3-2-1: The value of nature, controlling your attention, and designing your environment

Happy 3-2-1 Thursday,

Here are 3 ideas, 2 quotes, and 1 question to consider this week...

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I.

"Most people optimize for the day ahead. A few people optimize for 1-2 years ahead. Almost nobody optimizes for 3-4 years ahead (or longer).

The person who is willing to delay gratification longer than most reduces competition and gains a decisive advantage.

Patience is power."

​II.

"The biggest risk to productivity is always the same: working on the wrong thing."

(Share this on Twitter)​

III.

"Being pleasant and having a good attitude is a simple way to become luckier.

Opportunities come through people, and people are more likely to bring opportunities to people they like.

It's hard to win if your attitude adds friction to every interpersonal experience."

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I.

Filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin on the value of nature:

"When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize, too late, that wealth is not in bank accounts and that you can’t eat money."

Source: As quoted in "Conversations with North American Indians" by Ted Poole in Who is the Chairman of This Meeting?: A Collection of Essays

​II.

Writer David Foster Wallace on the importance of controlling your attention:

"Twenty years after my own graduation, I have come gradually to understand that the liberal arts cliché about "teaching you how to think" is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea: Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed."

Source: This is Water​

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Look around the rooms where you spend the most time.

What behavior does this space encourage? How can you set things up to make your good habits easier?

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Until next week,

James Clear
​Author of the #1 worldwide bestseller, Atomic Habits​
Creator of the Habit Journal​

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p.s. Fair question.

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