Carpe Diem, Planning vs Practicing, & Rebellion
Wednesday Wisdoms for February 12, 2025
Mind Candy is a newsletter on practical philosophy and human flourishment—aka how to live “the good life.” Each month we tackle a new theme.
This month we’re exploring the theme of Time.
Welcome to Wednesday Wisdom, our 3x3 Newsletter where I distill worldly advice for better living with 3 quotes, 3 observations, and 3 questions.
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Carpe Diem
🤨 Quote
“How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?”
Epictetus
Source: Discourses
Observation 🧐
One aspect that connects each of us is the limited nature of our existence. We’re all bound by how much time we have. No one, after all, will live forever.
Time is, therefore, a non-renewable resource, and one we must come to accept.
But this is hard to do. Seneca pointed out that we tend to act like mortals in our fears and immortals in our desires.
Every decision made, every opportunity taken, every minute used is a ‘no’ to other options, to other paths we could have taken.
And that’s okay, life is filled with trade offs. But trade offs are different than putting things off. We cannot continually put things off to tomorrow as eventually tomorrow will not come—and we have no idea when that final day is.
But it’s not the right time we tell ourselves. I need to have read this book, or learned this bit of coding, or made this amount of money.
These are myths.
The right time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, as the old saying goes, the next best time is today.
Start moving.
Seize the day.
Carpe diem.
🤔 Question
How do you weigh the decisions you make and the trade offs that must accompany every decision? When you’ve made the wrong decision, do you double down or stop and pivot to a better approach?
Planning vs Practicing
🤨 Quote
“Motion makes you feel like you're getting things done. But really, you're just preparing to get something done. When preparation becomes a form of procrastination, you need to change something. You don't want to merely be planning. You want to be practicing.”
James Clear
Source: Atomic Habits
Observation 🧐
Moving can be quite deceptive. We can easily fool ourselves into believing all the hustle and bustle is pushing us toward progress.
But if we’re not careful, this constant busy work can in fact be a mask for procrastination.
It uses the guise of preparation, of due-diligence, of needing to make sure our Ts are crossed and Is dotted.
But it also is a delay tactic, a way of avoiding the commitment needed to move forward.
There’s a lot that we put into a plan—researching, outlining, testing—but everything eventually requires you to pull the trigger, to move the ball forwards, and to take the jump.
An action plan cannot become a plan of action without actually taking the action.
Sooner or later, the planning needs to be set aside and we need to just commit and begin.
🤔 Question
How do you force yourself to commit to an action plan when you feel you’re not ready? What do you learn by driving forwards regardless versus planning more?
Beneath the paywall this week we explore the wisdom of Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Click below to support and get access.