What is defeat? Nothing but education; nothing but the first step to something better.
~ Wendell Phillips
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Private
But it’s consciousness in the experience sense – what philosophers refer to as phenomenal consciousness – that I’ll be focusing on in the remainder of this Guide. This kind of consciousness serves as a fundamental part of our existence, perhaps even the most fundamental part of our existence. But despite its fundamentality, and though we are intimately aware of our own conscious experience, the notion of consciousness is a perplexing one.
~ Amy Kind, from How to think about consciousness
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The current tools so breathlessly referred to as artificial intelligence, are still only tools. They have no agency, no goals, and critically they are not consciousness. Or, so we think. “Is conscious” is exceedingly important to determine, and it turns out it’s really hard to do the less like us (think: bats, dolphins, octopus, bacteria, …) some living thing is.
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The discard pile
I think part of being a designer is to fail every day, to try things that don’t work out. In a way, every project fails every day until it succeeds! That’s what the iterative process of design is about. The projects that don’t launch, this is sometimes due to the fact that they’re too early but that doesn’t mean they don’t come back a few years later as ideas integrated in different projects. Timing in many ways is key.
~ Yves Béhar, from Yves Béhar – The Talks
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I’m reminded of the idea of one’s discard pile. Béhar’s work can fail (the idea of success versus failure in trading with others is baked into the way we use the word “work”), so he’s aware of “failure” as a salient feature of his creative efforts. Here on the ‘ol blog, this isn’t about “work” so it’s not possible for it to “fail.” But I do often think about the discard pile: I don’t actually create blog posts and then discard them rather than post them. But I do often read and find things, imagine what I could post about them… and then I don’t post it.
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Momentum with Robin Waite
How can podcasters build meaningful relationships that expand their reach, create new opportunities, and grow their shows—without relying on promotion or algorithms?
A five-step method helps you land dream collaborations by being helpful, not pushy.
[One little shift?] That’s it. If I hadn’t have gone to that event, if I hadn’t have just dumped my coat and helped direct people, if I hadn’t offered to help for free, if I hadn’t got to know the team, if I hadn’t, if I’d asked for the wrong thing or too much or too, I don’t know if I’d got the ask wrong, any one of those things could have ended up being like a Sliding Doors [the 1998 film -ed] moment where I then I go from 3000 leads to just going about my life as a coach.
~ Robin Waite (15:00)
Robin Waite shares how he reinvented his business growth strategy by focusing on building partnerships rather than following conventional marketing playbooks. Feeling burnt out by social media and traditional outreach, he adopted an “outside-in” approach—intentionally targeting people he admired, getting in the same room with them, and offering help without expectation. His approach centers on showing up, adding value, and making intentional asks that are aligned with what others actually need.
He illustrates this with a detailed story of how he ended up as a guest on Ali Abdaal’s Deep Dive podcast, which generated over 3,000 leads and $300,000 in business. Key elements included making himself useful at events, building relationships with team members, and being ready with a modest but well-timed ask. Waite expands on this philosophy by identifying five steps: be intentional, get in the room, be helpful, find the inside person, and offer something on a silver platter. The conversation underscores the power of authentic connection, strategic generosity, and long-term thinking in business development.
Takeaways
Intentional targeting of collaborators — Write down a list of specific individuals or brands that feel like a natural fit for connection and mutual value.
Be physically present and engaged — Attend events in person, sit in the front row, and look for ways to directly interact with people you admire.
Generosity without expectation — Offer help freely without asking for anything in return, and allow opportunities to arise organically.
Use social cues to create asks — Make requests that are context-aware, modest, and well-timed based on what you’ve learned about the other person’s situation.
Relationship-building is long-term — Partnerships can take months or even years to develop, and consistent presence matters more than speed.
Imposter syndrome is common — Many successful people share similar doubts and insecurities, making them more approachable than they appear.
Ask through value — Frame your request as a contribution or offer rather than a favor, focusing on what the other person would gain.
The power of introductions — Introducing others who might benefit from knowing each other is a high-leverage, generous act that strengthens your own relationships.
Reciprocity as rocket fuel — Gifts, paid gestures, or generous actions can accelerate connection when done thoughtfully and in alignment with mutual respect.
Avoid transactional thinking — Relationships thrive on genuine interest and value-sharing, not on immediate or one-sided exchanges.
