Hello there,

I finished reading Scarcity Brain and realized that I needed to share what I found with you. It’s quote eye opening and this quote really hit me hard as I was reading through the book.

“Four hours creative work a day is about the limit” – G. H. Hardy (one of history’s greatest mathematicians)

CONTEXT

I’ve been inspired by Michael Easter who wrote Scarcity Brain and I compiled how his writings changed my frame on life and what I’ll be doing to thrive with enough.

Did you just pick up your phone right after waking up and checked your email to find this in your inbox?

Tommy Blanchard, researcher at Harvard Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Lab refers to humans as ‘informavores’. Yep – that means just like the carnivores hunting for meat we are creatures searching for and want to digest all the information we can.

You are an informavore looking for that next fix that will feed your Scarcity Loop that Michael Easter talks about in Scarcity Brain.

The scarcity loop is defined as:

Opportunity —> Unpredictable Rewards —> Quick Repeatability

Let’s get into why this matters and how it’s possible for you to start thriving with enough and leveraging this to be a subtle leader in your life.

THRIVING WITH ENOUGH

Here are 3 topics to learn about so you can thrive with enough:

  1. How the internet has altered your brain 🧠
  2. Your search for happiness 😃
  3. Shifting scarcity loops to abundance loops 🔁

How the internet has altered your brain

There are three main ways that our brains have been altered.

  1. Ability to Focus
  2. Offloading memory to the cloud
  3. Changing of social interactions

Ability to Focus

Think about it. How much are you actually thinking about your phone?

Stanford research found that we switch tasks every 19 seconds. I didn’t believe this at first either but it’s true. There was a study conducted that ½ of students can’t study for more than 10 minutes without checking their phone.

It’s true that you have apps on your phone that leverage the scarcity loop to fracture your attention and kill the focus required for deep thinking and work.

Offloading memory to the cloud

“I don’t believe you.” or “Really?”

The next thing that happens is your friend at that dinner party pulls out their phone and ‘fact’ checks you on Google. How annoying is that!? Come on. Can we at least have a conversation with our brains?

Look, I’m all for getting facts right but because we have this supercomputer in our pocket and everyone needs to be right – we have to look it up. The issue with that is that we can’t recall anything, anymore.

Think about it this way – if you have to go find the information manually (through a book -aka not the internet), you’re more likely to retain that information.

Slow information > fast information

Changing of social interactions

Imagine what happens to your brain when the three dots shows up on your iPhone text message screen.

Waiting for the response creates anxiety and stress

Our brain responds to online and in person interactions in similar ways. We also have studies now telling us that social anxiety is on the rise. In fact since 2008 anxiety among young people has tripled.

That’s enough on this topic. Let’s move on.

Your search for happiness 😃

“Happiness is the goal of all human activity. The search for happiness is the common ground on which all human desires, all human ambitions meet.” – Thomas Aquinas (13th century Dominican monk and philosopher)

When you think about being happy, what does that truly mean to you?

Some of the questions that I think about are:

  • What should I do with my life?
  • Where should I go?
  • What am I suppose to be doing?
  • Who am I?

I always thought that I was suppose to be working at a tech company. Eventually I am suppose to be CEO and running the show. You should go for the next promotion and the next thing in your career.

But do you ever stop and ask yourself why?

In order for you to be happy, these are questions that you need clarity on. Don’t just continue going on the path you’re on because it’s the right thing to do or the next step you’re suppose to take.

Close your eyes and imagine yourself free of stress and anxiety. What does that world look like to you and how do you get there?

Some people think they need a bigger house, more 💰 or that fancy car. But behind all that, are you actually going to be happy?

Shifting scarcity loops to abundance loops 🔁

“We learn to fall into addiction when a substance or behavior gives us an easy opportunity to solve our problems…” – Michael Easter (Scarcity Brain: Chapter: What we do now)

Learning how to solve our problems differently and focus on positive things in our life that can provide us with real fulfillment and joy while hitting what we need in a scarcity loop.

Recall definition of the scarcity loop:

Opportunity —> Unpredictable Rewards —> Quick Repeatability

Think about what you have in your life (away from screens) that can provide this. I’m focused on going on more hikes and walks but realizing that you need to have ‘Unpredictable Results’ built into it so I need to add something like rock hunting.

It’s also why kids love hiking. If they are going ‘stick hunting’ they don’t know what’s around the corner next or why fishing is always so fulfilling. It hits your scarcity loop with unpredictable results in ways you’ve never really thought through.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Remember, most people suck at building new habits.

But if you recognize the power in the scarcity loop and building it into your daily rhythm and life, you will have a new look on life.

These are not going to be as quick hits as scrolling through Instagram or TikTok but your brain and body will thank you for thinking about feeding your scarcity loop in a different way than the 99%.

Now, put that phone down and go out there to find a new abundance loop that replaces your scrolling habit.

Till next week,

Andrew

PS…. I wanted to welcome those that have joined The Subtle Leadership newsletter this week! Welcome to the club!

PS…. I wanted to welcome those that have joined The Subtle Leadership newsletter this week! Welcome to the club!

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