Hi friend,

Everyone's obsessed with using money to buy back time. But this week, we explore the sinister side to over-optimizing your life.

We're also looking for a few beta-testers for a new Life Operating System we're designing. We'd love to get you're early feedback before we release the product to the broader community.

Should you outsource 100% of your life?

I once pleaded with my wife that we hire a Task Rabbit.

I laid out a very precise plan.

She did the cooking. I did the cleaning.

But I hated it. (Especially since we had one of those tiny NYC sinks that could only fit a saucepan in it.)

I was ascending the ranks on Wall Street. I had a great W-2 salary that probably translated into $500/hour.

My plan was simple a simple one. The Task Rabbit might cost $25 an hour. And I could use that time to go read a textbook or pursue some self-improvement hack that, in turn, would make our family even more money.

("But then we’ll have a stranger in our apartment, EVERY NIGHT," she rebutted.)

The plan never materialized, but I’m always on the look out for ways to buy back time via outsourcing.

So I could deeply empathize with a Redditor (in /r/fatFIRE) who found themselves in a similar situation.

This person had a high-paying, yet “moderately demanding job” and was looking “to optimize time and well-being.”

And while the Redditor didn’t have hire a Task Rabbit to do your dishes, they were looking at hiring:

• Personal Trainer
• Nutritionist / Meal Service
• Cleaning service
• Good Ergonomic Desk / Chair setup
• Good Vacations

Now I immediately thought that hiring drivers and chefs and mountains of childcare would jump to the top of the list of responses.

But instead, a therapist came in with an ominous warning on the perils of over-optimization.

Here are this week's top reads:

// one

What unites buddhism and psychotherapy?

5 minutes | New York Times
​

This article unites many of my current interests: meditation, therapy, Buddhism and my love for anything written by Oliver Burkeman. If therapy is about re-telling stories about your childhood; and Buddhism implores you to let go of all your thoughts, how can they be compatible with one another? According to Burkeman, the “willingness to pay attention, while letting people and feelings be as they are.”

→ Read the article​

// two

Is having too many choice (versus too few) really the greater problem for consumers?

8 minutes | Behavioral Scientist
​

Conventional wisdom states that more choices are better, yet we’ve become keenly aware of the paradox of choice — how having too many options actually leads to frustration. New research suggests, though, that not only is choice deprivation actually more common, it’s also more harmful. Turns out too many choices may be more of a “first-world problem” than we thought.

→ Read the post​

// three

How to get things done - eventually

3 minutes | The Economist
​

If you struggle with procrastination (or it’s sneaky step-sibling meta-work), you’re not alone. Deep inside we know that we shouldn’t procrastinate, but our emotions sometimes tell us otherwise. This struggle doesn’t have to be chronic; there are things you can do to push past these tendencies. Just start with your next action. Yup, this can be as simple as opening an email, discussing the task with your colleagues, and beginning with something actionable.

→ Read the article​

​

// four

How to effectively build pre-work into meetings

5 minutes | Harvard Busines Review
​

Instead of expecting colleagues to prepare for a meeting, managers can embed pre-work into meetings by giving participants time to review it for the first 5-20 minutes. This doesn’t mean meetings are longer; it means they’re more focused. How to create a pre-work memo? Break down the concept, include an interactive component, explain your reasoning, pair people up, and print it out (if in person). Not only does this ensure everyone is on the same page, it communicates to employees that you value their time.

→ Read the article​

// five

Is this the beginning of the end of the internet?

6 minutes | The Atlantic
​

Almost all social media platforms have guidelines around appropriate and sanctioned posts — if hate groups are posting terrorist videos, YouTube can swiftly remove them. But some courts argue that this goes against our right to free speech and are advocating for social media companies to have to host all user content with zero restrictions. Is this the end of the Internet as we know it?

→ Read the article​

​

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Below the Fold
​

LAST WEEK'S MOST READ

• ​Tom Brady and Gisele on the “ambition tax” (RadReads, 1,008 clicks)
• ​How to beat worry (More to That, 383 clicks)

​

And finally, imagine aliens invaded earth and tried to understand our calendars.

With gratitude,

Khe

PS Supercharge your Productivity is the only course that connects the pursuit of productivity to life’s larger questions so you can design a system that works for you. Enroll today and get instant access to the materials plus access to our next live cohort beginning in January.

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