Arman's Antics (#041)
The latest from delayed gratification junkie Arman Khodadoost
Hey everyone!
Coming to you live from San Antonio, Texas. Here’s your weekly dose of Arman’s Antics. A choose-your-own-adventure-style weekly newsletter that aims to deliver a morsel of usefulness that will either make you think, laugh, cry (or a nasty combination of the three).
Welcome to the three new subscribers receiving this for the first time (279 total). Enough with the pleasantries, let’s get to it.
Essay I wrote last week
Has it ever occurred to you that delayed gratification is a well-meaning trap?
It took me thirty years to figure this out, so don’t beat yourself up if you hadn’t.
I used to think that the longer I could resist the temptation of instant gratification, the better off I’d be.
But then I realized:
The stupidity of indefinitely delayed gratification
We’ve all heard the sermon on the mount preaching the benefits of delayed gratification. The 1972 marshmallow test, conducted by Stanford professor Walter Mischel, makes a convincing case. If a kid can resist the urge to eat one marshmallow now in exchange for two marshmallows later, they are more likely to be “successful” (whatever that means). Although…
I’m in the wrong line of work
There’s a lot of businesses out there. Many of them try to be innovative and sexy yet end in utter failure.
But AIRplus by STOROpack is here to stay.
I discovered them while opening my most recent amazon package. Their product looks like this:
They sell air. That’s it. And the nickname they gave these little guys is perfect — air pillows. Not sold? Don’t worry, they’ve got 100% recycled air for my environmentally conscious folks.
Why couldn’t I have thought of such a groundbreaking idea?
They managed to take something free (in endless supply) and turn around and sell it to the masses.
I’m at a loss for words.
Absolutely genius.
I couldn’t care less about AI, biotech, or any other business fad that the NYT will try to convince you is going to change the world.
Nah, I want to be in the air pillow selling business.
Person I’m diving deeper on
Nassim Taleb. Author of three of my favorite books — Fooled by randomness, Antifragile, and Skin in the game.
I started listening to the handful of podcast interviews he’s done since picking up Antifragile for the third time.
I’ve found this enhances the reading experience when you get to listen to the author describe, in their own words, what their work is all about. Instead of listening to other people’s interpretations of what they think the author meant. When in doubt, go straight to the source.
He’s one of the great modern philosophers of our time. And he knows it. He’s stubborn, intelligent, funny, and a bit rude which is the perfect combination in my eyes. He has what he calls a highly tuned bullsh** detector and I hope some of that rubs off on me as I continue to fill my mind with his ideas.
It’s no understatement to say that he’s one of the two or three practitioners of life that I most respect.
New fitness routine I’m experimenting with
Fitness has become like religion. People who take it seriously think their way is THE way.
I’ve long been in the camp of doing some form of difficult exercise everyday. But you couldn’t tell if you saw me at the pool yesterday.
So I’m switching it up with something Taleb calls the barbell strategy (nothing to do with actual barbells). Now I’m doing two intense workouts per week and just going on long walks the other five days.
Who knows if it’ll work or not, but it makes sense to me that we’re meant to exercise like lions not cows — with short bursts of intensity followed by long periods of rest.
This is how I prefer to work and create too.
It’s nothing but a test, so let’s see what happens.
Random thought
Walking into a mall is like a weird time vortex. I was hit with a flood of nostalgia reminding me of my middle school days the last time I went. Malls used to be THE place to be in years past. But now it feels like walking through a cemetery with a few souls hanging on for dear life.
That’s it for the 41st edition of Arman’s Antics. Thank you for stopping by while sipping that piping hot beverage of choice. Now back to your regularly scheduled nonstop scrolling.
Have a terrific Tuesday!
Cheers,
Arman
Likes and comments below.
Huh? Seriously? What does that mean "recycled air"?
I like how you're rereading Antifragile after learning more about Taleb from him. Getting context straight from the source makes art even more interesting, instead of forming our opinion on other people's opinions