“Rational flâneur (or just flâneur): Someone who, unlike a tourist, makes a decision opportunistically at every step to revise his schedule (or his destination) so he can imbibe things based on new information obtained. In research and entrepreneurship, being a flâneur is called “looking for optionality.”—Nassim Taleb, Antifragile
The first time I read this in Antifragile, I was captivated by the idea of wandering the streets and stumbling across life-changing opportunities by making myself more open to optionality. Of course, this has yet to happen (although I still believe it can). However, I did develop a wonderful habit of walking a little slower. I started by taking more thoughtful walks to and from the BART train. It helps to live in a place where, if you miss the train, there is another one coming soon. That way you have no reason to be in a frantic rush. My train runs every 10 minutes or so on workdays—an unintended benefit of moving from the elite Caltrain of the South Bay to the proletarian BART of the East Bay.
I purposefully do not ever check train times, so I don’t care whether I just barely miss the train or arrive right on time. Living this way for several months, I now find it humorous to see fellow passengers walking briskly, rushing through life, only to barely miss the train and take the same one I casually walk to.
Being able to walk slowly is a luxury. Sometimes we really are running late, or even just overwhelmed with life and have our minds in a flurry, so we race to get to where we are going. I have done this my entire life, even when I am not running late. I am in a hurry to get where I am going. Walking slowly is a luxury because it is reserved for those who can wait. The surprising truth is that we all are afforded this luxury if we slow down a little.
Most of our rushing to do this or to do that is self-inflicted nonsense. That does not mean it feels any less real. It just means it is a limitation we place on ourselves. Slowing down whenever possible nurtures a more contemplative life. A life of contentment and clarity. Counterintuitively, at first it takes an enormous amount of effort to go slow. Slowing down takes significant awareness. Social pressure in America is to do, do, do. Hurry, hurry, hurry. You are going to miss it (whatever it is)! Resisting the temptation to obey this siren call yields a fruit far sweeter than aimless accomplishments. It produces clarity and purpose.
Every day, more and more information is thrown at us, demanding attention. Now, with AI, much of this noise is not even created by someone with a brain (although even before AI, much of it seemed to have been created by someone without a brain). The only countermeasure is to slow down. Think, read, write, do—this has been my mantra for several months as I slow things down. Walking slowly is a physical manifestation of this mindset and a signal to your body and mind to slow down, look around, and be present.
written by a human