Michael Ham > Quotes

“enjoyment from the task: to spend his (limited) time doing things he doesn’t enjoy makes no sense when he could instead do them enjoyably. Moreover, an enjoyable task requires little willpower: you are drawn to the task rather than having to push yourself. Indeed, a task can even be restorative and energizing; rather than draining you, a task approached properly can provide both enjoyment and a satisfying sense of fulfillment.”
― Michael Ham, Leisureguy's Guide to Gourmet Shaving the Double-Edge Way

“The settler/explorer distinction is also observed in studies of animal behavior, sometimes called shy/bold23. A species benefits from having individuals of both types, the bold to try new foods and new environments, the shy to keep the species going when those experiments turn out disastrously. The different attitudes apparently stem from small differences in brain chemistry, which also turn out to influence one’s political outlook24.”
― Michael Ham, Leisureguy's Guide to Gourmet Shaving: Shaving Made Enjoyable

“The psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi wrote several books on a mental state he termed “flow”: a focused, absorbing, satisfying involvement in what is happening in the moment8. So another way to state the Epicurean position is that one should arrange his or her life to maximize the opportunities for flow to occur. Flow is a mental experience, so introspection combined with an attitude that encourages the enjoyment of small things—to look for joy, and to think about how to find more occasions of joy—is an obvious step.”
― Michael Ham, Leisureguy's Guide to Gourmet Shaving the Double-Edge Way