Resources
Take Your Shot – Free Book Offer — Robin Waite’s book, offered for free (worldwide shipping) to podcast listeners.
Fearless Business Podcast — Robin Waite’s own podcast, combining solo and guest episodes on business topics.
Robin Waite’s YouTube Channel — Features practical, high-level content on entrepreneurship and coaching.
Ali Abdaal’s Deep Dive Podcast — The podcast where Robin Waite was featured, which led to 3,000 inquiries and $300k in business.
Simon Alexander Ong — Coach and speaker cited as a role model for being intentional and abundant.
(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)
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Deep dive into agency
Over the last decade, I’ve watched AI challenge — and augment — humanity in astonishing ways. Every few years, a new innovation seems to raise the same questions: can we compute human intelligence? Can our labor be automated? Who owns these systems and their training data? How will this technology reshape society? Yet there is one question I rarely hear asked: how will AI change our understanding of ourselves?
~ K Allado-McDowell, from Am I Slop? Am I Agentic? Am I Earth?
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This article—from the ever-interesting halls of The Long Now Foundation—got me thinking about intelligence from a new direction: instead of a tool or collaborator for us, a new way to learn about ourselves.
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Fonts. 600 photos. omg
In 2007, on my first trip to New York City, I grabbed a brand-new DSLR camera and photographed all the fonts I was supposed to love. I admired American Typewriter in all of the I <3 NYC logos, watched Akzidenz Grotesk and Helvetica fighting over the subway signs, and even caught an occasional appearance of the flawlessly-named Gotham, still a year before it skyrocketed in popularity via Barack Obama’s first campaign.
But there was one font I didn’t even notice, even though it was everywhere around me.
Last year in New York, I walked over 100 miles and took thousands of photos of one and one font only.
~ Marcin Wichary, from The hardest working font in Manhattan
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What. WHAT? WAT?! Words fail me… there are 600 photos in this article. I couldn’t stop staring at the technology parts, and keyboards—so much of that reminds me of my youngling days. I leaned in for the photography, which is gorgeous macrophotography. And fell headlong into the nostalgia.
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What is the actual thing?
As someone who writes a lot about knowledge work in the digital age, I’m fascinated by this model of cooking, which I define as follows: a workflow designed to enable someone with a high-return skill to spend most of their time applying that skill, without distraction.
~ Cal Newport, from Let Brandon Cook
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For a decade I’ve been aware of this point. I’m, basically, a one-person creative process. If one leans into this way of thinking, then you immediately want to start figuring out how to not do all the other things. Which is fine if I were a one-person business process. But I am not. I’m not only a creator of valuable (in some sense other than money) work. I’m also the person who is nourished, enabling said creative work, by the random other parts. Whichever way you think of it though, Newport makes interesting points.
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Automatic, clickable time-references in our show notes?!
Well this is interesting! I’ve been adding time-references to quotes when I include them in show notes. I simply put the <minute>:<seconds> after the quote.
Today I realized that Overcast auto-magically makes those time codes clickable — touching the time code jumps play right to that point!
This is amazingly great for the listener.
For years there’s been discussion about chapters in podcast episodes. They are supported, yes. But there’s complicated to actually set up. The original way, is to embed the information within the mp3 audio file—that requires either special software which does just that, or your DAW has to support marking the chapters as you’re editing. Either way, a bit tedious.
But if this little feature of link-up-time-references in the notes works across more players… this is HUGE.
So: Take a look at your favorite player. Find an episode (any episode of Podtalk, for example) that has time-references in the show notes… and tell me if it works in your player.
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Two different purposes
There’s two different main purposes for routines, and advice-givers mix them up. They lump these two quite different things under “morning routine” and it causes trouble when you try to design your own.
~ Mckinley Valentine, from The Whippet #185: Shielded and flower-like
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Partly, I include this because The Whippet is a sometimes quirky, often insightful, but always interesting little missive that I enjoy following/reading.
But also, WAIT WAT! …how is it I’ve never heard this idea/distinction before? Scroll down about 2/3 in issue № 185 to find this neat stuff about habits.
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Exceptional dogs
Price’s research comes at a moment when a growing number of archaeological finds and genetic analyses of ancient animal remains are adding layers of nuance to the story of domestication and partnership. Canines and humans, through their dynamic interactions, have formed one of the most unique, complex, and mutually beneficial relationships in history.
