Hi,

Welcome to the Procrastilearning Newsletter, where your time is well spent even though you should probably be doing something else.

3 things worth procrastilearning over

1. People think cynics are smart, even though they are statistically pretty stupid

The idea that cynical people are somehow enlightened about the realities of life has created a popular mythos that they are smarter than the rest of us. But just as the optimist is often blind to reality, so is the cynic.

A study of 200,000 people across 30 countries found that cynics "are likely to do worse (rather than better) on cognitive tasks, cognitive abilities, and competencies tests".

Other studies have also found cynics have worse health, poorer relationships and struggle with finances compared to the average. They also rarely get promoted to leadership positions.

Being sceptical is healthy, but being cynical is essentially as blinkered as being a blind optimist - it’s all preconceived assumptions and dismissal of experience and testing.

So stop being such a cynical piece of crap, okay?

2. There's a 1400-year-old temple that is rebuilt every 20 years

Ise-Jingu is regarded as Japan’s holiest Shinto shrine. And it always looks great because it’s been rebuilt nearly 70 times since 692AD. The whole process takes 8 years since they have to prepare the wood for each new version.

But is it even the same temple still? Although it’s identical each time, you don't have to get into philosophical paradoxes like the Ship of Theseus because they just rebuild it in different spots in a large designated area.

The last ceremony in 2013 is well-documented here:

The shrine is interesting not just because it's a method of preserving traditional building techniques that would’ve probably been forgotten otherwise, but because it's a strange reminder of time's existence and how we aren't around for long but are part of something bigger:

“I saw one elderly person who probably has experienced these events three or four times saying to young people who perhaps participated in the event as children last time, ‘I will leave these duties to you next time.’” (via Smithsonian)

3. Plant-for-the-Planet was started by a 9 year old

Plant-for-the-Planet, the worldwide campaign to plant millions of trees in every country in the world, was started by a 9-year-old German boy called Felix Finkbeiner. He initially proposed that every country should plant 1 million trees and then, at 13, became even more demanding and suggested the United Nations targeted 1 trillion new trees by 2050. Definitely not a cynic…

It’s inspiring, but to be fair, the boy himself was inspired by the Nobel-prize-winning Wangarĩ Maathai who had a similar campaign to plant trees across Africa and founded the Green Belt Movement. Still, it's impressive.

But imagine still having a job you started doing at 9 years old - he's 26 now. And you thought Greta Thunberg was precocious.

2 quotes to keep in mind

1 tip to boost your energy in the afternoon

Just have a nap!

Have you ever felt you can’t get much done in the afternoon? Tiredness suddenly creeps up and that energy you had in the morning seems to have disappeared.

It might seem counter-intuitive, but rather than struggling through this so-called post-lunch slump and having a few hours of poor performance, you’re better off taking 20 minutes to just switch off completely. Studies find your energy will be much higher at the end of it.

If you’re worried about feeling groggy if you doze off, you can try listening to a so-called Non-Sleep Deep Rest recording instead - these are designed to systematically help you relax but avoid encouraging you to sleep.

And yes, if you work in an office, this strategy might be a bit difficult to pull off, but with the continued rise of remote and hybrid work, it’s actually becoming much more feasible for the average worker. If you do need a different strategy though, last week we discussed how exercise can help offset many of the health problems caused by lack of sleep.

That's all for today. Many thanks for reading. Here’s a photo of an axolotl.

Adam

Adam Zulawski
Procrastilearning on Beehiiv / More stuff
Currently reading: The Good Ancestor by Roman Krznaric

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