our finest moments................

 

The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.

-M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled

a paradox.................

 The popular adage "use it or lose it" doesn't go far enough.  If you don't use it, you might never gain it in the first place. 

. . . a light bulb went off for me.  Comfort in learning is a paradox.  You can't become truly comfortable with a skill until you've practiced it enough to master it.  But practicing it before you master it is uncomfortable, so you often avoid it.  Accelerated learning requires a second form of courage: being brave enough to use your knowledge as you acquire it.

-Adam Grant, Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things

alone but not lonely............

 . . . when I’m walking or biking, I don’t consider being alone with my own thoughts to be a waste of time.

-Arnold Kling, from here  

Warren Buffett's annual letter...................

 And people who are comfortable with their investments will, on average, achieve better results than those who are motivated by ever-changing headlines, chatter and promises.

-may be found here

thanks Kurt

 

Belief............................

. . . but just because you believe something doesn't make it true.  Denial is the ultimate comfort zone.

-David Goggins,  Can't Hurt Me:  Master Your Mind and Defy The Odds

About security............................

You have to understand that there are no guarantees in life, there is no absolute security, and there is usually no simple path to financial success.  It is going to take some effort.  For the  mind to chase after security is ludicrous:  It will never get it, and the irritation of constantly seeking security destroys what stability there is.
     It is simpler, therefore, to agree that one doesn't need security.  One doesn't even need a system that favors one.   All that is ever needed is what one already has, which is creativity and energy.  You don't have to become immortal to be safe.  All you have to do is to acknowledge that what you are right now is enough to keep you safe and more that enough to keep you in abundance for the rest of your days, in spite of circumstances.  You just need you, comfortable inside yourself.

-Stuart Wilde,  The Trick To Money Is Having Some

Well, you are.......................

thanks jess

As experiments go................

...............................this one will be very interesting to watch.

On getting comfortable with uncertainty.....

     Poker players live in a world where that risk is made explicit.  They can get comfortable with uncertainty because they put it up front in their decisions.  Ignoring the risk and uncertainty in every decision might make us feel better in the short run, but the cost to the quality of our decision-making can be immense.  If we can find ways to become more comfortable with uncertainty, we can see the world more accurately and be better for it.

-Annie Duke,  Thinking In Bets:  Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All The Facts

There was a time in my life..........

...........................when I had mastered this one:

3. The ability to be comfortable being miserable.

-One of The Four Fundamental Skills Of All Investing.

via

Affordable housing and NIMBYism...............

"In a better world, people would want to build an inclusive, economically diverse community in which everyone had access to the same services. In the real world, many people are all in favor of this -- as long as doing so does not involve sending their kids to school with poor people, especially in the crucial middle and high school years, when peer effects start to dominate parental influence. Washington’s good liberals don't say anything so crude, of course; they talk about “test scores.” But nonetheless, if you try to rezone in a way that is apt to produce a truly economically diverse school, with more than a token sprinkling of the children of disadvantage, they will fight tooth and nail to stop that from happening."

-Meghan McArdle. as excerpted from here, as was this quote:

"There’s substantial evidence that the stress of living in a dense city can make you crazy. I could be forgiven for thinking that I’m already quite crazy enough."

Opening paragraphs...........................

     She was tall and lanky and wore an expensive white summer suit with a complementary cream-colored shoulder bag and jet-black wraparound fuck-you sunglasses.  Her ash blond hair just touched her shoulders.
-John Sandford,  The Fool's Run

Face it................................

"Face it:  We are either breaking out of our spirit-sucking routines and breaking through to new insights and experiences, or we are breaking down.  So when the opportunity to step out of your comfort zone arrives, and it will definitely come, take it.  Say no to the sure thing and say yes to a creative challenge.  Say no to short-term comfort producing activities, and say yes to fear, passion and leadership."
-Tom Asacker, as excerpted from The Business of Belief

Us introverts...............

It's complicated...................

Reid Hastie suggests that simple answers don't serve us very well, even though we may be "hard-wired" to seek them.  Resist the programming.  Study and reflect a bit.  It's good for you.
"So the next time you hear a good story about why the financial recession, or any other economically significant event, was caused by a single collection of bad actors -- or how a simple linear narrative 'explains' an important event -- remember this: Just as we are wired to like a diet rich in fats and sugars, we have an appetite for simple, coherent narratives. Neither habit is good for our long-term health."


thanks will

Dancing with uncertainty..................

    "Anything worth doing, whether a corporate initiative, a personal quest, or an entrepreneurial endeavor, will be filled with uncertainty.  Not knowing how it will end, whether you'll be able to pull it off, or what it will look or feel like when you do, is a mandatory part of the process, at least in the early phase.
    "Over time, leaps of faith will be replaced by information.  Fear and anxiety will cede to shape, form, certainty, and comfort.  But if you try to rush the process or shut it down because you can't handle the uncertainty, fear, and risk, you effectively shut down your genius creation engine.
     "So why not do the opposite?  Rather than trying to snuff out uncertainty and fear and taking down your endeavor along with them, honor their role as signposts of innovation, and find ways to embrace those seeming demons.
     "When you learn to dance with uncertainty, the doors to genius swing open."

-Jonathan Fields, excerpted from his essay Dancing with 
Uncertainty which is contained in End Malaria