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. Some Japanese soldiers kept fighting WWII for up to 29 years

When the Japanese surrendered in October 1945, there were several Japanese soldiers stationed in remote places that didn't get the memo. Some held out for years, even decades, hiding in forests and carrying on as if the war was ongoing. Even when leaflets about what had happened were dropped near their hiding spots, they insisted that it was Allied propaganda and all lies.

Many of the holdouts were menaces too. They would steal from locals and get into skirmishes with police before escaping.

One who'd been hiding in a forest in the Philippines for 29 years, Hiroo Onoda, only finally gave in when the Philippine government flew his retired commanding officer in from Japan to tell him in person. In an interview, Shoichi Yokoi, who had been hiding in Guam for 26 years, remarked that he had been told to prefer death over the disgrace of being captured alive. Onoda, when giving up his weapons, even still had a small dagger given to him by his mother that he was supposed to use to kill himself if he was captured.

2. Your procrastination might be a lack of vision

Procrastination may just be a symptom of being bad at imagining your own future. Once you have a vision of the future, you don't waste time so much since working towards it gives you focus.

It makes a lot of sense - if you don't know where you're going, you're going to dawdle. So, where are you going? 🤔

3. Luxury brands are becoming property barons

LVMH, the umbrella company that owns Louis Vuitton, Dior and over 70 other luxury brands has been buying billions in real estate over the past 17 years or so in different major cities such as Paris, Montreal and New York, but also smaller towns like Bicester in the UK.

They're slowly shaping neighbourhoods beyond simple gentrification into something highly corporate, only for the super rich, and very boring. A lot of science fiction talks about mega corporations that own everything, so perhaps many corporate leaders are avid readers who get inspired by depressing dystopias.

Fun fact: LVMH's CEO Bernard Arnault has been the world's richest person for two years running now.

2 quotes to keep in mind

1 simple tip to deal with negative thoughts

Ask yourself "Is this really true?"

This simple question, if you manage to catch yourself thinking negatively, can help turn things around, especially if you are catastrophising and thinking in all or nothing terms.

Two popularisers of this question from cognitive behavioural therapy are Byron Katie and Daniel Amen, who have written children's books trying to help even the youngest readers deal with automatic negative thoughts. They suggest the follow-up question "Can you really be sure that it's true?" if you still think your negative thinking is a fact.

That's all for today. Many thanks for reading. Here’s a close-up photo of a bluebottle fly larva.

Adam

Adam Zulawski
Procrastilearning on Beehiiv / More stuff
Currently reading: Be Your Future Self Now by Benjamin Hardy

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