Last updated on January 7th, 2024 at 03:32 pm
December 31, 2023
Here is the best thing I heard (What?), saw (Eye.), and read (Read.) this week, as well as the best idea (💡) I developed.
What?
Saints, Volume 2, No Unhallowed Hand, 1846–1893: Chapter 21 – “The Same Great Work”
- “That summer [1861], Brigham Young… announced a plan, already underway, to build a large theater a few blocks from the temple site. Though the city’s Social Hall already functioned as a small playhouse, Brigham wanted a theater that would inspire the minds and imaginations of the Saints. Drama had a way of teaching and edifying people in ways sermons could not.”
Eye.
Instagram Story (Emilie Melton) about picking a word to focus on as a family in 2024.
- Pick a family theme word
- Make a jar to keep you all focused
- Reward when it’s full
Read.
‘The Joys of Compounding: The Passionate Pursuit of Lifelong Learning‘ by Gautam Baid:
- “A contrarian isn’t one who always takes the opposite path just for the sake of it. That is simply a conformist of a different sort. A true contrarian is one who reasons independently, from the ground up, based on factual data, and resists pressure to conform.
“If, in your heart, you know who you really are and that the choice you made was absolutely right, then the criticism of others should be considered and analyzed to see whether it truly has any merit, but it should not be given permission to belittle what you are trying to achieve. Let your life be guided by internal principles, not external validation. Self-respect beats social approval. Every time. We are not perfect, nor should we pretend to be, but we always should endeavor to be the best version of ourselves.”
💡
Always have a question in mind that you are laboring to answer. Then, with everything you are listening to, watching, and reading, seek for inspiration and ideas to help you answer that question. I developed this idea by combining elements from the following resources that I both listened to and read during this past week.
- James Clear, 3-2-1 Newsletter, December 28, 2023
- “Curiosity can empower you or impede you.
“Being curious and focused is a powerful combination. I define this combination as unleashing your curiosity within the domain of a particular task: asking questions about how things work, exploring different lines of attack for solving the problem, reading ideas from outside domains while always looking for ways to transfer the knowledge back to your main task, and so on. Even though you’re exploring widely, you’re generally moving the ball forward on the main thing. You start something and you keep searching until you find an effective way to finish it.
“Meanwhile, when your curiosity sends you off in a dozen different directions and fractures your attention, then it can prevent you from focusing on one thing long enough to see it through to completion. Curious, but unfocused. You’re jumping from one topic to the next, they aren’t necessarily related, your efforts don’t accumulate, you’re simply exploring. You start many things and finish few.
“How is your curiosity being directed? Is it rocket fuel or a roadblock?”
- “Curiosity can empower you or impede you.
- Joseph Smith – History 1:10-12
- “In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it? While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible.”
- Saints, Volume 2, No Unhallowed Hand, 1846–1893: Chapter 21 – “The Same Great Work”
- “That summer [1861], Brigham Young… announced a plan, already underway, to build a large theater a few blocks from the temple site. Though the city’s Social Hall already functioned as a small playhouse, Brigham wanted a theater that would inspire the minds and imaginations of the Saints. Drama had a way of teaching and edifying people in ways sermons could not.”
- The Priesthood Restored: A Joseph Smith Papers Podcast: Episode 2 – “Days Never to Be Forgotten”
- “As [Joseph Smith] was translating the Book of Mormon, he wasn’t just receiving that text, he was receiving revelation as a result of that revelation. Revelation begets revelation as you’re studying and reflecting upon and coming across passages of scripture, right? And he’s literally receiving new scripture for him. It’s just brand new. It’s really pricking his mind and creating questions, and he starts wondering about things he’s heard about and thought about for years, and now he has new questions.”