4kw Chapter 7
This chapter is all about the reasons we don't focus on the present, and why those reasons are wrong.
These are (mostly) raw notes and thoughts from my reading of Four Thousand Weeks.
You might be wondering, where is chapter 6? I guess I didn't take any notes. I've returned the book to the library, so I can't check to make sure I actually read it and just didn't find anything noteworthy. I suppose it's possible that I didn't have my notebook with me while I read it, so those potential notes are lost. Such is life.
Notes
Hofstadter's law (the planning fallacy that projects always take longer than we think) is a kind of cousin to the tendency of physical objects to not do what we expect. Straps catch on things, cups aren't where you expect and get knocked over, forks resist going into the dishwasher's utensil receptacle. It may be a degree or two removed. I think all these fall under the Murphy family tree. It's a case of us assuming we have it more in hand than we really do, for various reasons of a lack of understanding. The future isn't knowable, so planning starts off at a disadvantage. But assuming you know where something is well enough that you can dodge around it when you aren't looking, that's another kind of information deficit. Let's call it the problems of missing information.
Beware of over investment in actually accomplishing your goals, or when they'll be done. Have a looser hand on the plan tiller.
It reminds me of the 'long defeat' mentioned by Tolkien. Is that a pessimistic view?
Review the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:34). Why worry about the future (or the past) when there is enough to worry about in the present?
Don't mind what happens → love your fate.
Goldstein said "a plan is just a thought." And that's a good reason to not anchor too much on it. What if I extend it a bit to something like "a plan is just a though, rational as any other." Or instead of rational, what about "sane", or even just "same".
A plan is a statement of intent. I suppose sometimes it's a commitment, and other times it's more aspirational.