Scree

noun : an accumulation of loose stones or rocky debris lying on a slope or at the base of a hill or cliff.

Expectations with Jam Mayer

July 16, 2022 · All posts on Jul 16

How do different communication mediums influence engagement and interaction in personal and professional settings?

Exploring the interplay between technology, generational habits, and learning styles shapes the dynamics of modern communication.

There is a little bit of a disconnect because there’s that expectation from a generation that says you have to show yourself on video, but the digital natives… don’t care.

~ Jam Mayer (4:33)

The conversation explores the nuanced ways communication mediums affect engagement. It contrasts the experience of in-person training with digital formats, highlighting the energy and connection possible in face-to-face settings versus the challenges posed by video calls. Generational differences in behavior and expectations are examined, with older generations often emphasizing visible engagement and digital natives demonstrating a more relaxed approach.

The discussion goes into the dynamics of online communities, particularly challenges in making platforms user-friendly for diverse engagement styles. Jam and Craig address the difficulty of translating podcast audiences into other forms of interaction and consider strategies for creators to adapt content for various mediums, ensuring accessibility for their audience’s preferences.

Takeaways

Choosing communication mediums — dependent on personal learning styles and context.

Generational differences — younger audiences are more comfortable with digital flexibility.

Energy in interactions — stronger in-person connections compared to digital ones.

Podcast audience behavior — challenges in transitioning listeners to other platforms.

Community space design — balancing simplicity with features for proactive users.

Adaptability for creators — experimenting with multiple formats increases engagement potential.

Resources

Jam Mayer on LinkedIn — Jam Mayer’s preferred platform for professional connections.

Discourse — a community platform with customizable homepage settings.

Reddit — mentioned as a highly active online forum illustrating user engagement challenges.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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Christian Anderson: Exploration, Influences, and Creating

July 16, 2022 · All posts on Jul 16

Christian Anderson: Exploration, influences, and creating

How do personal exploration, creativity, and cultural influences shape movement practices and artistic endeavors?

Christian Anderson is a parkour coach, athlete, teacher, martial artist, and movement artist. He created his own parkour teaching program, pursues weapons training, and is an artist in other mediums, including drawing, music, videos, and blade-smithing. Christian earned his bachelors in Landscape architecture at North Carolina A&T University.

You don’t have to tell a kid to play, to jump to climb. There’s a lot of innate understanding of movement that I think children have, to be completely honest.

~ Christian Anderson (28:59)

Christian Anderson’s unique interests are wide-ranging; from martial arts and weapons training, to parkour, to art, to creating his own weapons and training set-ups. Christian shares his inspirations and process for learning and creating. He discusses teaching, landscape architecture, and his specific influences and role models. Christian unpacks his personal martial arts, weapons, and movement practices, and how all of them are creatively interconnected.

The conversation explores how personal creativity, cultural influences, and movement intersect in both art and physical practices. Topics range from martial arts and weapon-making to how imagination facilitates movement, particularly in children. The discussion highlights the importance of personal space creation, whether for training or as a sanctuary, and how integrating these elements into daily life fosters growth.

There is a deep appreciation for cultural artifacts, such as samurai films and ninjutsu, which serve as both inspiration and a means to connect with broader traditions. Additionally, the dialogue touches on the challenges of prioritizing projects, maintaining focus, and overcoming impostor syndrome, illustrating the complexity of creative expression and personal exploration.

Takeaways

Creating personal spaces — Spaces designed for training or reflection enhance creativity and personal growth.

Martial arts inspiration — Movement practices often draw from cultural traditions and historical arts.

Childhood creativity — Imagination and play significantly aid learning and physical development.

Overcoming impostor syndrome — Acknowledging and embracing imperfections is key to creative growth.

Interdisciplinary practices — Combining artistic and physical endeavors fosters innovation.

Environmental influence — Nature and green spaces serve as restorative environments for recharging.

Visual motivation — Visual aids and imagery act as powerful tools for focus and inspiration.

Cultural connections — Martial arts offer a window into understanding and appreciating different cultures.

Resources

Instagrams: @adept.anderson, @adeptations

Magnificent Seven scene recreation

The Magnificent Seven (2016) — Film discussed for its choreography and cultural references.

