Thatcher Wine > Quotes

“Reading is a particularly effective counterbalance to many of the negative effects of other forms of entertainment we consume... Holding a book in your hands and slowing down to read offers an antidote to digital overload.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“When babies are born, they can typically only focus on objects eight to twelve inches in front of them. Their eye muscles strengthen and improve quickly so that they can see and take in more of the world through their eyes.
I find it somewhat ironic that most of the human race now spends so much time staring at objects — phones and tablets — eight to twelve inches in front of our faces. Perhaps we all just want to return to our childhood?”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“Reasons to keep books:

To read them one day! If you hope to read the book one day, definitely keep it. It’s fine to be aspirational; no one else will keep score on what you have actually read. It’s great to dream and hope that one day you do have the time to read all your books.

To tell your story. Some people give away every book they’ve read explaining, “What’s the point in keeping a book after I’ve read it if I’m not going to read it again? It’s someone else’s turn to read my copy now.” If that works for you, then only keep books on your shelves that you haven’t read yet. However you can probably understand that the books that you haven’t yet read only tell the story of your future, they don’t say much about where you’ve been and what made you who you are today.

To make people think you’ve read the book! This one may be hard or easy for you to admit, but we don’t think there is any shame in it. Sometimes we hold on to books because they represent our aspirational selves, supporting the perception of how well read or intelligent we are. They are certainly the books our ideal selves would read, but in reality—if we had to admit it—we probably never will. We would argue that you should still have these books around. They are part of your story and who you want to be.

To inspire someone else in your household to read those books one day. Perhaps it’s your kids or maybe your guests. Keeping books for the benefit of others is thoughtful and generous. At the very least, anyone who comes into your home will know that these are important books and will be exposed to the subjects and authors that you feel are important. Whether they actually read Charles Dickens or just know that he existed and was a prolific writer after seeing your books: mission accomplished!

To retain sentimental value. People keep a lot of things that have sentimental value: photographs, concert ticket stubs, travel knickknacks. Books, we would argue, have deeper meaning as sentimental objects. That childhood book of your grandmother's— she may have spent hours and hours with it and perhaps it was instrumental in her education. That is much more impactful than a photograph or a ceramic figurine. You are holding in your hands what she held in her hands. This brings her into the present and into your home, taking up space on your shelves and acknowledging the thread of family and history that unites you. Books can do that in ways that other objects cannot.

To prove to someone that you still have it! This may be a book that you are otherwise ready to give away, but because a friend gifted it, you want to make sure you have it on display when they visit. This I’ve found happens a lot with coffee table books. It can be a little frustrating when the biggest books are the ones you want to get rid of the most, yet, you are beholden to keeping them. This dilemma is probably better suited to “Dear Abby” than to our guidance here. You will know if it’s time to part ways with a book if you notice it frequently and agonize over the need to keep it to stay friends with your friend. You should probably donate it to a good organization and then tell your friend you spilled coffee all over it and had to give it away!

To make your shelves look good! There is no shame in keeping books just because they look good. It’s great if your books all belong on your shelves for multiple reasons, but if it’s only one reason and that it is that it looks good, that is good enough for us. When you need room for new acquisitions, maybe cull some books that only look good and aren’t serving other purposes.”
― Thatcher Wine, For the Love of Books: Designing and Curating a Home Library

“Now, more than ever, I believe that the antidote to our ever-expanding to-do lists, the distractions of modern life, and the fragmentation of our attention is to do one thing at a time. Once we realize that we are the ones who control our own attention, we can choose where to apply it.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“Just a short time ago, reading a book was a part of our natural rhythm, an inclination to find the quiet within the chaos. When we had a few minutes to spare, we often turned to a book. In fact, we yearn for this core sense of peace because we viscerally recognize it. And we have the freedom to claim it, to lean into the quiet and pick up a book. To claim this—to slow down and settle in with a story—this becomes a radical act of self-care. Reading is self-care.

As human beings living in a digital age, time-starved and rushing around, printed books are reminders of the time we once had, the time we want to have, and the time we hope to have.

Printed books quell the chaos. Printed books make us feel comfortable and make us feel like everything is going to be OK.”
― Thatcher Wine

“Perhaps counterintuitively, monotasking getting there can also help improve our social relationships. We think we should respond to messages from friends and family as quickly as possible—but strong friendships are generally based on qualities deeper than response time. Overall responsiveness is important, but good friends should be patient, appreciate your full attention when you have it to give, and value your safety and that of others around you.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“Our eyes are the portal into our brains for most of the information that we take in. Those who profit from our attention — including advertisers, media companies, and app designers — know this, and so there are a lot of forces vying for our eyeballs at all times.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“One of the reasons it is especially tempting to multitask while thinking is because no one can see you thinking. You do it in your brain, and so it’s your own little secret that you are thinking while doing something else.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“Books are unlike other household objects in that one can have a “collection of books” without being a “book collector.” There are very few objects that have so much versatility, that can be acquired at so little relative cost, and that function as decoration when not being used for entertainment or intellectual engagement.”
― Thatcher Wine, For the Love of Books: Designing and Curating a Home Library

“In recent years, the lives we live seem to be getting busier and busier. Technology has increasingly made its way into every part of our existence — nearly everyone has powerful smartphones in their hands, pockets, or somewhere close. Economic and societal pressure has increased the need, or at least the perception, that we should always be doing and striving for more.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“There is nothing in our homes quite like a book. Wouldn’t it be great if we could keep unlimited amounts of them? Books in every room, piled high, yet organized in such a way that we knew where that exact title was, exactly when we wanted it.

