Gems of the week #1
5 pieces to make your weekend Timeless…
Hello friends of the Timeless,
Small but special issue this weekend!
Why is that? Well, over the last couple of weeks:
- You guys posted some awesome articles
- We came across some interesting stuff.
- & we couldn’t find a good “common thread”…
Our plan? Line up the best pieces — give a solid timeless review.
Your plan? Read them — get a little smarter/wiser — rate them!
Contributions came from (among others) Fred and Fjhendrix. We thank you for your contributions to the timeless cause — they won’t be forgotten!
What do you think?
Do you like the deep dives into one specific topic? (Productivity, Creativity, Entrepreneurship, …)
Or a digest of the gems we found in the farthest corners of the web?
Give us a shout!
Timeless Gems of the Week
- Principles for Success
(Ray Dalio, 8min watch)
Intriguing mini-series, made by probably one of the most interesting people of all time. Ray Dalio is the founder of Bridgewater Associates, the biggest hedge fund in the world. Also became Youtube-famous by producing the 30-min landmark “How the Economic Machine Works”.
I love his cause-and-effect approach to understanding things. He now tries to tackle “How to own Life”. Will it get him to the top of The List?!
- Deep Habits: The Importance of Planning Every Minute of Your Work Day
(Cal Newport, 5min read)
Nothing world-shocking, but I needed this. YOU need to be in control of your schedule, every minute of it.
Quote: “Using your inbox to drive your daily schedule might be fine for the entry-level or those content with a career of cubicle-dwelling mediocrity, but the best knowledge workers view their time like the best investors view their capital, as a resource to wield for maximum returns.”
- How not to Die
(1845min read, Dr. Michael Greger)
This is actually a book, not a timeless “piece”. I’ve been taking a crack at this monster work on health and diet. It’s potentially life-changing. (Death-changing?).
Have not finished it yet — but what I love so far:
1. The first part of the book is 15 chapters — which are basically the 15 leading causes of death in the US. For every one of them, he shows a SHITLOAD of studies that demonstrate how your lifestyle & diet play a role in that death cause. Each chapter then holds some relevant insight to how you can change it — i.e practical recommendations for foods, lifestyle changes, …
2. He points out some of the fundamental mistakes in modern medicine: our doctors have always been geared toward pushing drugs and procedures that treat symptoms of disease, rather than promoting diet and lifestyle changes that address causes of disease.
For the time-depraved: here is a decent 8-min summary on Timeless.
- How to Get Rich
(Mark Cuban, 2008, 5min read)
Found this little gem written in 2008 by Mark Cuban (entrepreneur, billionaire and basketball freak).
I honestly don’t know shit about getting rich — but I liked his thinking and found it to be motivating. Love to hear your thoughts!
- Work-Life Balance
(Jeff Bezos, 4min watch)
Jeff Bezos at it again. His point here: he does NOT like the phrase “work-life balance” — you should think about “work-life harmony” instead…
Let’s quote the man again: “Is your work depriving you of energy, or is it generating energy for you?’” To me, this seems like a fundamental question to a good life. I do not have it nailed just yet….
Adios?
Nope, this was fun and I do feel a bit wiser. Gonna have to do it again.
By the way, the week isn’t over yet, and I’m still hungry for some gems… If you have one in your web archive, We’d be glad to hear it from you.
Have a great weekend,
Gilles & Thomas
Why Timeless?
As you may know, we’re trying to find and preserve truly valuable content on the web. The first blog post gives some more context on the idea of an open database of “wisdom”. In short: we’re trying to separate the signal from the noise on the web. We’re not looking for the next hype or trend; we’re looking for principles that can be applied in many different circumstances.
Gameplan
First and most crucial step: find the wisdom. On today’s over-crowded internet, ruled by the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and other hype-machines… this could prove hard enough.
Here’s the plan:
- Every week, I start things off with my 5 all-time classics on a certain theme.
Productivity, Decision Making, Health, Creativity, Entrepreneurship, Relationships, … y mucho más! - If you have great material on this subject, you can upload it into the database. Sharing is caring!
- We check out each other’s favorites and rate them on their timeless value.
- Subject by subject, we build up “hit-lists” of wisdom to preserve and expand.
- Maybe most importantly, we all learn a shit ton of each other in the process.
