If you have a “thing” for always being on time, you should reconsider it.

Actually you should keep it as a personal value but evaluate it by the same critical standards you’d apply to any other.

My “deepest values” can be wrong sometimes, it’s as simple as that.

If being punctual (always being on time) is one of your deepest values and something you never break, that can cause you some trouble. For example: if you almost certainly know the party won’t start until two hours after the stipulated time (because that’s what happens at every other party you go to) yet you still go to the party on time, that’s pretty dumb on your side.

You can complain that the world should be on time for parties but if you continue to be on time when no one else is, you’re just being unproductive (perhaps ironically because your deepest value is punctuality).

So I’m not really speaking against being on time but against making your deepest values dogmatic.

Don’t let them be that.

It’s not cool to be on time when literally everyone isn’t.

The Amazing Things & Ideas List

• PRACTICE:
  Remembering Steve Jobs on his 11th death anniversary this week

“[F]or the past thirty-three years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been no for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”

— Steve Jobs (Commencement Address at Stanford, 2005)

• TWEET:
  Reasons to love a person

Arjun Khemani @arjunkhemani

Reasons to love a person—any person—always outweigh reasons to hate a person. Any. Person.

6:50 AM ∙ Oct 8, 2022

• ARTICLE:
  Intuition and Rationality by Elliot Temple (Critical Fallibilism)

“Rationalists” often think they should suppress their intuitions and follow reason explicitly. But actually, doing that is irrational because of the value of your intuitions. This article explains how you can learn about intuitions and make the most of them.

New Podcast Episode

#5 – Chris Turner: Changing The Education System

In this episode, I talk to Chris Turner. A tech entrepreneur turned education entrepreneur who founded Moonrise, a co-learning space for kids.

We talk about the problem with school, bad explanations around learning, the hard (yet exciting) problem Moonrise is solving, Taking Children Seriously and much more.

This was a very fun and insightful conversation! Hope you find it so to.

Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Thank you for reading.

Just know that by subscribing to this newsletter and telling more people about it, you help me out.

And if you want to be friends, you can reply to this email or DM me on Twitter.

Onward,
Arjun

Blog | Twitter