👋 Welcome to the 82nd issue of Out of Curiosity, a weekly newsletter promoting ideas to help get 1% better everyday.
My name is Reza, and every week, I go through nearly 100 pieces of content (from books and podcasts to newsletters and tweets), and bring you the best in this newsletter.
In this issue:
🎯 Positioning yourself for success
🚫 Five lies that can ruin your life
🔒 Containment
💬 50 ways to start a conversation
🎯 Positioning yourself for success
Our ability to process information in our bodies is an ancient survival skill that has been lost in modern society. Pausing to feel how an idea or new information resonates in the body can enhance understanding and internalization of the concept.George Soros famously said that when his back is acting up, he knows something is wrong in markets. And even Einstein wrote about kinesthetic awareness.
If you think about human beings as animals, which we are, we learned to process information in our environment way before the Greeks invented logic. And human beings, to survive, had to process information in their bodies. And we've lost that.
We've lost the ability to process information in our body. When I read an idea, say in one of your podcasts, or reading a quote, I'll pause and I'll process it in my body. So what do I mean by processing? I'll just stop for a moment and see how it feels in my body.
→ The Knowledge Project | 53-min listen
🚫 Five lies that can ruin your life
You owe it to society to become a producer. In fact, if you have the skills to become a producer you’re doing society a *favor* by being selfish in the *beginning*. You are going to create jobs and opportunities for other people. You owe it to yourself and to the country you live in to become a successful individual. That will generate the most value for society over the long-term.
Your 20s are not the best years of your life. If you live life correctly the general path should be: 20s pain and suffering, 30s tons of excitement change and income, 40s repeat 30s but your body slows down a bit and then 50s = do whatever you like.
→ Bowtied Bull | 12-min read
🔒 Containment
Two friends once told me that after a decade of working on startups together they had exhausted their ability to panic. I understood what they were pointing to—not enlightenment but a kind of hard-won resignation, an ability to be calm under pressure borne from living through intense chaos for a long period of time. I like think of it as containment, though some people would say control, or poise.
What it looks like: thinking before talking. Regulating your most extreme emotions. And summoning the will to grit your teeth and do the thing you have to do. Containment sometimes demands passivity (keeping a secret, listening instead of talking, suppressing an outburst) but I think it also demands activity (doing your chores, apologizing first, holding on, letting go). It’s a willingness to stomach unpleasantness, to control yourself for the sake of self-respect.
→ bookbear express | 2-min read
💬 50 ways to start a conversation
Demonstrate that you’ve been listening by restating their points in another way.
Communicate enthusiasm and excitement about your subjects and life in general.
Be ready to tell others something interesting or challenging about what you do.
Ask open-ended questions to learn more.
Always search for the things that get the other person excited.
When you tell a story, present the main point first, and then add the supporting details.
→ Overmind | 3-min read
✨ One last thing…
👋 Until next week,
🗂
#80: more intention, less trying
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