April 22, 2019 26 Comments

Nothing New Under the Sun: 8 Historic Patterns

I have written about history on multiple occasions in the past, and now it’s time again.

Studying history is important because it gives you a broad understanding of human nature under different circumstances. And it also allows you to predict with higher certainty when people or countries are succumbing to certain historical patterns. When this happens, there is not much you can do to counteract it — a wiser decision may be to simply extract yourself from the situation and strive to avoid the folly of your peers, statesmen or countrymen.Continue Reading…

Filed Under: General, Philosophy, Psychology
February 25, 2019 14 Comments

The Thoreau Test: Can You Live on 6 Weeks’ Work?

“For more than five years I maintained myself thus solely by the labor of my hands, and I found, that by working about six weeks in a year, I could meet all the expenses of living. The whole of my winters, as well as most of my summers, I had free and clear for study.”

~Henry David Thoreau

Thoreau could live on 6 weeks of serious work per year.

Most likely, you cannot.

Because inflation has ruined your purchasing power and the median salary has not risen enough to compensate for this.

Also, taxes have increased. So you have to work a lot more.

To put that in perspective:

Continue Reading…

Filed Under: Breaking out of Homeostasis, Future Skills, General, Lifestyle, Philosophy
January 13, 2019 17 Comments

Don’t Think Too Highly of Human Nature

human nature

Roman aqueducts

Accelerating change, progress, and innovation is not the status quo.

The Aqueduct and functional sewage systems existed during the Roman Empire (300 BC – 300 AD). And then, when the Roman Empire fell, so did this innovation. The idea of digging tunnels below ground to transport water and waste out of the city was effectively eradicated from popular culture.Continue Reading…

Filed Under: Breaking out of Homeostasis, General, Miscellaneous, Studying Successful People
January 3, 2019 13 Comments

Annual Review 2018

 

Hi there –

I hope you’ve had a fruitful year.

I thought I’d give a brief summary of 2018 and share some lessons. (Like I did in 2016)

The year went ahead different than I had expected. It’s been eventful and I learned a tremendous deal (if you’ve followed Future Skills, you’ll have picked up on some of it).

I made many mistakes, butContinue Reading…

Filed Under: Future Skills, General, Practical Tips, Self-Development
October 16, 2018 18 Comments

20 Future Skills and My Selection of Expert Advice

Future Skill

[UPDATED: 1/12/2019 – See bottom – 3 more guests]

I’ve been fortunate to meet and talk to many interesting people.

In a recent Q&A, a listener asked me & Mikael what we had learned from our podcasts, and how making them had impacted our lives.

For me, the most important thing has been (and remains) meeting and talking to interesting individuals; learning from masters.

Learning partly from osmosis, partly from research. But mostly from reading between the lines and reflecting on my own.

This article sums up the best advice from Future Skills Podcast yet.Continue Reading…

Filed Under: Future Skills, General, Podcast, Studying Successful People
September 11, 2018 16 Comments

Proxy Society: Are We Cognitively Equipped for Capitalism?

proxy societyI count the fact that we’re evolutionary mismatched to much of the modern world as one of the most important mind-shifts I’ve had.

One of the biggest evolutionary mismatches is the capitalist system.

We all know that Marxism, Communism, Leftism don’t work. If they did, they would have prosperous companies and happy people. It doesn’t take a genius to understand that if you rob people ofContinue Reading…

Filed Under: Discipline & Willpower, Future Skills, General, Miscellaneous
August 27, 2018 17 Comments

Book Review: The Leangains Method

I just finished Martin Berkhan’s book The Leangains Method.

It’s a great concept. It’s simple and it works.

I’ve done it for 6 years.

if I were to follow a template for fitness, it would be based on this book.

What I do different has to do withContinue Reading…

Filed Under: Fitness and Health, General, Practical Tips
July 31, 2018 16 Comments

The 6 Fundamentals of a Robust Commonplace

commonplace

Building a commonplace is one of the most useful things I’ve done in the past 5 years.

It took a while until I had a structure that was easy to use in all areas of my life, but ever since, it’s been very convenient. Because I can use it for all my work projects, studies, writing, and podcasts.

In this article I will show you how I do that.

And, how you can do the same.Continue Reading…

Filed Under: General, Learning, Self-Development, Studying Successful People, The Ultimate Commonplace System