10 hours of content about personal growth and mental well-being, bringing you four insights and thought-provoking perspectives from leading thinkers. I hope to have a tiny impact on your life and inspire you with the tools to lead a more fulfilling life. Join us on this journey of continuous improvement and discovery.
🇬🇧 Next week, I'll be traveling to London to meet my best friend visiting from Iran, so there won't be a newsletter. It's a good reminder that breaking routine and taking deliberate breaks is essential for our well-being.
This week’s discovery:
🧠 Go where your obsession takes you
🕰️ Does it matter to my future self?
💰 Earn money to live on your own terms
🤹🏼♂️ Only stable, peaceful thing I have
🧠 Go where your obsession takes you
Trust your obsessions. This is one I learned more or less accidentally. People sometimes ask whether the research or the idea for the story comes first for me. And I tell them, normally the first thing that turns up is the obsession: for example, all of a sudden I notice that I’m reading nothing but English 17th century metaphysical verse. And I know it’ll show up somewhere—whether I’ll name a character after one of those poets, or use that time period, or use the poetry, I have no idea. But I know one day it’ll be there waiting for me. You don’t always use your obsessions. Sometimes you stick them onto the compost heap in the back of your head, where the rot down, and attach to other things, and get half-forgotten, and will, one day, turn into something completely usable. Go where your obsessions take you. Your obsessions may not always take you to commercial places, or apparently commercial places. But trust them.
✨ From Brain Food | Simple Truths
🕰️ Does it matter to my future self?
We often mistake complexity for importance, turning life's simple moments into elaborate productions.
Coffee becomes an identity, facial hair transforms into a statement, and minor workplace decisions balloon into epic battles - all without adding real value to our lives.
When we view our current concerns through the lens of our future selves, most of these "crucial" matters dissolve into insignificance. That heated debate about office seating arrangements or the perfect coffee bean origin? They'll barely register in our memories a year from now.
There's a profound liberation in declaring something irrelevant. When we consciously choose not to inflate minor details into major dramas, we create space for what truly matters. Like clearing unnecessary apps from a smartphone, removing artificial significance from simple things allows life to flow more naturally.
The path to contentment often lies not in adding importance to everything, but in recognizing what deserves our attention and what we can simply let be.
✨ From The Art of Manliness - Tactics and Mindset Shifts for Making the Most of Life
I am often guilty of getting fixated on new things I learn and trying to change my established routines. Recently, I threw away all my pots and switched to cast iron without researching how challenging it can be to cook with. Did I just complicate my life? Are the health benefits worth it? And most importantly, will this matter to my future self?
💰 Earn money to live on your own terms
We often chase money as a path to status and success, yet its true power lies not in what it buys, but in the freedom it creates. Money isn't the destination - it's the oxygen that fuels our journey toward authentic living.
Money is like a key that unlocks doors, financial resources create possibilities for meaningful experiences and deeper connections. A larger home's worth isn't measured in square footage, but in the laughter and memories it contains.
Our relationship with money often springs from childhood experiences and inherited beliefs. Growing up witnessing frugality during prosperity or scarcity shapes our understanding that saving isn't about restriction - it's about creating future freedom.
Financial independence isn't about accumulating wealth for its own sake. It's about having the power to spend time with whom we choose, when we choose. This freedom allows us to make life-altering decisions without being constrained by financial fears. The goal isn't to have more than others, but to have enough to live authentically according to our own values.
Money's greatest gift isn't in the things it buys, but in the choices it enables. When we understand this, frugality transforms from a restriction into a strategy for liberation, and wealth becomes not an end goal but a pathway to living on our own terms.
✨ From The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish | Morgan Housel — Get Rich, Stay Rich
🤹🏼♂️ Only stable, peaceful thing I have
The only stable, peaceful thing I have, which is my power, is knowing who I am. There’s uncertainty of which road you’ll take, which door will open and close at the right window, but there’s no uncertainty of what you care about, what you pay attention to and therefore, who you are.
✨ From Nix - Spikiness
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🎵 Discovery for your ears
You’ll find mostly Ethnotronica, Organic House, World, Disco, and Organic Electronic here:
🎧 If you appreciate the music I carefully select and haven't followed my Spotify playlists yet, now is the perfect time to hit that follow button and join me on this musical journey! 🎶
🌒 Pano: Danceable and electronic obscure songs
🌓 Sisy: Ethnotronica and organic house
🌑 Berghain: Dark, minimal techno and tech house
🌕 Heide: Groovy soul and disco house
🌞 Sonntag: Afterhours shit
🌎 World: From Latin jazz to Turkish psych
🌚 Super Slow: For your intimate moments
Previously on Pursuit:
Remember kids, no tomatoes in the cast iron pans.
Enjoy London 🎉