Mirakawa dummy video — Creating videos of his work

Japanese Throwing Weapons by Daniel Fletcher — A guide to traditional shuriken and their use.

Akira Kurosawa – Japanese filmmaker

Rashomon – story told from multiple viewpoints. Also, Seven Samurai, Hidden Fortress, Harakiri, 13 Assassins, Samurai Rebellion, Yojimbo

Freeway Park in Seattle — Lawrence Halprin

Guerrilla Gardening TEDxTalk

Japanese Throwing Weapons

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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One reason why I journal

July 16, 2022 · All posts on Jul 16

When we conjure up what it will be like to start a new practice, form a new habit, knock an item off a bucket list, we see the fun but not the work. We see an image in which all the drudgery has been edited out, and only the montage of rewards left in.

~ Brett McKay from, «https://www.artofmanliness.com/character/advice/sunday-firesides-do-you-like-the-idea-more-than-the-reality/»

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Great points from McKay. I often enjoy inverting problems like the one he’s describing. Let’s say I thought a lot about the idea and the reality and decided far in the past to start something—for example, a daily podcast of me reading quotes. Then the inversion of the problem McKay is writing about would be to figure out, in the present, if my current experience of the reality matches what I expected the reality to be, back when I made the decision. Because, if I don’t do that, how do I get better at making the idea/reality choice McKay is discussing?

This is one reason I journal. For every project (and much more) in the last decade I’ve journaled about it. An idea begins to appear repeatedly in my journal entries. Sometimes it grows into my laying out the expected reality—the work this is going to require, the physical and emotional costs, the expected outcome(s), the rewards, etc.. Then I regularly reread my old journal entries and see how much of an idiot I was. ;)

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Emergence with Corey Schlosser-Hall

July 15, 2022 · All posts on Jul 15

How does podcasting facilitate personal growth and the exchange of insights?

Podcasting invites both hosts and listeners into transformative spaces of thought.

Doing this work can be playful… and giving others the opportunity to listen in when insight happens is a pretty cool thing.

~ Corey Schlosser-Hall (19:11)

The conversation explores the multifaceted nature of podcasting, particularly its potential to create and share insights. Corey reflects on his podcast “On the Verge,” which captures moments of inspiration before they manifest into tangible outcomes. Craig and Corey discuss how meaningful exchanges in conversational formats provide fertile ground for reflection and personal growth.

They also examine the concept of “emergence” in communication, debating whether conversations simply elicit pre-existing knowledge or foster the creation of new ideas. They agree that podcasting serves as a unique medium for these emergent moments, with its challenges and rewards—including the variety of approaches it enables, from intimate dialogues to larger production endeavors.

Takeaways

Capturing inspiration — Moments before ideas become tangible can be deeply insightful.

Insight through dialogue — Conversational podcasts enable reflective and emergent thinking.

Creative challenges — Balancing pre-recording, live recording, and post-production has unique rewards and difficulties.

Emergence in communication — Interactions can construct new meaning rather than just reveal existing thoughts.

Playfulness in podcasting — Creating and sharing content can feel enjoyable and spontaneous.

Adaptability — Different podcast formats and experiences provide ongoing opportunities for growth.

Ownership transitions — Navigating podcast ownership when shifting organizations poses challenges.

Resources

On the Verge podcast — Focuses on capturing moments of invisible inspiration before they become visible.

Calendly — Scheduling tool used for organizing podcast interviews.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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It’s subtle but critically important

July 15, 2022 · All posts on Jul 15

It’s broadly agreed these days that consciousness poses a very serious challenge for contemporary science. What I’m trying to work out at the moment is why science has such difficulty with consciousness. We can trace this problem back to its root, at the start of the scientific revolution.

~ Philip Goff from, A Post-Galilean Paradigm | Edge.org

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I once had a mathematics professor make a comment that it’s fascinating that mathematics is able to explain reality. I double-clutched at the time. And every single time I think about the point he was making, I still pause and my mind reels. If one is looking at—for example—classical mechanics, and one studies the ballistic equations, one can go along nicely using forces and trigonometry, and understand golf balls and baseballs in flight. Soon you realize your mathematics is only an approximation. So you dive into fluid mechanics, which requires serious calculus, and you then understand why golf balls have dimples and why the stitching on baseballs is strictly specified in the rules. All along the way, mathematics models reality perfectly!

