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- My Wife Bought Oreos
Happy Friday — and welcome all new subscribers!
I hope everyone had a good July 4th week — and I am glad to be back after the week off.
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On My Mind
My wife bought Oreos earlier this week.
I’m usually a very strict eater — I grew up with a number of food allergies and, genetically, my body loves storing excess fats as triglycerides and cholesterol. Thus, I’ve had to learn what to eat and what not to eat. After a few decades, it is fairly straightforward, unless…
“Have some self control,” she says disappointingly.
“I have incredible self control — I’ve not bought Oreos in over fifteen years! Why did you buy them?!”
“Don’t eat them… They are mine!”
You see — the issue is that while the purchased Oreos might be “hers,” they are very much in “our” house. The fact that she will eat +/- 2 of them a day drags out the whole Oreos-in-the-house problem. And that’s a big problem… because I love Oreos to an irrational extent.
Whereas my wife might view the pack of Oreos as a pleasant surprise when she opens the pantry, my eyes can’t see anything but Oreos when they are there.
I never consider buying Oreos — I walk past their aisle without a second thought. But, if they are in my pantry, I can’t resist their siren song.
At the grocery store, I have goals — get in, find the items I need (which are always the same), interact with other humans in the store as little as possible, leave before getting hurt. My brain must realize that grabbing the Oreos doesn’t help accomplish the above.
At home, however? I hit a snag while writing and suddenly my brain blacks out and I find myself sitting at my desk with six Oreos seconds later. If there was an Oreos Anonymous, my buddy sponsor would give up on me.
It’s a bit of an odd juxtaposition, isn’t it?
But I think there are a lot of things like that — things in your environment can dictate your brain’s priorities.
As parents, my wife and I have taken advantage of environmental cues with our toddler — we sing the same song every night when it is time to go to bed. Now, whenever our toddler hears the song, regardless of what he is doing, he slows down and looks for someone to carry him to his room.
And that’s what is on my mind this week… my wife changed my dietary behavior with an environmental cue. She doesn’t want me to eat the Oreos, but she knows what will happen when she brings them home: my self control disappears.
As you interact with others throughout your day — business or personal — are there environmental cues you can send that better help you get what you need?
Is a tone of voice, the presence of someone else, the form of communication, the location of a conversation, and so on, a better way to environmentally cue the other side towards the outcome you want?
If so, why aren’t you taking advantage of it?
Quote of the Week
“Pick an industry where you can play long-term games with long-term people.”
— Naval Ravikant
Poll of the Week
Last Week
Question: If you have a mortgage, what is your interest rate?
Results:
🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ < 3%
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 3 - 5%
🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ 5 - 7%
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 7% +
I would be in the more fortunate camp, with a 2.99% mortgage. The lowest I’ve seen on a 30-year fixed was a 2.60% a colleague got in late 2021.
Responses: KH: ”I've got 5.99 on my home, but 2.875 on my old home that we chose to keep due to the insane rate, leaving us as reluctant landlords.”
Things to Read
Anthrax Detective | From How to Catch a Lab Leak by Santi Ruiz, 2024
I'll start by telling you how I got involved in the Sverdlovsk anthrax outbreak.
I was asked by a man at the Central Intelligence Agency named Julian Hoptman, who was in charge of a small unit dealing with biological threats, to come down and become part of this small working group. They had just learned about this anthrax epidemic and naturally wanted to know what it was…
There was another article in a veterinary journal about the outbreak of anthrax in sheep and cattle, and it named some villages. I don't think anybody but me tried to find out where these villages were, because they're little teeny nothing villages, but somehow I found out. And I noticed four of them were all in a straight line. At the time I thought it might be because there's a highway that goes from down south to Sverdlovsk…
I talked with John McMahon, who later became the deputy CIA director. He was all for it. He said, “We would love you to go there. We'd like to have an American go there.” He gave me a map, because he said, “When you're there, they may take you somewhere in Sverdlovsk, and they'll tell you it's this place, and it'll be nothing. It'll be a chocolate factory or something. So I will give you the exact longitude and latitude”…
Anyway, I'm all ready to go, and then the Russians shoot down, probably by mistake, a Korean jet, and everybody died. I get a letter from Dumayev, and he says, “In view of events with this jet, it's not a good time. Unfortunately I cannot invite you.”
Perseverance | From Soldiering Through Life by Kingswell, 2024
Fittingly, Charlie Munger touched on this very subject in his final televised interview.
“Everybody struggles,” he told Becky Quick. “The iron rule of life is that everybody struggles.”
But he also offered a hopeful solution.
“If you soldier through, you can get through almost anything. It’s your only option. You can’t bring back the dead. You can’t cure the dying child. You can’t do all kinds of things. You have to soldier through it.”
“If you have to walk through the streets, crying for a few hours a day as part of the soldiering, go ahead and cry away. You can cry — but you can’t quit.”
Why So Early? | From The Cult of 5am by Anita Chaudhuri, 2024
He also points out that the most enthusiastic exponents of these regimes are people who can afford to outsource life admin. “These productivity gurus and entrepreneurs have money to pay people to do everything. Imposing this schedule on other people is punitive and it’s also boastful: ‘Oh, aren’t I a great person; why don’t you become more like me?’ Truth is, most of us can’t afford to”…
I decide to talk to some non-celebs who have made the 5am club work for them. Jenny Wilson, a colour therapist, gets up every morning at 4.55 and, while the rest of her family sleeps, has a quick shower before creeping into the spare room to start her day…
On day eight, I wake up at 5.04am without an alarm. The morning beckons. Do I bound out of bed to seize the day? I do not. I decide to return to my usual wake-up time, only now with a renewed focus. The week hasn’t been a total waste of time – far from it. What it has made me realise is how much time I was wasting before, particularly in the morning. It’s not when you get up that matters – it’s how you choose to use the precious minutes you have that really counts.
Visuals
Threads Users Less Likely to Use X Over Time
U.S. Private Equity Exit Values Down
If you found today’s issue interesting, more than anything, I would appreciate you forwarding it to someone that might also enjoy it. It is a big deal to me whenever someone reads my work, so I appreciate your support.
Have a great weekend,
EJ
Twitter / X: @HistoryEJ
Disclosure: Nothing in this article constitutes investment advice. More detailed disclosure here.
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