~ Richard Kemeny, from The Macabre and Magical Human-Canine Story
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I knew dogs were special. But the more we look into history, the more it’s clear just how important they were in our early millennia.
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What if I just did the thing?
Another interpretation is that everyday life, for most people, is an untapped gold mine. Certain undone tasks represent huge gains, waiting just a short time away, behind one session of elbow grease. Even ten or fifteen minutes of directed effort, judiciously applied, can improve your life far more than the wages you earn for the same period.
~ David Cain, from Fix Three Broken Things
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It’s interesting to note that I only just read this, this evening… after fix a table on my patio today. Yesterday, I grouped together a pile of errands—four different stops with multiple “I need…” for different chores and repairs at each stop. The table is a hulking cedar and steel pipe beast. I need some wood putty, and spar varnish. Today, I got out the sander and mixing little work sessions, with other things, I worked through various sandpaper grits, wood putty iterations, and 3 coats of spar varnish. I did an “80%” jobs at every step of the way. By tomorrow it will be completely dry and ready for use again. I use it every day spring through fall, and this couple hours of work will now yield—probably—3 more seasons of unfussy use.
I also used the rest of the little can of varnish to slap a coat on the garden gate.
What’s next?
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It’s still sleep
For example, fasting stimulates the natural production of growth hormone. So does vigorous exercise, particularly resistance exercise with a strong anaerobic component (not cardio though). And, to the surprise of many people, deep sleep stimulates the natural production of growth hormone, perhaps more than anything else. (Although only once every 24 hours; sleeping all day does not seem to work.)
~ Ned Kock, from Health Correlator: Growth hormone: The fountain of youth
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Let me see… *checks answer key* Yes. Good sleep is still the best answer.
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Deconstructed with Tracy Hazzard
What foundation is needed to create a sustainable and successful podcast without becoming overwhelmed by the complexity of the process?
Small, continuous improvements differentiate successful podcasters from those who fade.
When the first computers showed up at the school, they didn’t even know how to teach it yet. So you get those tools and you start layering them into your process. Then you learn how to break it and make something your own. That’s where your art, your style, your uniqueness comes through. But if you didn’t have that foundation, you don’t really have a right to jump to those other things— It just doesn’t work out most often.
~ Tracy Hazzard (11:47)
Tracy Hazzard explores the importance of building strong foundational skills before layering on tactics in podcasting, using examples from art and design education. The conversation highlights the ongoing challenges of rebooting a podcast show, particularly the unexpected complexity of shifting to a deconstructed review format. Attention is given to how applying design thinking can help evaluate what parts of podcast production should be simplified or improved.
Other topics include the value of owning a website and email list to control audience relationships, with personal anecdotes about SEO dominance and long-term content value. The discussion also covers practical strategies for sustainable podcast production, including the benefits of small team workflows, using AI to streamline writing tasks, and the pitfalls of overcomplicating production processes.
Takeaways
Building a foundation before innovating — Learning and mastering the basics leads to better long-term podcasting results.
Owning your audience relationships — Maintaining a website and email list provides resilience against algorithmic shifts on platforms.
Complexity of show format changes — Shifting from interview-based episodes to detailed show deconstructions introduced unexpected preparation challenges.
Value of authentic podcasting — Creating authentic and improvised moments makes shows more memorable and unique.
Sustainable workflows for podcasters — Streamlining production using AI tools and focusing on tasks only the creator can do is critical for maintaining momentum.
Podcast websites and searchability — Properly built podcast websites can continue driving traffic and discoverability years after a show ends.
Long-term SEO value — Strategic website naming and content accumulation lead to sustained search engine ranking.
Challenges of coaching podcasters — Continuous improvement through small, layered learning sessions proves more effective than overwhelming new podcasters.
Pitfalls of early distractions — Podcasters today face a landscape where getting distracted by tools and tactics can quickly derail progress.
Alternative monetization pathways — Even niche podcasts can achieve strong monetization through SEO dominance and strategic audience engagement.
Resources
Podetize — A syndication platform providing podcast hosting, production, and coaching services.
Feed Your Brand — A podcast focused on strategies for building and growing brand visibility through podcasting.