But why? So you keep peeling. The math and physics gets more and more complicated—stochastic processes, randomness, quantum mechanics, wave-particle theory, etc.—as each layer answers another “why”… but it’s … is “cyclical” the right word? No matter how far you go, you can always ask “why” again, for the most complex and most accurate system you model and explain.

Down there at the bottom, that’s where Galileo declared there was a distinction between physical reality, and consciousness and the soul. We’ve had hundreds of years of progress via science on what Galileo divided off as “physical reality.” (And that progress is a Very Good Thing.) But as this article explores, is there actually a distinction? What if making that distinction is a mistake?

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Fellowship with Howard M

July 14, 2022 · All posts on Jul 14

How does the podcast “Seasons of Sobriety” explore the journey and challenges of long-term sobriety?

The process of creating a podcast about sobriety becomes a lesson in embracing imperfection.

If you try to have the perfect podcast you go perfectly insane.

~ Howard M (11:43)

The conversation explores the creation and purpose of the podcast Seasons of Sobriety, which focuses on the experiences of individuals with long-term sobriety. Howard discusses the challenges of finding guests with extensive recovery time and the deeper layers of personal growth required beyond abstaining from alcohol. He emphasizes the importance of sharing stories that can inspire others to believe recovery is possible.

The discussion also touches on podcast production, including the difficulties of editing, embracing imperfection, and maintaining creative integrity without monetization. Themes of connection and fellowship arise as critical elements, not just in recovery but also in the podcasting journey. Howard views his work as a contribution to the recovery community, aiming to foster hope and connection.

Takeaways

Creating a podcast — embracing imperfection and focusing on the message rather than technical perfection.

Long-term sobriety — exploring the deeper challenges beyond simply not drinking.

Fellowship and connection — highlighting their importance in recovery and creative work.

Curating podcast guests — focusing on individuals with decades of sobriety to provide unique insights.

Personal growth — the continuing journey and layers of change required in recovery.

Non-commercial podcasting — viewing the podcast as a charitable contribution rather than a business.

Resources

Seasons of Sobriety podcast — A podcast focusing on long-term sobriety stories.

Seth Godin’s Akimbo and workshops — Courses and content inspiring podcast creation.

Simplecast — Podcast hosting platform used by Howard.

Penn & Teller’s performances — Referenced for insights into embracing imperfection.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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Humanism

July 14, 2022 · All posts on Jul 14

But if progress is real and important—how do we judge this? How do we justify that improvements to material living standards are good? That technological and industrial progress represents true progress for humanity?

~ Jason Crawford from, Progress, humanism, agency

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In a few dozen words, this article goes from zero to gloves-off, let’s take about the nature of what is good. Yes, please. Lets discuss this more often. I find, without exception, it’s completely pointless to discuss anything—the climate, energy sources, guns, health, rights… choose your favorite third-rail topic—if myself and the other(s) don’t share the same values.

And I mean the big values of philosophy. When I start thinking about what does human autonomy mean? …what rights and/or responsibilities does consciousness confer? …what is truth? Big yawning questions! …when we don’t agree on that stuff, then no wonder we’re at odds on the other things.

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Muffled

July 13, 2022 · All posts on Jul 13

Nothing you create is ultimately your own, yet all of it is you. Your imagination, it seems to me, is mostly an accidental dance between collected memory and influence, and is not intrinsic to you, rather it is a construction that awaits spiritual ignition.

~ Nick Cave from, Nick Cave on Creativity, the Myth of Originality, and How to Find Your Voice – The Marginalian

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This is a thought which seriously concerns me; What exactly, if anything, am I accomplishing in the totality of my life? In a very micro sense, I’m simply holding back entropy ever so slightly in one minuscule niche of the universe. I like to imagine this is like pushing the cuticles of my finger nails back: Comforting and aesthetically pleasing, but ultimately pointless because my nails continuously grow until they don’t at which point I won’t care any more. I’m not being morbid or pessimistic here. There’s nothing wrong with that micro-scale getting things done. I take comfort in the fact that pushing entropy back a bit is—quiet literally—all that anyone can do.

