Camus, Procrastination and Range
Three interesting stories that I stumbled across last week:
Since there is already so much being written about coronavirus, I wasn’t keen to recommend a piece on it, and I had decided to refrain from mentioning it fully. However, I couldn’t resist sharing this opinion piece by Botton on Camus’ book The Plague. The book came out in 1947; I read it in 2002, during my university days. I don’t remember that it left a deep impression at the time, however, as I am learning now, context is always the key. Though Camus’ The Stranger is his most cited work, The Plague would make for essential reading in the current times. It’s based in the fictional town of Oran where a plague surfaces, and spreads its tentacles across the whole town. Some die, the rest learn to hide and survive. Camus’ writing always focused on the absurdness of life and this book is no different. ‘For Camus, when it comes to dying,’ writes Botton, ‘there is no progress in history, there is no escape from our frailty. Being alive always was and will always remain an emergency; it is truly an inescapable “underlying condition.”’ So if you are looking for one good book to read, then it’s worth reading The Plague. The piece in NYTimes by Botton should help you make that decision. If you’ve already read The Plague and looking for other suggestions then check out this column.
If you struggle with procrastination, then this interview that Adam Grant did with psychologist Fuschia Sirois should help. Her hypothesises is that the real reason people procrastinate is not to avoid the work, but to avoid the feelings that come while doing the task. Usually, it’s something important that we delay, that if not done well may cause despair. For example, I will end up writing those countless articles, but will avoid writing that book. For, what if, I sit in front of the computer and then realise that I cannot write? “You’ll see some classic chronic procrastinators. They will have the neatest houses, everything will be organised, all the dishes will be done, everything will be clean. But the big looming tasks that they’re supposed to be doing isn’t being done” she says. Grant also wrote this piece on the topic where he concludes that ‘if you want to procrastinate less, you don’t have to increase your work ethic or improve your time management. You can instead focus on changing your habits around emotion management.’
Peter Attia’s podcast with David Epstien is wide ranging, and if you haven’t read Epstien’s excellent book, Range, then this interview should whet your appetite. Primarily, Epstein talks about the long raging debate between early specialisation and gathering wider range of experiences as a predictor for success. He, of course, weighs in for the latter approach. His views on genetics as a contributor to sporting success (which he writes more deeply about, in his earlier work, The Sports Gene) are worth mulling over too.
A quote that I came across last week:
Career success is rarely about finding the right solution to a problem — it’s more abut finding the right problem to solve.
— Adam Grant
