Hello lads, I'm checking in from a glorious autumn forest here in good old Sweden.
Today I want to talk a bit about parenting, monarchy and low time preference versus a high time preference.
So basically what it means is if you have a high time preference, it means that you are very keen on immediately satisfying your cravings.
If you have a low time preference, which is the hallmark of a good and glorious man, it means that you can postpone your cravings.
You don't need to satisfy them immediately.
You can postpone them to get an even bigger, to get an even bigger reward later on.
And of course everything in life gets easier if you have a low time preference.
You can talk about resisting temptations such as porn, bad food, drugs, being lazy and not going to the gym.
So to give an example, you might struggle with porn and you say, I have a craving now, I want to satisfy it now.
But if you have a low time preference, you will say to yourself, you know what, in the long run, it will be better if I push this craving aside.
Because then you will be rid of porn and you will feel much better overall.
So it's a sacrifice you make in the beginning for the benefit of your long-term health.
Same thing if we're talking about diet.
You might have some nice pastries.
Now of course you can eat pastries every once in a while but not on a regular basis.
So if you eat pastries instead of a good solid nutritious meal, it will feel good for you for about 10 minutes.
But afterwards, yeah, you will feel your energy levels drop.
You will not feel as good as if you have eaten some garlic butter with milk or something like that.
So it's about pushing aside the instant gratification and embracing what will give you better result, better results in the long term.
Same thing if we're talking about training.
You know I train a lot.
Many times I don't feel like it at all.
At all.
But I do it because I know in the long run it will be better for me and for everyone I care about.
Including you, my dear subscribers and some of you even disciples if I may be so bold.
So I do it even though I don't particularly feel like it.
So next time you think maybe I should just relax in the sofa today instead of going to training think what will be the best for me and those I care about in two months.
Which decision is the best?
Yeah probably to train.
Then of course every once in a while you can have a rest day but the key in having a low time preference Look two months ahead, five months ahead, see what is the best course of action to reach my goals then.
So you don't always need to immediately satisfy your cravings.
Now, what does this have to do with parenting and monarchy, you ask?
Yes, because you can apply it in the exact same way.
If you're a good parent, my wife and I, we do try our best to be good parents, of course.
That means that we don't want to subject our daughter and coming children to certain things, such as sugar.
Because we know that in 15 years' time, or 10 years' time, or 20 years' time, it won't be good if they have eaten a lot of bad foods in their youth.
When they're growing up, they will be better off by having eaten good, solid, traditional foods.
However, if you have someone who isn't interested in the long-term health and development of a child, they will of course give sugar because then the child will think, Oh, this is such a nice individual who gives me this high-reward food that gives me a nice kick in the brain.
So, what you shouldn't do is you shouldn't subject your children to that sort of thing.
And if you have someone, it might be well-meaning, but it's not well-meaning if you think about it because it's only a temporary kick that will make the child perhaps like that individual.
But in the long term, if you tell them later on, yeah, you know, we tried to shield you from bad things so that you will feel better and be healthier now.
Yeah, they will understand later on.
But when they are children, they don't understand the long-term consequence, the long-term consequences of having satisfied instant gratifications, such as eating a lot of sweets.
So, anyway, point being: if you're a parent, think about the long term for your child.
Same thing when it comes to making doing homework or whatever.
You say to your children, you know, in the long term, it will be good if you learn these sort of things.
In the short term, of course, it's nicer for them to not do any homework.
Anyway, it's all quite obvious, I suppose, but I just want to mention that anyway.
So, on to the case for monarchy, exactly the same thing there.
If you have a politician whose only aim is to be re-elected in the next election or to be elected in the first place, he says, you know what, I'm gonna give so much money to everyone, you don't need to work, you don't need to do a thing, you will get all of these liberties, you will get all of this free stuff, and then yeah, he will have a lot of votes because people don't think ahead, they think about the next gratification.
Oh, I will get some money, how nice he will get, he will get some votes, how nice.
Now, contrast this to a monarch, a king or a queen who looks ahead, who knows he will sit on the throne for 40 more years, and then his son will take the crown after him.
So, then he needs to plan for the future.
Then, he can't give everything to everyone, he can't promise everything to everyone because that's not a recipe for long-term success.
So, he needs to plan ahead.
It's a fun example from the Swedish crown in the 1830s.
They planted a lot of oak trees in Wilsing Sa in Vetten, it's a lake, and by the time the oaks were fully grown, you no longer built ships in oak.
So, they planted it to supply the Swedish Navy.
But at the time it was done, they no longer needed it.
But it's a good example on how kings at least used to think a bit more ahead.
We will do what's good for our country in 50 years, perhaps long after I'm dead.
Now, on the other hand, you have guys and girls only thinking four years ahead.
It's not good.
So, in my humble opinion, should have the leadership of a country, should be responsible for the long-term health of a nation, just as a parent is responsible for the long-term health of a child.
So, it's not only about the instant gratification.
Oh, in the next election, we will give everything to everyone.
Or to a child, we will give you candy every day for a week.
Neither the child or the country will feel particularly well after such a high-time preference treatment.
So, anyway, that was just some thoughts I thought to check in with from this lovely forest.
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