LSC #32: On chaos and opportunities 💼 💼
Hallo! Welcome to another edition of the #LSC, the 32nd edition this time, there you go!
As you know, you’ll find here some content on productivity, personal growth, health hacks, and even some interesting recommendations, because well, why not?
Nice, right?
So, let's dive in!
Today’s summary:
🌪️ Embrace the chaos and roll with it
🎯 How to avoid procrastination
🧸 Hemingway’s shorter story
📚 Read for free with Libby
🌪️ Embrace the chaos and roll with it
Are you familiar with Hemingway’s lost suitcase story?
Long story short, Hermingway’s wife lost a suitcase with all his novel manuscripts and copies while traveling to visit her husband.
I repeat it as we’re talking about pre-computers era: All his work was lost. I tend to get extremely frustrated when I lose content I’ve just copied to paste it into another tab, imagine losing ALL YOUR WORK just like that.
But here’s the moral of the story: Instead of getting completely demotivated and derailed by the loss, Ernest (yes, I'm calling him by his first name as if we were friends—who am I) found a way to benefit from the blow. Feeling a new time pressure, he made his writing more precise, using fewer words and shorter sentence structures. This shift became one of Hemingway’s main stylistic trademarks: short sentences and simple language.
Why am I bringing this up? Hemingway’s lost suitcase is a perfect example of turning a challenge into an opportunity. The main point here is that adaptability is essential, and it’s a skill you can build.
Darwin defined adaptability as the main skill for survival (talking about species survival here), not strength, not even intelligence. And who are we to doubt Darwin?
To finish with a statement, because we all love statements:
Life is chaotic, but if you can roll with it, you'll find a way to win.
🎯 How to avoid procrastination
Do you want to be like Hemingway when he lost his suitcase and enter a flow state (and of course avoid procrastination)?
Getting into a flow state is the secret to unlocking the best work of your life. Hours become minutes, and you enjoy what you’re doing in a way that feels natural, right?
The problem is getting into a flow state. It often takes me a good while to get into it. Reading articles, watching videos, replying to emails, checking sports summaries, doing my daily Duolingo session… you name it!
But recently, I found a really easy way to beat procrastination, ha!
The trick? Lower the quality of your first piece of work for the day. By having zero expectations, I beat procrastination. Thinking about starting work creates resistance. When your quality standards are too high, you take longer to start. It might seem silly, but it’s true. You create something—good or bad—and hey, you've already entered the workflow. Once you’ve solved your procrastination problem, you can accelerate your flow state.
Here are two other tricks I use (not always, but when I need to push myself) to improve the way I handle my work:
1. Add a calendar event at the end of your working day: This helps me rethink how much time I have. When time is running out, there is no time for procrastination. Sorry, cat videos—you’ll have to wait!
2. Give yourself a treat: Dogs love treats, and so do I. I give myself a treat for finishing my work. I know what to expect, and I tell myself there is no reward until the work is done.
To wrap it up: You rarely do your best work at the start. Like runners, we have to warm up on low-quality work before we can start executing at full force.
🧸 Hemingway’s shorter story
Today’s content recommendation is one of the best short stories ever. Attributed to Hemingway (yes, I’m theming things out this week, look at me), it’s just six words, and it goes like this:
For sale: baby shoes, never worn
Versions of the story date back to early 1900s and it is (sorry guys) pretty unlikely Hemingway actually wrote it, but hey, what a fantastic sample of flash fiction, right? Suggesting so many things in just six words is kind of magic…
📚 Read for free with Libby
And since we’re talking about books, this week's product recommendation is Libby, a free app that lets you enjoy ebooks, digital audiobooks, and magazines from your public libraries. All you need is a library card, which you can easily get online.
I use Berlin’s VÖBB, accessible online from anywhere in the world, giving me immediate access to over 120k books, all for free on a borrowing system. Like going to a library, but online.
Reading has never been easier and cheaper guys!
📊 Data Dive
And to finish, let’s take a little look at the LSC performance:
320 Subscribers → Last week we were 318
2 Unsubscribed → We lost 1 subscriber last week
60% Open rate → Back in the healthy 60-70% range.
And as a farewell gift, a curiosity this week: In theory, this website, inspired by Borges' The Library of Babel, contains every possible combination of 1,312,000 characters, including lowercase letters, spaces, commas, and periods. This means it would theoretically contain every written work ever created (and still to be created). Currently, it has all possible pages of 3,200 characters, about 10^{24677} books, including meaningful books, nonsense, and everything in between.
By browsing it (an interesting design experience), you might find yourself on a page like this one, which means the book you are reading is the 16th volume (v16) on the fourth shelf (s4) of the second wall (w2) of hexagon jeb0110jlb. Sounds nonsensical? Well, don’t blame me, blame Borges!
And before leaving, here are a few things you can do to help me:
Share this newsletter with someone you think will like it.
Reply to this publication.
Move this email to the Primary tab of your email account if it’s not already there.
If you’re on Substack, like this publication, re-stack it, move it around… sky is the limit!
And now, for good: Keep an eye out for the next LifeScore Chronicles—something exciting is just around the corner. 🚀
Until next week, stay safe and healthy!