Sadly the dream of infinite books is just a dream. Our space is limited and we can only keep so many books. That constraint forces choices. What if these choices and the decision-making that comes with them could be seen as a path to personal growth and understanding? We believe it is exactly that.

Just as the books we keep tell the story of who we are, the books we do not keep must be let go with an open heart and open mind. Letting a book go is an equally essential part of our ever unfolding story. We have to ask ourselves honestly, why do I have this book?”
― Thatcher Wine, For the Love of Books: Designing and Curating a Home Library

“In Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation, published in 2018, the narrator medicates herself into a year of sleep.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“In the 1970s, the average American was exposed to about five hundred ads a day between billboards, television, radio, and print. Today, digital marketing experts estimate that the number is closer to ten thousand ads per day — and those ads are increasingly “micro- targeted” to us based on a huge amount of data that companies possess about our habits and interests.

We can’t possibly see ten thousand ads a day and process them all. Advertisers have to get more creative about how to get our attention. Their goal is to create ads that we really do “see,” and ideally take action from. Once we get used to one type of ad, we might tune them out, so advertisers work to capture our eyeballs (and our wallets) in new and different ways.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“Remember that you are never wasting time while you read. It’s not always about the content or material you read. The simple act of reading, no matter what you read, focuses your attention and is valuable in and of itself.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“If your family has gotten used to having devices at the table, it can be difficult to break the cycle... Find a starting point that works for you and use it as an opportunity to reset the relationship between meals and devices.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“The primary goal of monotasking getting there is to arrive safely, pure and simple. It’s highly likely that the greatest risk in the average person’s day is concentrated around the times that they are in transit from one place to another.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“When you are in a space where someone has paid attention to the details and everything feels like it belongs, you feel like you belong there too.”
― Thatcher Wine, For the Love of Books: Designing and Curating a Home Library

“Time spent eating is time well spent. Besides improving digestion by eating more slowly and mindfully, we can pay attention to whether we are eating too much or too little, and what are the right foods for us. The more mindful we are of our meals, the healthier we can become.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“With respect to space and time, books are like a wall of resistance against a world that demands everything we have to give.

Reading a book allows you to travel through space and time to other places, to see the world from other perspectives and walk in another’s shoes for a bit. Stories create possibilities for our limited vantages to be cracked open, affording new views and different experiences.

Reading forces us to slow down. In the fast paced world we live, time is accelerating and we feel we have less of it. Our focus shifts second by second. We flip through our friends’ updates on Facebook or Instagram, quickly to get the story. We get impatient when a song or a movie takes too long to download. We read on our devices, take a pause and check our email, check our texts. Our concentration is spent in bursts and the sense of chaos builds.

And we are in a time of chaos. Each one of us can feel it. The pressure and the speed often feel relentless.”
― Thatcher Wine, For the Love of Books: Designing and Curating a Home Library

“Sometimes we think too much when we should just be doing other monotasks. Other times we don’t think enough before we act. When we are thinking, it’s possible we’re not thinking clearly, which can happen for a lot of reasons. Is all of this too much to think about?”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“It’s fun to have hobbies, to exercise and get in shape, to play music, and to make and fix things. Life is interesting — there is so much to do that generally we don’t have enough time to do it all.

Monotasking can help us give our hobbies and physical activities more focused attention so that we enjoy them more and maybe get better at them, too. Whether we are playing, learning, teaching, creating, or traveling, we can monotask in order to maximize our happiness and fun.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“Look for opportunities to multitask in a positive way, such as doing something creative alongside your kids while they do their homework — you will still be parenting, and they will see you as a good role model and creative inspiration.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“Our devices don’t have feelings (yet!) — if they did, they would be equivalent to the needy narcissistic partner for whom no amount of attention is ever enough. They superficially appear to care about you, give you just enough positive feedback to keep you interested in them, but never genuinely ask how you feel about your relation- ship. You doubt that you should get more serious, but it’s too easy to stay.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“When we sit down to eat at home, it’s really easy to add another task, such as watching TV or reading. We can be so busy that we don’t even bother to sit down or take our food out of its container.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“One of the great things about teaching is how difficult it is to multitask while doing it. Like reading, teaching requires your full focus — I consider that a feature, not a flaw. When things are hard to multitask, that means they require effort and attention, which is a good thing. We have to pay attention, bring our full focus to teaching, and then we can do it well.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“Without good sleep we’re not able to operate at our best, and yet, when it comes right down to it, we typically do a lot more to stay awake than we do to get the sleep we need.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“Sometimes we make bad decisions when we are in a rush or not paying attention. If we can monotask thinking and really pay attention, we can think things through and arrive at better decisions most of the time. Well-thought-out decisions tend to be healthier, more considerate of others, and generally better for everyone in the long run.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“Learning new skills is one way we can rewrite the story of our lives. Whether it is to pursue a different career, for our own intellectual curiosity, or to strengthen our ability to focus, monotasking learning can be very rewarding.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“The challenge of being a good listener is not a new problem, but technology makes it easier to cover it up. We can be on the phone or in a meeting, and keep up just enough, saying the right thing at the right time, while being engaged in something else on our devices.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“There are currently 3.5 billion smartphone users in the world. Pretty much every one of those phones does something for its owner that they used to do for themselves. Before all the apps, algorithms, and websites we have today, we used our brains to do things like remembering and recalling (phone numbers, calendar events, and other facts). We also figured out how to get places without GPS and we made more of our own decisions about what to buy instead of clicking on ads and making impulse purchases. While there certainly are benefits to having tech- nology take care of many of our needs, we should be aware of what we might be losing. What types of thinking are we no longer doing on our own? Are there unintended consequences to letting computers (and the corporations behind them) do so much of our thinking?”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better