Dive 96: What Speaks to Your Soul?

Choose wisely.

Hey, it’s Alvin!

Do you have a dream?

Maybe to start a business or a family?

Perhaps write a book? Or just a newsletter?

Is there anything at all you wish you could do, but haven’t?

Maybe you started but stalled. Maybe what you need is inspiration.

As someone who was inspired to create this newsletter long ago, I’m going to help you find inspiration. Not just any inspiration, but inspiration that speaks to your soul. What does that mean? And why is that important? Because there are different types of inspiration.

To show you what I mean, here’s a message from Naval Ravikant. He’s an entrepreneur well known for the sage advice he gives on X/Twitter:

Naval is saying that inspiration doesn’t last long. It fades quickly. So, if you’re inspired to do something, do it right away. If you don’t, then you’ll miss your opportunity. You wouldn’t want to regret missing out, would you?

But I’m not a fan of this advice because it encourages reckless actions that can harm you. Or, at least, waste your time.

Avoiding Recklessness

We see the former all the time on social media platforms (like X). One person (let’s call him “Bob”) says something another person (let’s call him “Dave”) doesn’t like. So, Dave lashes out at Bob. Bob’s message inspired Dave’s backlash. True to Naval’s advice, Dave acted on it “immediately.”

A quick Google search shows that most people agree: write an angry email, but don’t send it for at least 24 hours. Give yourself a chance to cool off. Because we’ve all found ourselves in heated situations where we wanted to lash out. But when we reflect on the situation after cooling down, we realize it’s not worth it. Not just to avoid souring a relationship. But to avoid causing unnecessary harm to anyone. Including ourselves. It’s the mature action.

Avoiding Shiny Objects

There are other practical reasons we don’t want to act immediately on inspiration all the time. As a software developer, I’m inundated with new tech all the time. That’s why in the tech world, we have a term called “shiny object syndrome,” or “SOS.”

Wikipedia describes it best as “the situation where people focus undue attention on an idea that is new and trendy, yet drop it in its entirety as soon as something new can take its place.”

SOS happens because people act on their inspirations immediately all the time. I remember when Twitter was flooded with people who were obsessed with no-code tools. Then, Web 3 became trendy. And everybody hopped into that craze. When cryptocurrencies became popular, many got scammed. Now, there’s AI…

The problem with hopping from one shiny object to another is lack of commitment. Without ever committing to one dream, you’ll never actualize any. Because actualizing dreams takes focused effort. 

I recognize there’s nuance here. It’s possible to over-commit to a dream that can never be actualized. But if you’re too distracted by trends, you’ll never commit enough to any one dream to achieve any.

What’s the Alternative?

Let’s revisit Naval’s advice for moment:

Inspiration is perishable - act on it immediately.

That makes sense on the surface. But long-time readers know I don’t always take advice at face value. In Dive 88, I explained we can understand an idea better by flipping an underlying assumption.

Naval’s message is framed with the assumption that “inspiration is perishable.” Is that always true? I’m not so sure. We’ll see why in a bit.

I don’t think Naval’s wrong. There are inspirations that perish or expire fast. Those are what I call perishable inspirations. But I’d say he overlooked another type of inspiration.

Let’s flip this frame.

Because I want to focus on Timeless Inspirations.

These are inspirations that Speak to Your Soul.

These are inspirations that can last a lifetime. Maybe more.

I know some people might say that something that inspires you for life might still have an expiry date. But that’s a distinction without a difference. Because you can only act on an inspiration within your lifetime. So, anything that inspires you for life is effectively timeless (or, “non-perishable”) from your point of view.

The countless stories I shared with you and fellow readers in this newsletter are perfect examples of timeless inspirations.

I felt inspired to write about Twitter interactions I had six years ago.

I wrote about my university years.

I even wrote about childhood experiences.

We all have stories from our own lives that resonate with us so much they’ll never truly fade.

They don’t even have to be personal experiences. There were books I read and TV shows I watched as a kid that continue to inspire me to this day. Avatar: The Last Airbender was a cartoon that continues to inspire me. As does Fairy Tail.

I know lots of people will roll their eyes at that. Especially those who love classic literature. But it just speaks to me in ways I can’t adequately explain in words. The soul wants what the soul wants. This is timeless inspiration.

I’m sure you have something or someone in your life you might feel the same way about. Inspiration that never fades. It could be anything. For some people, it’s music. For others, it’s religion. In fact, Christianity has inspired millions of people around the world for millennia. It’s inspiration that transcends lifetimes.

Why is all this important?

Because we don’t need to chase a million perishable inspirations. We only need the few (or even just the ONE) that matter most to us to live a meaningful life. Because the inspirations that matter most to us are timeless. They speak to our souls. We don’t have to worry about them fading away because they won’t. They simultaneously fix the SOS problem. Because nothing else is worth chasing.

I gave a more practical guide on finding these timeless inspirations in Dive 41: Are you spending time wisely?

My philosophy is: if an “inspiration” fades or perishes fast, then it’s not worth acting upon. It’s funny because someone replied to Naval’s tweet with:

Forget? Why would you forget a dream that resonates with you? If a dream is so forgettable that it needs to be written down, then it’s not worth chasing. And that’s ok. Because you will find dreams worth actualizing. It’s a point I explored in Dive 68: What are your REAL dreams?

“You don’t want anything overnight. Anything built overnight also dies overnight. You want something that’s built slowly.”

- Rabbi Simon Jacobson at Meaningful Life Center on How to find YOUR calling in life

A timeless inspiration resonates with you so deeply, it speaks to your soul.

It’s unforgettable.

Once you have it, you won’t need any other inspirations. That doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t entertain other inspirations. You just don’t need them.

So. What speaks to YOUR soul?

Reply to belowthesurfacetop@gmail.com or click “Message Alvin” below if you have questions or comments. I’d love the hear from you.

Thank you for reading. Focus on timeless inspirations. And I’ll see you in the next one.