The Art of the Good Life – by Rolf Dobelli

 

The Art of the Good Life – by Rolf Dobelli

Summary:

Chapter 1: Mental Accounting  

Living a good life has a lot to do with interpreting facts in a constructive way. Try to mentally account for things like expenses, say, in a way that will keep you happy.

Chapter 2: The Fine Art of Correction

A good life is only achieved by constantly readjusting your plan according to your situation. Do not be reluctant of changing your original plans as there are no flawless plans.

Chapter 3: The Pledge

Be unwavering for important goals/ principles in your life. Inflexibility in these goals is what will help you achieve them.

Chapter 4: Black Box Thinking

Whenever making big decisions, write down whatever is going through your mind. If the decision turns out to be a dud, return to these notes to analyze where exactly you went wrong.

Chapter 5: Counterproductivity

Some technologies, which at first glance seem to be time-savers, can actually be time-sinks. For example, digital cameras eliminated the need for developing photos, saving time. However, because of the convenience they provide, people tend to take more pictures than before, wasting more time than before digital cameras existed.

Chapter 6: The Negative Art of the Good Life

identifying what you should not do is easier than identifying what you should do to live a good life. So we should do our best to systematically eliminate the downside in our life – then we’ll have a real chance of achieving a good life.

Chapter 7: The Ovarian Lottery

Much of our success can be attributed to luck. We can't choose where we are born, what era we are born in, or whom we are born to.

Chapter 8: The Introspection Illusion

You won’t find the good life through introspection. Instead, you should explore your past. Examine the evidence, not your subsequent interpretation of it. Our emotions are quite unreliable, so we should take them less seriously when examining the past.

Chapter 9: The Authenticity Trap

It's not necessary to share all of your personal thoughts with everyone. It's important to maintain a "public persona" with the general public. Eisenhower says, “Restrict authenticity to keeping your promises and acting according to your principles. The rest is nobody else’s business”.

Chapter 10: The Five-Second No

When faced with a decision, take some time to mull it over instead of giving an immediate answer.

Chapter 11: The Focusing Illusion

Avoid the focusing illusion to make better decisions. Take an occasional peek at your life through a wide-angle lens. Realize that the things that you used to focus on and give so much importance to in the moment have shrunk to the size of dots. By focusing on trivialities, you are wasting your good life.

Chapter 12: The Things You Buy Leave No Real Trace

Invest in experiences rather than materialistic objects. Experiences linger longer than an expensive toy, bag, car, or piece of equipment.

Chapter 13: F***-You Money

Try to have financial Independence. Even if you are very rich, try to live modestly.

Chapter 14: The Circle of Competence

Know your limits of knowledge and keep within them. It’s completely irrelevant how many areas you’re average or below average in. What matters is that you’re far above average in at least one area. A single outstanding skill trumps a thousand mediocre ones. Every hour invested into your circle of competence is worth a thousand spent elsewhere.

Chapter 15: The Secret of Persistence

Slow, boring, long-winded processes lead to the best results.  Once you’ve identified your circle of competence, stick at it as long as possible. Perseverance, tenacity, and long-term thinking are highly valuable yet underrated virtues.

Chapter 16: The Tyranny of a Calling

A calling is nothing but a job you’d like to have. In the Romantic sense, it doesn’t exist. There is only talent and preference. Build on the skills you already have. The skills we have already mastered are often the things we enjoy doing.

 

Chapter 17: The Prison of a Good Reputation

Don’t try to seek external validation. Instead, focus on yourself and try to achieve something.

Chapter 18: The "End of History" Illusion

We are constantly changing in our life. Our present personalities, values, and beliefs may differ greatly from our past selves. we have the power to guide and shape the changes that occur in our lives by selecting role models. However, You cannot change other people. Neither external pressure nor rational argument will work. Motivation for personal change comes from within.

Chapter 19: The Smaller Meaning of Life

We do not have answers on the “Larger meaning of life”. Life will continue to exist as long as there is enough material and energy. The question of the “smaller meaning of life,” however, is crucial. It’s about your personal goals, your ambitions, your mission. There can be no good life without personal goals. The path to a good life means adjusting the bar and setting achievable goals.

Chapter 20: Your Two Selves

What we experience can be different from what we remember. Most of the time we remember the moment of greatest intensity and filter out the rest. Try to live a more fulfilled moment-to-moment life by focusing on the present.

Chapter 21: The Memory Bank

Make the most of your present experiences instead of worrying about future memories. Savor the sunset instead of photographing it.

Chapter 22: Life Stories Are Lies

Our brains store not raw but processed data. Constructing consistent stories where things that don’t fit in are comfortably forgotten. Realizing this is part of the good life. See yourself as realistically as possible – contradictions, shortcomings, dark sides, and all. If you see yourself realistically, you’ve got a much better chance of becoming who you want to be.  

Chapter 23: The "Good Death" Fallacy

Better a life well lived and a few painful days on your deathbed than a shoddy life and a good death.

Chapter 24: The Spiral of Self-Pity

Accept the wrongs of the past and try to either manage or endure the hardships of the present. Not getting bogged down in self-pity is a golden rule of mental health.