Timeless Mission 2: LIFE ADVICE
Big topic… Small blog post!
Hey all,
We’re back at it with another Timeless Mission. The Productivity contest was great, and I still have so much on my to-read list… But the search for wisdom must continue!
I was hesitant to dive into this one… “Life advice” is vague, extremely broad and usually not very actionable. Happiness? Success? Fulfillment? What are we talking about? Now that’s also exactly why I’m so curious to see what you guys have in store for me this time.
Question: If you could send five articles to your 18-year old self, what would they be? What ideas, philosophies or advice would you want to give them?
This could actually become a real problem for me (I have a 12-year old brother), so I’m already practicing here. I’m secretly hoping that I’ll have 50 more great pieces lined up by the time he gets there… Poor little kid ;-).
To my Bro: Here are my 5 favorites on Life Advice
- The Courage to Live Consciously
Steve Pavlina (2004), 11 min read
A small headbutt from Steve Pavlina (probably my favorite blogger of all-time). His main pont is that courage is the most important human quality to develop. It’s one of those pieces you either love or hate; it definitely struck a chord with me.
Bro: I hope this will strike some chord within you too. Or headbutt you. Fuck, just read it. - The Top-5 Reasons to be a Jack of All Trades
Tim Ferriss (2007), 15 min listen
Before you ask: YES, TIM FERRISS WILL BE IN EVERY LIST, UNTIL THE VERY END! ;)
No, while he usually gets into very practical subjects (diet, life hacks, …), here he explains why he does not believe in specialization.
Bro: Life is way too interesting to do one thing only. Instead, “Be too complex to categorize”. And listen to Tim Ferriss ofcourse! - The Prime Belief
Mark Manson (2012), 6 min read
As you may have noticed… I kinda like personal development. But, before we start personal developing, Mark Manson lays the foundation. “There is a realization from which all potential personal growth emerges….”. What is it??
Bro: Put down FIFA for 6 minutes and read this little story, it’ll be worth it! - Why Generation Y Yuppies are Unhappy
Wait But Why (2013) , 7 min read
Another amazing post from Tim Urban with some golden animations.
Bro: I hope your generation is way smarter than us in dealing with this “happiness” thing. If not, you gotta lead the way! Start by reading this classic. - On Life & Experiences
Steve Jobs (2012) , 5 min watch (from minute 2 on)
Ah Steve Jobs… Just like the man himself, this is a “hate it or love it” thing. For me it just flashed open some lightbulbs in my grey mass up there. “Get different experiences from the normal course of events…”
Bro: Don’t be ordinary! Love ya!
Misson: Save my little brother!
Dear friends, you have the opportunity to save a little kid from reading these 5 horrible pieces of advice on his 18th birthday. So: Upload your favorite piece of Life Advice in the database. Besides an innocent kiddo, you might influence us all! Everything is welcome :)
Adios?
Most certainly not. You will hear from me exactly one week from now with an update on our second Timeless Mission (no spam in between, I promise).
Your fellow Timeless geeks,
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 personal favorites 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.
Visit the first version of the database: Timeless Wisdom
