superpowers : The Art of Non-Conformity

Life

Happiness Is a Superpower

I heard something in a dialogue recently. One character was complaining about being unhappy, and the other character replied, “You have a misguided notion of what makes you happy.”

The sentence made me stop and think. Most of us, at different times, have a misguided notion of what we think will make us happy. We go around trying out different prescriptions and remedies.

Maybe the new thing will work ... or maybe I should go back to the old one?
Maybe there's still something else out there, just waiting to be discovered?

That’s why the alternative to misguided notions—true clarity with the possibility of contentment—is so powerful. Knowing what will really make you happy, as opposed to what you think will make you happy, is no less a superpower than flying.

Superpowers, Part II

Those of us who are self-employed, as well as anyone who performs intellectual work of some kind for a living, are continuously faced with a dilemma.

The dilemma can be stated in the form of a two-word question: What's next?

Many of us encounter this dilemma numerous times a day, whenever we first approach the machines that guide us through our work.

Superpowers

In an interview, Warren Buffett was asked what superpower he would like to be granted. His response: “I'd like to have the ability to read faster.” I loved this answer, but when I shared it on Twitter, a few people said something like, “That's dumb. If you read faster, you won't retain the information.” Ah yes, but it’s not about speedreading per se—since he’s a fairly smart guy, I’m pretty sure that Mr. Buffett understands the concept that we don’t retain everything we read. It’s not usually nice to assume, but in this case it’s a safe assumption that he’s talking about actually learning faster—the ability to consume and apply more information in a shorter period of time.