Jon James

Curiosity is King | Reading, History, Parenting, Leadership Insights | Scanner | Business Finance by Day

[Johann Kurtz @JohannKurtz]

https://t.co/TqtDrW0D8X

[Jon James @J_James33]

@thesamparr Yes and you should do the full LBJ series after. Masterpiece

[Jon James @J_James33]

@titusfilm I listened to the Audio over several years but I need to read them soon. True masterpiece

[Jon James @J_James33]

@tishray The Abbe Faria chapters are where the book truly takes off. So much wisdom in those pages

[DAN KOE @thedankoe]

https://t.co/AiGjkp3513

[Sivori @sivori]

Fathers are a weird mix of too self-absorbed and too hard on themselves. This is a perfect example.

1. What you don't realize is that your son is not asking you to play catch, he's asking for your love, your attention, your interaction. This is how they learn to be the men they will become.

The activity is just a medium for the interaction and connection but it could be almost anything. They model everything on the experience they have with you. This does not require doing something you don't want to do or that you play catch for 30 minutes or an hour. It just requires your presence. You can take them to the playground, play with them a bit, then let them play alone. It is not necessary to maintain constant attention and connection, but it is necessary to connect when they want to connect, so they can learn to trust you and depend on your availability. Being available is more important than being constantly on and connected.

2. Love is not a feeling. Love is an obligation. For women this seems to be a more natural understanding, given their tendency to consider others. When you decide to love someone, you are deciding to take on an obligation. The obligation becomes something meaningful and this supplants the need to want to feel pleasure. The exercise of the obligation becomes joy. The joy does not allow you to fulfill the obligation. It's the reverse.

3. When you create a family, there is no "I" or "me" or "him" or "her" or "them". In your role as Father, there is no separation. You work because your family needs your financial support. You enjoy your work and develop your skills because your family needs you to be passionately engaged, and because you can only be a good father if you are a complete and integrated Man. By subordinating your individuality to the family, ironically, you regain your sense of Self.

4. Lots of fathers overthink it. Keep it simple. If your kids are driving you crazy, go for a drive, leave the house, get some space, get some time AWAY. The away part is important. Space allows us to replenish what we bring into relationship. You will find that when you go AWAY you start to miss your family and are not resentful of their demands.

[Reads with Ravi @readswithravi]

Umberto Eco, who owned 50,000 books, had this to say about home libraries:

“It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones.

“There are things in life that we need to always have plenty of supplies, even if we will only use a small portion.

“If, for example, we consider books as medicine, we understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the ‘medicine closet’ and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That’s why you should always have a nutrition choice!

“Those who buy only one book, read only that one and then get rid of it. They simply apply the consumer mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer product, a good. Those who love books know that a book is anything but a commodity.”

[Jeremy Giffon @jeremygiffon]

The Romans had the right idea that there ought to be distinct stages for distinct ages. Young men go to Gaul to prove themselves and get rich, then serve their people in public life, and finally serve the youth via writing, oration and elder statesmanship broadly. Accumulating dignitas in each stage, but never getting caught in gluttonous obsession with any one notion of power, influence or wealth. To be focused on money in old age was gauche and to try and teach before you had earned your station lacked integrity. It provides a purpose and value for every stage of life and matches up with the natural rhythms of aging. Adolescent vitality funneled into conquest and bravery, the weight of fatherhood and family to shepherding the well-being for the people, and the experience of old age to sharing the wisdom that shapes and refines the way younger men go about the first two pursuits.

[Moniza Hossain @moniza_hossain]

I see the way my friends (educated, middle-class) are parenting their toddlers: no screen time, books galore, exposure to enrichment activities, and there’s going to be a divide along class lines so vast I don’t even think we can fathom it right now

[Jon Hernandez @JonhernandezIA]

📁 Matthew McConaughey says he wants a private LLM, fed only with his books, notes, journals, and aspirations, so he can ask it questions and get answers based solely on that information, without any outside influence.

[Jon James @J_James33]

@Tri_Stanisaurus @chrisman I hear you. Forcing myself to do basic division without calculator has been a mental workout

[Jon James @J_James33]

@Tri_Stanisaurus @chrisman I’ve just started MathAcademy and I’m in the same position as you.

A bit humbling but also enjoying the process seeing rapid growth

[Jon James @J_James33]

@PassagePress The Count of Monte Cristo.

First time reading and about halfway through and I understand why it’s a classic, fantastic so far

[Alex Becker 🍊🏆🥇 @ZssBecker]

After achieving 100s of millions, this is my #1 lesson I can give you.

Found a vid of me 14 years ago. Broke. Cringe. In my $200 a month bedroom talking about my new "SEO blog."

Why I show this: It’s CRINGE af… BUT it’s why I have wealth that .01% of people do. Here’s why 👇

Imagine seeing this back then as someone who knew me in high school before I did anything.

CRINGE. LOL. Look at this dork who isn’t in college at this age.

When you start ANYTHING, you will be cringe. ALWAYS.

To get to the good stuff, you have to go through the “icky” beginner period. To make MAX progress you have to put yourself out in the world.

The world will then tell you: you are embarrassing… stop.

This is because most peoples SOLE goal in life is protecting their ego and not looking like a failure to others.

In short, they make their main goal avoiding being cringe.

Very few people can put themselves in a position where they appear weak, pathetic, silly—yet keep moving forward.

Those that can… repeatedly… and stay motivated? They take over the world.

Because in order to be Tom Brady, you FIRST must get on the field and throw the ball like a 5-year-old soy girl and be judged by everyone on the sidelines.

Then you analyze your throw and get better day after day, week after week, year after year… till you’re great.

My point, my #1 lesson: Be cringe as fuck and put yourself out there. Let the peanut gallery laugh.

There is NOTHING shameful about wanting to become something greater than you are and trying like hell in public to do so.

Accept the pain of being a clown short term… to avoid being a clown (like those on the sidelines) for your entire life.

<3 Be cringe. Pursue cringe.

[Jon James @J_James33]

“To the frustrated, freedom from responsibility is more attractive than freedom from restraint.”

-Eric Hoffer

[Jon James @J_James33]

@TooTallJoiner @MedGold_ Best of all time the whole album is amazing with Runaway topping it all

[Jon James @J_James33]

@MedGold_ MBDTF the goat album but everything here is elite

[Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸 @pmarca]

There is so much alpha in books from 1870 to 1930, it's unreal.

[Jon James @J_James33]

@georgje @moseskagan I’ll have to check out The Pastures of Heaven one day.

East of Eden is up there on my top novels of all time along with Lonesome Dove, Shogun, Brothers Karamazov

[Jon James @J_James33]

@moseskagan On a Steinbeck note, his memoir Travels With Charley in Search of America is fantastic, especially as an audiobook.

It’s Steinbeck later in life road tripping across the US in his old pickup with his dog. Fun stories and great slice of America as it transitioned in the early 60s