It’s when I shift to a much larger scale that things look quite rosy. I sleep well at night, (both literally and figuratively,) because I like who I am becoming, and I plan to keep at it. Along the way, a quite large number of people have said the equivalent of “what you did there made my life a little better.” What more could one attempt?

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Geometry of thought

July 12, 2022 · All posts on Jul 12

It’s really structure that I keep circling back to (note that word: circle). How do we structure our moving, changing thoughts and how do we structure the world we design and move and act in?

~ Barbara Tversky from, The Geometry of Thought | Edge.org

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This article is a delightful deep dive into how movement and thought are interrelated. This is a topic near and dear to my heart. I once had the sublime experience of having a podcast guest say that he used to think to figure out how to move, but now he moves in order to think.

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Grit

July 11, 2022 · All posts on Jul 11

(Part 72 of 72 in series, My Journey)

Don’t let ease tempt you. Don’t fall for its false promises. What you gain in ease, you lose in meaning. What you gain in ease, you lose in excellence.

~ Hugh MacLeod from, «https://www.gapingvoid.com/blog/2022/07/08/follow-the-yellowbri-road-to-greatness/»

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This topic came up today in an outdoor Parkour class. Being outside, training, sweating, and overcoming challenges with friends old and new is always a treat. (“If this isn’t nice…“)

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Pathways

July 10, 2022 · All posts on Jul 10

It’s the relative appeal of the two paths that determines which one you take. You can equalize these by improving the intended path (making public transit better), obstructing the desire path (making driving worse), or a combination.

~ “Dynomight” from, Things you’re doing but don’t want to be doing

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This article starts with a simple concept and then iteratively goes far into the weeds to see where else it can be applied. I love minds which explore that way. I have so many habits, idiosyncrasies, and ancient brain quirks that it’s a miracle I ever get anything done. Everything figuratively within my reach is wearing down and coming undone, (entropy wins in the end.) I’ll take any opportunity—as this article suggests—to tip things towards my desired path.

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The second payment

July 9, 2022 · All posts on Jul 9

But then, in order to make use of the thing, you must also pay a second price. This is the effort and initiative required to gain its benefits, and it can be much higher than the first price.

~ David Cain from, Everything Must Be Paid for Twice

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This is such a clear and important point! I’ve never seen it put in just this way, but it will be forever how I talk about the true costs of things, experiences and opportunities. There’s what feels like a variation of Occam’s Razor here too: Even if you understand the second price, don’t buy things, (through payment of money, time, or allocation of storage space,) unless you are also ready and able to make the second payments. If not, leave those opportunities for someone else.

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whup

July 8, 2022 · All posts on Jul 8

For millennia, we have considered language — the magic-box of words — the hallmark of our species. Only in the last blink of evolutionary time have we begun to override our self-referential nature and consider the possibility that other types of channels might carry the magical energy of creatures telling each other what it is like to be alive, in the here and now of a shared reality.

~ Maria Popova from, Sonic Hieroglyphics and Acoustic X-Ray Vision: The Fascinating Science of How Dolphins and Whales Communicate – The Marginalian

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It never ceases to amaze me how my brain—I’d write “our brains” but I can only hope yours works at least slightly like mine does—finds salience in the chaos of everyday life. I found Popova’s short piece a couple of weeks ago, and more recently saw a special about humpback whales; the whales that save humanity in a Star Trek movie, if you recall.

In the documentary, one scientist is trying to understand exactly how Humpbacks use sound as language. She’s literally hoping her research enables the beginning of a conversation, (between humans and whales.) And she found this sound, she calls a “whup.” It seems that each humpback’s “whup” is unique the way our voices are said to be unique. So she composed a “whup”… and supposed it was how they say, “hey what’s up”. Seriously, it even sounds like a mumbled, “wassup.” Her question was, if whales say “whup” to announce themselves, what happens if I say “whup”?

