Arman's Antics (#020)
The latest from January 31 - February 7
Hi friend!
Coming to you live from Austin, Texas. Here is your weekly dose of Arman’s Antics, a breakdown of what I’ve been doing that could be useful to you. Please feel free to forward this to a trusted friend.
Welcome to the three newest subscribers receiving their first dose (177 total). I don’t take your attention lightly.
Essay I wrote last week
Forced sabbatical (#038). This quickly became my second most popular essay of all time. In it, I shared my recent experience of being fired from my job at a tech startup along with my entire team. After some initial rage and a bowl or two of mint chocolate chip ice cream, I chose to view what had happened in a different light by asking myself one simple question, “Could I be grateful for this?”.
Surprisingly, the answer is almost always yes no matter how shitty the experience first appears.
What have you had to go through lately? Could you be grateful for that too? Not always, but it’s a fun question to ask yourself.
Book I reread for the third time
Skin In The Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life by Nassim Taleb. He is one of the best authors I’ve ever found and his entire five book series called the Incerto claims a prominent spot on my bookshelf.
The writing is laugh-out-loud funny, and he isn’t afraid to vehemently call out public figures (by name) whom he opposes.
This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to get ahead in life. He so eloquently lays out the need for us to have some skin in whatever game we are playing (even a little soul in the game) if we are really serious about this business of living.
From the author, “Never trust anyone who doesn’t have skin in the game. Without it, fools and crooks will benefit, and their mistakes will never come back to haunt them.”
By the end of this book you’ll have developed an astonishingly different worldview. Does that sound like something worth checking out?
Documentary I watched
Mark Twain. Directed by the legend himself, Ken Burns. I knew so little about one of America’s greatest writers.
I had no idea that wasn’t even his name. Samuel Clemens gave himself that pseudonym early on in his writing career and never looked back. He was born into obscurity as a poor boy in nowheresville Missouri, yet he went on to become the funniest man on Earth during his time.
But his life was a rollercoaster filled with as much tragedy as triumph both personally and professionally.
Near the end of his life he claimed, “I am not an American, I am the American.” Sounds cocky, but he’s right. He had the full buffet called the American experience.
Random thought
As a kid, one of the best feelings in the world on the last day of school was throwing your entire year’s worth of assignments, tests, and report cards into a raging bonfire🔥. What does that say about our education system?
That’s all the antics I’ve got for you this week. Keep your eyes open for my newest essay coming out on Thursday. I have no idea what it will be about yet but that adds to the excitement, doesn’t it?
And, as always, I love reading and responding to your insightful comments. Comments are below.
Have a terrific Tuesday, friend.
Cheers,
Arman
PS - I also tweet about the serious business of living with a pinch of humor. You can follow me if you’re into that kind of stuff.
I applied the gratefulness exercise to my aching chest and belly, which I have been feeling lately as a stress reaction to trying to engage on Twitter, social media, commenting and posting. It gives me a lot of anxiety and I was amazed how feeling holding gratitude for the tension I carry turned into seeing it as excitement and enthusiasm for contributing and being in relationship with others. It was the most unlikely and ridiculous thing in the moment I could think to be grateful for, and it actually helped.