#02: On meaningful work, cognitive bias, and busy train stations
#02: On meaningful work, cognitive bias, and busy train stations
impressions of the week
Welcome to Nuclear Wisdom, a weekly newsletter where I share observations and ideas on self-expansion and modern well-being.
Today at a Glance:
Idea: principles of the pathless path
Resource: cognitive bias list
Observation: society
Read time: 4 minutes
Are you living by the blueprint?
Around the time I decided to launch this newsletter, my life had reached peak uncertainty.
A state of being that I wasn’t too familiar with, given everything had been somewhat predictable most of the time.
I started challenging predictability proactively in recent years, but more on that and its implications in another letter…
Uncertainty is a weird deal.
One day, you’re in a dense forest of rich green color; on the other, you find yourself lost in the Saharan desert.
Uncertainty matters because it’s the calm before the storm.
But also, the gateway to an aspirational journey, as philosopher Agnes Callard pointed out is about “trying on values that we hope one day to possess.”
It’s the time when nothing is clear, but everything is possible.
Such as when great ideas fall into our lap when they’re most relevant given our life’s circumstances.
This week, the idea that should bring me profound joy and optimism came as a book.
It’s “The Pathless Path” by author Paul Millerd, and I devoured half of it on a 2-hour flight alone.
Thanks to a mention by Ali Abdaal in one of his videos, it instantly made it into my Kindle library.
An impulse purchase that turned out to be worth each penny and second of my attention.
It’s a personal journey of awakening that dares to challenge the default mode of living based on our Western ideals of work.
For Paul Millerd, “on the pathless path, the goal is not to find a job, make money, build a business, or achieve any other metric. It’s to actively and consciously search for the work that you want to keep doing.”
The book can seem out of scope to those working as full-time employees for a living, including myself, but it’s an honest and no-BS reality check for anyone struggling with their idea of work.
I found the book to be a goldmine of principles that can help you rethink the place of work in your life.
And form a life lived by design, not by default.
question the default
We all grow up being conditioned into a stack of blueprints that program how we live our lives.
The fact is, they only exist in your mind.
And where you can find one, you can find many.
What stories do you believe in about what work or life is supposed to be like?
disconnect and reflect
This is the secret sauce nobody tells you about.
Sure, taking breaks or having a holiday occasionally is relaxing and appreciated.
But when was the last time you deliberately distanced yourself from your work to put things into perspective?
go make something
Or, in one word: create.
Our intrinsic drive to create something valuable and make an impact is rooted deeply in human nature.
The default path has conditioned you to believe you must get permission first. You don’t.
It took me some time to drop that belief myself. I’ve wanted to start a newsletter and publish it online since the crazy bat virus hit but never did – now I do.
What’s one thing you’ve been burning to put out there but haven’t?
Give it a shot, and when you do, please let me know.
I’ll be the first one to like and subscribe.
experiment
The default path does not accommodate much space for testing different ways of structuring your life.
The pathless path allows you to test your mind-made boundaries around work.
Take extended breaks, live in different countries, test your money and relationship beliefs and define fresh milestone goals.
You can prototype your ideal life with cycles of endless iteration.
What are some lifestyle changes you’d like to experiment with?
In the coming weeks, I challenge you to be more conscious about the ideals of work you incorporate into your life.
I’m not preaching to quit your job like those entrepreneurship worshippers who want to sell you a course or make you believe you’re worth less without a unicorn company.
What I’m advocating for is a more contrarian and mindful approach to the ideals of work we grew up believing in.
And it all starts with one question: what if?
Uncertainty is a weird deal.
But just as the forest provides comfort and familiarity,
the desert offers a space for transformation by exploring new limits.
To Err is Human
In my last letter, I shared how I met a traveler couple from San Francisco, with whom I conversed about cognitive biases.
The topic has sparked my curiosity since I picked up Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast & Slow, followed by attending a class on decision-making with a professor who loved pouring us red wine for each lecture.
It wasn’t the wine that kept me engaged, promise.
This week, I came across an online resource that I thought would be too selfish not to share with you.
It’s a list of the most relevant cognitive biases, curated by Canadian research firm The Decision Lab, which happens to run one of the most significant publications on applied behavioral science.
Wanna learn how your lazy brain is messing with you?
Source: screenshot of the website
Ditch the phone
It’s Wednesday, 6:03 pm, in Hamburg, Germany.
I just made it from the airport to the busy central station, hoping to grab a bite to eat before hopping on my train.
Said, done.
I stand outside in front of the ticket machine, enjoying my goat cheese sandwich, as I watch the minute hand on my watch move as slowly as a turtle.
24 minutes to go...
While everything around me seemed to blur in the precious moments I was biting into my sandwich, it’s not lost on me how loud and busy a place it is.
Incomparable to the sweet Estonian calm I get to savor in Tallinn.
Faces from all over, including business people with ties and briefcases, teenagers who look like they are about to film a TikTok video, ticket inspectors, station staff who dutifully do their job, street musicians, cab drivers, and homeless people.
A colorful bunch who mingle with the masses, forming a gigantic blob of moving matter in the heart of the city.
The number of impressions you’ll get by watching the world around you is innumerable.
Put the phone aside; look around.
Observing society will teach you more than a degree in human anthropology.
Happy Sunday & until next time,
Mete