Turns out, they say “whup” in response.

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What is intelligence

July 7, 2022 · All posts on Jul 7

What do we mean when we say the word “intelligence”? The immune system is the fascinating, distributed, mobile, circulating system that learns and teaches at the level of the cell. It has memory, some of which lasts our entire life, some of which has to be refreshed every twenty years, every twelve years, a booster shot every six years. This is a very fascinating component of our body’s intelligence that, as far as we know, is not conscious, but even that has to be questioned and studied.

~ Caroline Jones from, Questioning the Cranial Paradigm | Edge.org

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I often think of my conscious self as the only part of me that really matters. But when I read articles like this one I’m reminded of the rider-and-elephant metaphor. A case can even be made that our entire body, consciousness, and societies at large are just very clever ways for all the non-human things that live in our guts to get moved around… a sort of human-body-as-spaceship, for microbes.

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Friction and process

July 6, 2022 · All posts on Jul 6

Picasso observed that, “inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” Inspiration has to find you in the midst of your practice.

Let’s say that I enjoy painting. When I find myself painting, I usually find myself happy. I love the feeling of setting down my brush after having worked out some little problem in a painting. And so, I decide I’m going to paint regularly.

Or let’s say I enjoy sailing. I love the adventure, or the wind in my face. And so, I decide I’m going to sail regularly.

Or, running, writing, movement, music … your choice.

But without concrete plans, and clear processes, I will never actually do the practice. Friction, followed closely by excuses, will sap my momentum. If I’m to be a runner, my shoes, clothes, music or whatever I need— Those things must be in place. For any practice there are some things which you will feel must be in place.

The processes that I’m imagining, which remove friction and enable my practice, have a steady state. For my process, what does “done” look like? It looks like me sailing so often I can’t even remember not sailing all the time. Or it looks like me running and jumping and playing so often that my body is a comfortable place for my mind.

Matthew Frederick, the author of 101 Things I learned in Architecture School, makes this point:

True style does not come from a conscious effort to create a particular look. It results obliquely—even accidentally—out of a holistic process.

This point about a holistic process—the idea that mastery isn’t some higgledy-piggledy mish-mash of throwing things together—is an idea I’ve held dearly for a long time. Every single time that I’ve decided to take a process, and repeat it in search of understanding, the learning and personal growth has paid off beyond my wildest dreams.

I’m a process process process person. The second time I have to do something, I’m trying to figure out how to either never have to do that again, or how to automate it. (And failing those two, it goes into my admin day.) Random activity, powered by inspiration works to get one thing done. But inspiration doesn’t work in the long run, and it won’t carry me through my practice.

Instead, I want to know what can I intentionally do to set up my life, so that I later find myself simply being the sort of person who does my chosen practice? I want to eliminate every possible bit of friction that may sap my momentum.

There’s a phrase in cooking, mise en place, meaning to have everything in its proper place before starting. The classic example of failure in this regard is to be half-way through making something only to realize you’re missing an ingredient and having to throw away the food. Merlin Mann, who’s little known beyond knowledge workers, has done the most to improve processes for knowledge workers and creative people. I’m not sure if he’s ever said it explicitly, but a huge part of what he did was to elevate knowledge workers and creatives by cultivating a mise en place mindset.

And don’t confuse “process” or a “mise en place” mindset with goals. Forget goals. Focus on the process, and focus on eliminating friction.

To quote Seth Godin:

The specific outcome is not the primary driver of our practice. […] We can begin with this: If we failed, would it be worth the journey? Do you trust yourself enough to commit to engaging with a project regardless of the chances of success? The first step is to separate the process from the outcome. Not because we don’t care about the outcome. But because we do.

And I’ll give my last words to Vincent Thibault, author of one of my favorite books:

That is how we are still conditioned socially as adults: Do, achieve, produce results, instead of be, feel, enjoy the process. Quantitative over qualitative. We are obsessed by performance and “tangible” results. But that is one of the great teaching of Parkour and Art du Déplacement: That the path is just as enjoyable as the destination; That sometimes it is even more important, and that oftentimes it is the destination.