The Binge Factor — A podcast dedicated to uncovering the factors that make podcasts binge-worthy.
Smartcuts by Shane Snow — A book mentioned as a favorite, discussing how lateral thinking and smart shortcuts lead to success.
SmartLess Podcast — A podcast noted for its effective use of improvisation and co-host dynamics.
3D Start Point — The website for the WTFFF?! 3D printing podcast, demonstrating long-term SEO success.
(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)
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No more later
But, when you work in six week cycles, or relatively short time frames, later means something else entirely. There’s no time for later. It’s now or not. Later doesn’t mean we’ll get to it at the end of this cycle. It means we’ll drop it. Later means another time, not this time. Later isn’t an obligation, it’s a maybe. Later isn’t a cage, it’s freedom. It’s not a debt to pay off, it’s an asset. There’s no pile of pile ups, there’s no guilt, there’s no feeling of late nights and crunch time ahead. Later simply means not now, not soon, and not for sure.
~ Jason Fried, from Avoiding pile-ups
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I read this and it really landed. Six weeks. Six weeks is an amount of time I can truly apprehend and plan for. Six weeks has become my new project size. If it cannot be done in six weeks, it needs to be broken down into multiple projects.
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It’s only a movie
The movie is also missing (though it very nearly captured) a fascinating archaeological sidenote to the story: the extraordinary investigations of Dutch archaeologist Hendrik Robert van Heekeren while he was a prisoner of war.
~ Cyler Conrad, from An Archaeologist on the Railroad of Death
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Sure, it’s a film from the 50s, so it’s going to gloss over some things. But it’s interesting to learn about what really went on in that theater [of war.]
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Simplicity, patience, compassion
As I continue to think about coaching movement, I was recently reminded of this quote, added to my collection long ago:
I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.
~ Lao Tzu
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Those three words struck me as guides— both in the sense of what I want to convey, and how I want to coach.
For myself:
- Is this simple?
- Am I being patient?
- Am I being compassionate?
But also in terms of shaping others’ thinking:
- What’s the simplest thing which could possibly work?
- Are your expectations realistic?
- Are you being compassionate to yourself?
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Eventually, it’s all just ‘yes’
Our self-awareness as actors is pretty missing in that way! There are plenty of times where I thought, “That was something…” And then nobody thought that was anything. (Laughs) And then there’s other times where I said, “Oh, I don’t know about that.” And everybody loves it! So it’s not that easy.
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Recently I’ve noticed I have a list of actors and when I see they are in a project… yes.
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That’s clarity
I decided to retire in 2021 because, after such a long career, I had done enough, and it was time for something different. My art was much more interesting and challenging to me (and still is).
~ Andrew Wulf, from What I Miss And Don’t From Working As A Programmer
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Interestingly, when people ask me “what do you do?” I used to say, with snark, “As little as possible.” These days? Still that, but now without the snark.
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Joy or sorrow
In the Greek story of Sisyphus, the king was condemned for eternity to move a massive rock up a hill but never reach the summit. Albert Camus famously saw it as a parable of the human condition: Life is meaningless, and consciousness of this meaninglessness is torture. This is how I’d remembered Camus’ essay The Myth of Sisyphus, which describes an afterlife as devastating as that of Prometheus having his liver pecked out by an eagle anew every day. But when I reread it recently, I was reminded that for Camus, the king isn’t entirely tragic; he has some power over his existential predicament. Once he grasps his fate—“the wild and limited universe of man”—Sisyphus discovers a certain freedom; he gets to determine whether to face the futility of it all with joy or sorrow.
~ Gal Beckerman, from A Case for Sisyphus and Hopeful Pessimism
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It’s our choice.
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A lead lining?
Ironically, it is actually far easier for us archaeologists to investigate the monument now than it was before the fire. Although the fire released a lot of lead, making it necessary for researchers to don protective clothing and abide by procedures to avoid lead toxicity, we no longer face the obstacles presented by floods of tourists on the site, and materials damaged by the fire are now more available for analysis. Together, we have learned a lot about the building, its materials, and the possibilities for reconstruction.
~ Maxime L’Héritier, from Archaeology in the Ashes of Notre Dame
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But, metaphorically, a silver lining. Clearly some good is coming out of the fire at Notre Dame. What an amazing layering of history there.
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