Welcome back to the 1st Law Newsletter - Friday Edition.

In this email:

• What you don’t do separates you more than what you do

• You don’t have to be responsible for the world that you’re in

• Research your opinions

What you don’t do separates you more than what you do

I have written about being in a productivity rut recently. In an attempt to break out of it, I don’t need to do more—I need to do less. The morning routine can be great, but the best and most productive days are those when I get up and start working right away, no cold shower, no meditating, no affirmations… just straight-up work. For example, some things I need to stop doing:

• Going on my phone at the slightest hint of boredom.

• Watching pointless and mindless content (mainly YouTube for me).

• Multitasking.

• Trying to work while listening to podcasts or music.

The thing is, I do not have the discipline to do a lot of these things. I need to implement tools and aids to help and restrain me from these activities. Some things that I will be doing:

• Switching back to my flip phone for 3 weeks for a ‘dopamine reset’. I will leave my iPhone in my car or at home so I can still listen to music and check a few important things, but I will limit it to ~10 minutes a day.

• When I switch back to my iPhone, I will delete many of the apps I currently have installed. “Do you have any games on your phone?” Hahaha… no.

• Blocking YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, etc… from my devices. Having the password to unblock them set by a trusted friend so I cannot access them even if I wanted to.

• Trying to train myself to be turned off by watching this mindless content and distracting myself. I need to adopt the attitude of: “This is a waste of time, I have better things I could be doing.”

If you have done something similar for yourself, I would love to hear how you keep yourself from continuing with bad content and screen time habits. Please respond with your #1 tip!

You don’t have to be responsible for the world that you’re in

This seems like a crazy thing to say, especially when working on something that can have such large consequences as the first atomic bomb—however, I see two sides to this quote. First, you don’t need to feel responsible for the world you were born into. For example, we are born into a world with many conflicts, starvation, violence, and death. Is it your fault? Of course not, you were just born into it, and you had no choice in the matter, so you don’t need to feel responsible for it. If you want to help improve the human condition, fantastic, but it is not your responsibility.

Second, you don’t have to be responsible for how your research and achievements get used by others. Separate your work from what it is used for. The scientists with the atomic bomb could have simply been working on a cool physics project. They were not responsible for dropping it, and they were not directly responsible for the resulting deaths. They did what physicists are supposed to do—research and innovate. This research has also led to nuclear power, the cleanest and most efficient power we have ever figured out how to produce. It comes down to how things get used.

What you are responsible for is: becoming a human being. Learning how to be. Learn how to exist on this planet and how to use your mind. Delve into your consciousness. Contribute what you can to advancing the human condition if it pleases you, but if others misuse your creations, that is not on you.

Quote I Want To Share

We are often blinded by our hatred. I challenge you to do some research into something that you despise and try to form arguments for the ‘pro’ side of it. Strongmanning the argument may not make you switch sides fully, but at least you will better understand the topic and your opinion will be more grounded in truth. One of the greatest traits I look for in friends and partners is people who have the ability and tendency to change their opinions when they get new information.

Thanks for reading!

Lucas