Friday Unwind 011
Thinking on the bright side of life on a yacht
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s the weekend —
If you need something to occupy your mind, here are a few things I’ve been thinking about lately:
Bad Lunch (The Sun)
I am not in the “abolish billionaires” camp, except for those who actually embody the worst stereotypes of the rich, like some of the ones in this article on working as a private chef on a yacht.
One group especially loved the desserts. The man who was paying the bill appeared in my galley on the last full day of his stay with a list of more than two dozen: carrot cake, chocolate-orange cheesecake, coconut cream pie, lemon meringue pie, and so on. “You want me to make some of these?” I asked, not understanding him immediately. He looked afraid to say what he wanted. That’s when I understood: He wanted all twenty-five. Eager to please, I said, “Of course,” and went to work creaming butter by the pound, scooping sugar and flour, cracking eggs against the oven, whipping egg whites into stiff peaks, and melting chocolate into a silken ganache. If eggs were clouds and flour were sky, I might have baked a world.
Most of us are bad at predicting what will make us happy, including the world’s best athletes (The Athletic)
I’ve written about how the relationship between money and happiness can be messy. Turns out, so can the relationship between success and happiness.
One of the primary reasons people are bad at forecasting their emotions is something called “focalism,” a cognitive bias in which people tend to narrowly focus their attention on big events while ignoring all the smaller aspects of their lives. Kahneman, one of the giants of psychology, had once captured the idea in a simple line: “Nothing in life is as important as you think it is, while you are thinking about it.”
Optimism is an Investment Strategy (A Wealth of Common Sense)
One of my favorite comedies is the Monty Python’s Life of Brian, which ends with the inspriational song “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.” I wonder if finance and film buff Ben Carlson would consider it a finance movie, as he writes in this great post about the benefit of thinking on the bright side when investing.
No one knows what the future holds but why would you invest for the long run if there isn’t a hope that things will continue to get better?
The New Cool Thing: Being Human (The Honest Broker)
After a couple of weeks (years?) of AI doom and gloom pieces, I think this is a nice level-headed prediction by Ted Gioia on how a more alogrithmic future could incrase the demand for human work.
Welcome to the new world of flesh-and-blood concierges and curators. That’s now the ultimate status symbol. Just like the elite travelers who get to skip the check-in line, the elite online journeyers get to bypass the algorithms and bots.
That is the paradox of living in a digital age. Human beings have more prestige than ever—and they get it just by showing up.
I Thought My Retirement Was Set — Until I Answered These 3 Questions (Kiplinger)
I suppose this is a bit like listing your own book on a themed book list, but so what? My latest article for Kiplinger magazine is a little personal as I sat down and answered George Kinder’s 3 popular life planning questions.
On my computer sit unfinished books. On my desk are maps of places I’ve dreamed of visiting. On my bookshelf, there is a picture of my father and me that reminds me of all the memories we didn’t get to share.
If I knew I would die tomorrow, I would ask whether I had been the best father I could be. I’d wonder what my children will remember about me. Will they live better lives because of what I did, or inherit traits I wish I had changed?
Two Cents: Alysa Liu on Unabashed Joy in Life
I connect with everything, but I’m not attached to anything. So it’s really easy.
What I like to share about myself is my story, my art and my creative process. I guess messing up doesn’t take away from that. It’s still something, it’s still a story. A bad story is still a story, and I think that’s beautiful. There’s no way to lose.
With gratitude,
J.S.