THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF CONSUMING A SHOT OF OLIVE OIL A DAY.
That was basically the principle of the Shangri La diet, which RC found effective. And now it’s going mainstream…
For Andrea Long Chu, writing is like flirting. “A lot of people think that when you flirt, you are trying to get the person to like you. This is wrong.”... more »
I disagree with you on flirtation and on persuasion, yes.
I think I knew you would disagree with this, because you’re going to disagree with the analogy that I will make at the end of it. The only person worth flirting with is the person who’s already attracted to me. This is great. So then what am I trying to do?
The problem is that being the subject of attraction is hard. It’s hard to be the person who is desiring someone else. It is an achievement to actually create a self in a given situation that can bear the experience of desire for another person. When I flirt, I’m not trying to convince you to like me. I’m trying to give you permission to display toward me the attraction that you already have. You will appreciate this because it is hard.
The analogy, which isn’t exactly just an analogy, is this: When I am writing, I am writing for the person who already agrees with me. The problem is that being the subject of a judgment is hard and frequently throws us into panic and anxiety and lashing out. That’s why we say, “Well, it’s just me, right? Oh, I guess I just didn’t like it because of, you know, something personal.” Sometimes you mean this but usually you don’t. You just don’t want to have a fight. It’s hard to be the subject of an aesthetic judgment. It’s hard to be the subject of a judgment of taste. What I’m going to do when I write is assume that you will agree and instead spend my time creating a richly imagined space in which you can assume the subjectivity necessary to bear the opinion that you already have.
What about this wrinkle: Maybe this is just my psychological makeup, but one is very rarely attracted to the person who is attracted to you, and so why would you want to work for that person? Isn’t it ultimately more challenging, and thus more rewarding, to enter into a situation of flirtation with the obstinate other? Isn’t this what all romantic comedies are, to a certain extent, about—entering into that space of flirtation with the obstinate other and then engaging in this act of persuasion by which the two of you are in some way remade through an act of criticism?
Evolution of New York (1540-2023)
The Imaginary Operagoer: A Memoir | The Hudson Review
I was raised among Italians and Mexicans, all deeply Catholic, even the atheists. Yet they half agreed with the Puritans. Opera crossed some boundary. It might not be depraved, but it was virulent in its pretention and sentimentality.
I’ve started the year with a Dry January, daily Peloton / road-biking sessions and healthy eating. Why? So I can work more energetically and more effectively.
A fitness trainer shared five thoughts with me on effective training techniques:
- Be focussed and specific
- Overload
- Keep moving forward
- Use it or lose it
- Rest
I was struck as to their relevance to what I do every day – Inspiring and Driving Peak Performance – and felt you may be interested in reflecting on how these principles can be achieved in your daily job.
- Be Specific. You get what you train for. Be specific in your personal development goals. In terms of work/job, my goal is to inspire Peak Performance / Inspirational Leadership. I train accordingly, by constantly practising and refining the elements of the programme.
- Overload. Train a part of you above the level you normally operate at. In your job, push yourself to try/learn new things – every day.
- Progress. Once you’ve covered it, move on. Then revisit it. Re-calibrate it. No resting in comfort zones.
- Use it or lose it. When stimuli are removed, gains are reversed. You are responsible for your own destiny/growth. Take charge. Keep going. Make things happen.
- Rest. To consolidate gains and to go further, you must rest. Live life slow. Optimise your wo
How Quora Died. “The once-beloved forum is now home to a never-ending avalanche of meaningless, repetitive sludge, filled with bizarre, nonsensical, straight-up hateful, and A.I.-generated entries along with a slurry of all-caps non-questions…”
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