Hello and welcome!

Growing up, I think, is learning to endure the pain that comes from deferred gratification.

When young, our thoughts race only towards things that bring us immediate pleasures. Since we're still unable to handle life on our own - we rely on our parents - not getting exactly what we need seems like a direct threat to our existence.

With age, we learn to wait. To postpone what's immediately available in front of us with the intention to reap bigger rewards later - the most basic example is interrupting your pleasant dream at the exact same time every day so you can get up, go to work, and get paid.

This sensation, however, is extremely hard to block at our current age.

You are, quite literally, just a click away from watching a fun show or ordering something you don't necessarily need with money you don't (usually) have.

Even if you're extremely busy and if you're really interested in what you're currently doing. There is this nagging feeling that continuously checks your level of happiness and attempts to make you do less work and have more fun.

I mean, we deserve a medal for every time we say no to watching videos so we can focus on our work.

In the most recent book I've read, this concept is represented as having vs being.

We aim to obtain more things and we tie having more things to who we are - thinking that the more we have means that we are more. But the opposite - being - is what we need. Not possessing more, but focusing on practicing productive activities. Plainly, creating things and being content with the work we do, not with the stuff we own.

The book I'm talking about is the not-so-popular The Art of Being by Erich Fromm.

It's amazing that a book that was published in 1989 so adequately represents our current turbulent times.

You can check my summary here where I cover the key lessons from the text (the full text is for members-only) and/or read the book itself - it's amazing!

• [NEW] The Art of Being by Erich Fromm: I can define this book as the bible of non-consumerism. It's like a how-to guide. Preventing you from the obsessive thoughts about gaining more things currently governing your life and focusing more on rational activities. Erich Fromm explains how our unstoppable urge to have more of everything is destroying us from the inside. The cure is the book itself. Teaching us the art of living – i.e., to properly self-assess so we can find our authentic selves.

If you'd like access to the full summary + the whole library of book summaries on my site consider becoming a member.

Interesting books I recently added to my reading list (and hopefully will read at some point):

• Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment by Daniel Kahneman: The author who wrote the bestseller Thinking, Fast and Slow is back with a new book to explain why humans make bad judgments. Noise explains how and why humans are so susceptible to noise in judgment — and what we can do about it.
• Lateral Thinking by Edward de Bono: Lateral thinking is all about freeing up your imagination. Edward de Bono teaches us how to look at problems from different angles so we can find genius and effective solutions.
• Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization by Scott Barry Kaufman: A book about our innate drives (which are often suppressed) and about what it's like to be a human searching for meaning beyond the given values of status and wealth. Mr. Kaufman aims to unravel the mysteries of Maslow's unfinished theory of transcendence.

Interesting words from books and around the web:

• Defenestrate (verb): To throw someone or something out of a window; Used to describe the forceful removal of someone from public office or from some other advantageous position.
• Languish (verb): To be or live in a state of depression or decreasing vitality; To suffer neglect.
• Monachopsis (noun): The subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place.

Arthur Schopenhauer

In 1788, Arthur Schopenhauer was born. A German philosopher who concluded that the universe is not a rational place. Deeply interested in Buddhism, he was the first serious Western philosopher to get dissects the common Indian tenets related to human suffering.

Big Idea: Will to Live

Schopenhauer’s philosophy offers insights to our frequent irrationality. The force that pushes us to do all kinds of strange things. The most powerful initiator of human actions that ignores common sense and logic. Schopenhauer calls it The Will To Live.

Will to Live or the Will to Life is an embedded internal compass that forces all living creatures to stay alive and to reproduce. The sensation that makes us fall in love all the time. While on the surface, finding a partner seems like a way to avoid being alone for the rest of life. The concept of the Will to Life argues that we seek the company of others mainly because we feel an inner need to compose the next generation.

From my desk:

• What You Want To Consume Shapes Who You Become: "You are what you consume because of what you want to consume... To prove this to you, I will use a cup, a smartphone, and a strange reference for changing tires. OK, I’m also going to include my 2-year-old son."

From around the web:

• Can a pair of sunglasses help build compassion in the classroom? A great exercise that can help you, and your kids, figure out the type of person you are.
• The most important meta-skill: "The most important meta-skill that anyone can learn is how to learn skills. With practice, you learn how to pick up new skills as they are needed, which is infinitely (quite literally) more efficient than trying to learn each skill individually in advance."

Lean Thinking

A Lean system can be described as a holistic way to plan, prioritize, manage, and measure work. The goal for any Lean system is to maximize customer value.

The two fundamental concepts of Lean are 1) to eliminate anything that does not add value to the customer, and 2) to work towards creating more value for the customer in the future.

While this is certainly beneficial for any business, Lean thinking can also be helpful if applied to your life. You can 1) eliminate everything that doesn't add value to your life (wasting time online, bad habits, etc.) and 2) work towards creating more value in your life (finding a better work-life balance, working on important projects, hanging out with like-minded people).

In the light of the spooky season. I wanted to share a video about the history of the witch. Beautiful and at the same time troubling works of art.

Thanks for reading!

Ivaylo Durmonski

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