Skip to content

Some Advice

2022-09-06 · list · John · 3:33 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Philosophy & meaning · mode: Advice & reviews · tags: self promotion

John, wary of giving advice, offers some anyway: distrust strangers' advice, floss as an act of faith in your future self, write your memoir, notice when you are happy, remember you matter, collaborate, and attend to where your attention goes.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — John's reluctance to give advice: not knowing how to be a person, being 25 today

  • ★★ John says he is reluctant to give advice because he doesn't know how to be a person, being a body of meat in a world where everything dies. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • ★ John asks what he knows about being 25 today: when he was 25 there were no iPhones, YouTube or COVID. — 00:00:00 · YouTube, COVID-19 pandemic

00:00:29 — Advice: be wary of strangers' advice, floss and wear sunscreen, write your memoir

  • ★★★ John's first advice: be suspicious of anyone claiming to advise you on how to live unless they are loved ones who know you intimately; as with candy, be wary of advice from strangers. — 00:00:29

  • ★★★ John advises flossing, not only for dental health but as an act of faith: current you flosses for an older, frailer future you; the same goes for sunscreen. — 00:00:29

    “it is a wondrous act of faith”

  • ★★★ John advises writing your memoirs in any form (weekly videos, a long voice note, star-rated reviews): find some way to tell the story of what it is like to be you. — 00:00:58

  • ★★ John says the only meaningful record of his great-grandfather's existence is a 17-page memoir he wrote in the 1930s, and he is extremely grateful for it. — 00:01:27

  • ★★★ As a reader of history and writer of nonfiction, John often wants memoirs that don't exist; many such people thought themselves unremarkable, but everyone is worthy of note. — 00:01:27

    “literally everyone is worthy of note”

00:01:56 — Advice: notice happiness (Vonnegut), celebrate, remember you matter, collaborate, attend to your attention; thanks and sign-off

  • ★★★ John passes on Kurt Vonnegut's advice: notice when you are happy and exclaim, murmur or think, 'if this isn't nice, I don't know what is.' — 00:01:56 · first in: 2021-10-06, Searching for Betsy in Brazil

    “if this isn't nice, I don't know what is”

  • ★★ John finds this helpful because otherwise happy moments float past unacknowledged and only hard times get dwelled upon. — 00:01:56

  • ★★ John keeps sparkling grape juice or champagne on hand to celebrate good news like a promotion or a good day; commemoration and commiseration are among his favourite human acts. (playful) — 00:01:56
  • ★★★ John advises remembering that you are an important and wondrous presence on this planet, extraordinary, without becoming too self-satisfied. — 00:02:26 · Earth
  • ★★ John says there are more viruses in a cup of seawater than there have ever been humans on Earth. — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ John advises collaborating because you don't do much alone: even reading involves the author, the font chooser and the people who taught you to read. — 00:02:26 · collective action
  • ★★★ John says collaboration is how we make meaning together, address the disease of loneliness together and solve shared problems together. — 00:02:55 · collective action
  • ★★★ John's last advice: when you can, think about where your attention is going, what you care about and attend to, and why. — 00:02:55
  • ★★★ John says human thought and consciousness is the single most valuable resource in the history of the planet, and thanks viewers for sharing their attention. — 00:02:55

In the description and comments

  • ★ In a channel comment John says to distrust all advice except this: the Awesome Coffee Club offers better coffee that is better for the world, since 100% of profits go to charity. — creator comment · Awesome Coffee Club

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: memoir

Also: People: Kurt Vonnegut

Works: The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)

Organizations: YouTube

Concepts: champagne · collective action · consciousness · loneliness · savoring · Virus

Events: COVID-19 pandemic

Only in the description or credits: Awesome Coffee Club

← Previous: How A YouTube Company Actually Makes Money · Next → A Million Things at Once