David > Recent Status Updates

"Subtract" things from your process that hold you back. Remember the example of putting the slowest hiker first, and then making that item's work easier/faster.

"What is the obstacle that, if removed, would make the majority of other obstacles disappear?"

Now into the "Execute" section, starting with leaving a buffer in our planning. People generally underestimate how long things will take (perhaps because of social pressure), so we should be aware.

One of his suggestions: allow an extra 50% in any estimate, e.g. if you think a trip is 10 minutes, allow 15.

Edit: making the effort to remove the nonessential and keep the important front and center. Like in film editing.
Setting Boundaries: being able to articulate what we are and are not willing to do, like the bride-to-be who busted her butt to finish an extra project weeks before her wedding but was then rewarded with another request, but she had spine enough to say no.

Into "yes we can" and the start of the primaries. Neither of us remember these details, like who won NH or by how much, mostly because we had a HS senior in the house with sports and music and speech team and probably more.

Love the little lessons thrown in, like Toot's views on things. She seems like a classic Stoic-don't get too high about the good or too low about the bad.

"Dare," as in "dare to say no." Contains various techniques for declining invitations we don't really want to do, plus more reasoning about why we should feel good about not doing things that don't seem essential to us.

Appreciate the story of a dad turning down a friend's invitation for dinner because he had a date with his daughter. Dad was Stephen Covey.

"Clarify." Make a decision that guides the next 1000 decisions. Answer the question "how will we know when we are done?"

We should be really clear about what we're trying to do, not just kind of clear.

New section "eliminate" will illustrate techniques for getting rid of commitments that seem ok but are not the best fit for us. Pretty sure that won't be easy to do, especially since the section intro says that!

"Sleep" and "select" chapters hew to their titles. Sleep is no longer a practice of the weak but an important way to "protect the asset." Saying "yes" to things that are just ok is a way to miss out on the opportunities that are most in line with our skills and interests. Suggested plan is summarized by "it's either 'hell yeah!' or it's a 'no.'"

'Play' makes the case that play is essential to our ability to thrive, as individuals and as a society. Examples of people known for playful or imaginative discoveries include Newton, Mozart, and (of course) Einstein.

In "Look" we're told or reminded to look for the information buried in the data. Nora Ephron's example: the journalism exercise to give the lead for the story given info about who the teachers would be hearing speak. The lead was not about the speakers, but that there would be no school that day.

So far covered very high level of his early years, going to college, community organizing in Chicago, going to Harvard Law, meeting Michelle during summer work, writing "Dreams...", state legislature, DNC speech, senator, campaigning for fellow Dems, and thinking about running for Prez even tho he's in his first term. It's quite a pace!

The chapter "Escape" gives some examples of how people have found ways to get out of their normal spaces to have time for thinking and reflection or interacting - in some cases, it's through the design of the space (either no windows, or uncomfortable furniture to promote interaction, or scheduled time without meetings).

Noting the intro this section, about "Explore":
"To discern what is truly essential we need space to think, time to look and listen, permission to play, wisdom to sleep, and the discipline to apply highly selective criteria to the choices we make."

Space, listening, playing, sleeping, and selecting are likely to be criticized in our hyper-go-go culture.

This is the point where the kindle sample ended :-)

Interesting ideas in the last chapter to explore ideas of things we might do to reduce or eliminate BS jobs. UBI is one - not only would it give everyone income, regardless of need, it would also allow elimination of all the BS jobs that exist to support means testing! The arguments are not unlike those in Bregman's Utopia.... There are interesting transcripts os conversations with people about this.

(cont)
Interesting bits include the comparison to BDSM practices but without any 'safe words' to indicate things have gone too far (except maybe "I quit"), and a comparison to fictional monsters and the popularity of those that don't just kill but that turn you into a similar monster (eg zombies, werewolves, vampires), given that it can feel impossible to stay 'in the game' without giving up purposefulness.

In this chapter about 'what is it like to have a BS job?' he follows a theme of 'spiritual violence,' presenting case stories submitted about physical and mental health affects of having no work to do, but not being able to appear to be doing something else. He wonders if this part of the rise of social media-they can be done in the workplace without drawing much attention.
(Continued...)

In the last chapter of this book Kelton attempts to describe how we can use the federal budget to work for all people, including (and maybe especially) those who do not currently do well. She reiterates that the $ in the budget is not really what matters, it's the availability of resources that we need to worry about.

Because of the intro material, Jan 1 is 8% through the book. Started with that first prompt today and expect to update this progress maybe once a week, maybe less depending on what seem reasonable.
Day 1 was writing down roles I play.

The entitlement debates we hear about all the time aren't based on MMT, obviously, since its position is that the government can always have the money to pay the bills. That's basically what Greenspan testified when asked by Paul Ryan in a hearing under oath! We do need to worry about there being enough resources to provide the expected services, but it seems those arguments are moot until we guarantee the funding.

In "Winning at Trade" we find out our oft-used model of international trade as a zero-sum game is probably not that helpful, at least in the case of a currecy-sovereign nation like the US. There are advantages to having a "stuff surplus" with other countries.

Ch. 4 was a good explanation (at least long and detailed) about how deficits do not crowd out private investment, at least not in countries that have their own sovereign currency. Greece had trouble because they had to use the euro instead of their own drachma, but the US would not run into that problem with the dollar!

In ch. 3 Kelton explains how the national debt is not really like a debt of other kinds we know! Not sure I'm convinced about this next bit yet, but she says we could wipe out the so-called debt with a key click. Doing that would have the consequence of eliminating all interest-bearing fed treasuries, and not everyone likes that idea!

This last chapter got more academic than some others have been. Still it seemed agood conclusion, talking about possible developments being worked on now, chemical markers that show promise as drugs, etc. But the message still seems to be that interval training is your efficient path to exercise health.

Enjoyed the section of brief descriptions of the exercise routines. Also thought the chapter on food and diet was good - didn't try to cover all the details and was as much an attempt to motivate as to inform. It gives a number of different ideas, like intermittent fasting or avoiding soda (entirely!) And doesn't try to beat anything into the ground.