Editor's note: This was originally sent out in the newsletter on 5/15/19
Last night, I sat down at my computer to work on the newsletter. I was there looking over the list of topic ideas that I keep, trying to decide which would be best to go for. To find the one that seemed like it was resonating with me right now. As I was looking them over, I came to realize that there was an idea that I had been thinking about for a while, and it felt like it was showing up to me in all sorts of places. I thought to myself, this should be what I write about, it felt like it was calling to me. So, I opened a new document and started writing. It was coming along just fine, I got through a few paragraphs, then it struck me. I had written about this before. I opened up the archive of newsletters, and sure enough, there it was, the second newsletter I had sent after starting The Polymath Group. I decided to call it a night at this point and wait till tomorrow to figure out what I wanted to do with it.
Now sure, this was about eighteen months ago, but the topic was obviously back on my mind. I came back tonight and was thinking I would just go with another topic. I sat staring at my list, paced around, sort of resigned myself to a new topic. It isn’t that the topic was bad, only that I wasn’t as excited about it at this moment, I was still sort of stuck on the earlier one. I started procrastinating, but as I was messing around, avoiding writing, I realized that the real topic was that time is just a flat circle.
I am very much a cyclical person. I am very habitual, and I fall into my own patterns a lot. It turns out my thoughts really fall into their own patterns as well. As I have been trying to organize all of my digital life, I have been reading a lot of old stuff I have found in hard drives here and there. I came across something I had written in May of 2010. While I didn’t know it at the time, I had basically laid out, in my own way, the basis of Stoic philosophy. This is something I have fallen much further into the last few years, but I had the ideas of its base back then. It is just funny to me how it cycles through.
I also use an app, called Day One, to keep a digital journal, I have been doing this since 2012, I have around 500 entries in it. It has a feature I like, where it prompts you to look at your posts from this date over the years. The more data you have with anything, the easier it is to find a pattern. As I get further out and have more entries to look back at, I see these patterns emerging. For instance, I have way more posts at the start of the year than at the end, usually with a spike around meaningful days (birthday, holidays, that sort of thing). This is because I always tell myself around New Years that I am going to journal more, then it wanes out. The other pattern I notice is how often I tell myself I need to change the same few things; write more, read more, less TV (and other distractions). Seeing the patterns emerging from the data made me realize that I was stuck here.
For some reason the other day I started watching the HBO show The Newsroom again. I just put it on as I was going to sleep, something I had seen a few times and knew I wouldn’t need to pay a lot of attention to. (This always happens where I put something on to fall asleep to and then I end up watching it, but that doesn’t really matter right now.) As I have been rewatching The Newsroom (because even though I put it on as a one-off, of course now, I find myself watching more and more), I realized that all of the material they were trying to convey (how messed up the media is) is still relevant today. Even though it aired in 2012, many of the points and warnings really hit today. It makes me realize that the cycles aren’t just me, but our society as a whole.
Cycles are everywhere, they show up in different forms. I have a weird work schedule, and I know each cycle of it hits me differently. We go through various cycles for different seasons, with different people. Most of the time, you don’t even realize the cycles you have fallen into. These cycles aren’t always a bad thing, I mean Aristotle basically taught that habits were how you achieved virtue;
“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” (Paraphrased by Durant).
More data is always helpful. (I mean who doesn’t love looking at data?) The more information you can capture the more patterns you will see you are in. The important thing is to try and realize when they are bad cycles, and see if you can break them. Try and correcting the bad habits, and giving the good habits room to continue, build upon what you are doing well. Creating good habits helps keep your foundation in place, making things second nature makes them that much easier.
I am sure I will have more thoughts on habits in the near future. I recently picked up Atomic Habits by James Clear and am hoping to get into is soon. I have seen it recommended by quite a few people.
Also, rewatching the Time is a Flat Circle clip has made me really want to rewatch the first season of True Detectives again, but who doesn't want to watch it again. I should take advantage of HBO while I have it. (A lot of HBO this week, maybe more on that next time.)
Everything should be squared away with the newsletter now. It should be sending out from my own domain and no more spam folders. So that is a plus.
As always, thanks for reading,
Mike