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Not just organizations

July 5, 2022 · All posts on Jul 5

When this happens, I’ve found a useful model for understanding what’s going on. I like to ask: is the organization stuck on vision, strategy, or tactics?

~ Jacob Kaplan-Moss from, Are You Stuck On Vision, Strategy, or Tactics? – Jacob Kaplan-Moss

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Just a few years ago, I was lacking vision. At the time, I didn’t understand that was the problem. I had a feeling of diffuse frustration arising from not knowing how to decide what to work on. I’ve always had so many ideas, combined with so many opportunities. I had figured out that I needed to learn to say ‘no, thank you’ to basically everything in order to create the ability to focus on a small number of things; That’s the only way to be effective. I could not figure out how to decide on which things to focus and that led to a downward spiral. It’s taken me years just to convert to an upward spiral, and my recovery continues.

What I’m wondering today, as I write, is whether knowing what I know now about vision, would be useful to my long-ago self. Learning about, and clarifying, vision helped greatly a few years ago. But would it have been useful farther back. Would it have been useful when I was 30? …20? …16?

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Guilt and efficacy

July 4, 2022 · All posts on Jul 4

Accepting that “accidents happen” requires an acceptance of limitations to the control we have over our own lives. The philosopher Bernard Williams describes the hazy area between intention and outcome, where factors outside of one’s control can influence the course of events and our reactions to them: “anything that is the product of the will is surrounded and held up and partly formed by things that are not.” This thought may be unsettling, but constitutes the first step in letting go of guilt and moving forward along the path of healing, both for those who have caused unintentional harm and for any who are struggling with trauma.

~ Peter Attia, from How do you move forward after making a fatal mistake?

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I am lucky in that I do not have any self-assigned guilt of the magnitude Attia is describing in this article. (I was pleasantly surprised by this article, it being different than his usual hard medical science.) But I do have a life-crushing pile of self-assigned, paper-cut-sized guilt for countless things I see in hindsight that I could have done better: Why didn’t I learn some particular lesson sooner? How did I not see that situation as it was developing? What if I had let go of that thing sooner? Perhaps you have occasion to ask similar questions.

I’ve verified that there’s nothing I can do to change the past. (Perhaps you’ve also.) But I have learned to tack faster: I flippantly made a silly tall joke—”how’s the weather up there?”—to a very tall friend as we passed at a busy event. As the day, and the next day, wore on I realized I was repeatedly thinking that had been inappropriate. The next time I saw him, I told him so, “dude, my joke was inappropriate and I apologize.” Radical honesty, as it’s sometimes called.

And for the things which end up one way, for reasons beyond my control, I deploy one, two, or all three of: 50,000 years from now, what difference will it make? Did I do everything within my power, (aka the dichotomy of control.) Memento mori.

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Reflection

July 3, 2022 · All posts on Jul 3

[…] if you applied this approach, there’s not a strengths-weaknesses binary. It’s, “is this particular skill where I need it to be or not?” […] That could be a skill—if I’m understanding this correctly—that you’re identifying, “I need to get this even farther to get where I want to get.” You might be at a skill level there that everyone would say that’s a strength of yours, you’re really good at that. And so it seems like the strength-weakness binary, is not that useful, at least in this framework. It’s just where you’re trying to get, and what skills are not where they need to be to get you there.

~ Cal Newport ~1h9m from, Deep Questions episode 39 with David Epstein, «https://www.buzzsprout.com/1121972/6035176?t=4140»

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David Epstein is, most recently, the author of Range. Newport and Epstein’s conversation ranges—sorry—widely, and nearer the end they get into talking about reflection as a mastery tool. Epstein mentions a particular reflection process as something he had included only in passing in his first book, The Sports Gene.

Newport’s point, quoted above, changed how I think about skill level. Epstein had been discussing how he’d learned of Marije T Elferink-Gemser‘s research. Based in the Netherlands, a team had been running these things called the Groningen talent studies for over a decade studying skills, proficiency and mastery in Soccer athletes.

These were questions that, the first time I asked, she sent and said, you answer these at least every month. What’s your goal has to be as clear as possible, but it doesn’t need to be realistic at this point. …dreaming is allowed at this point. Do you have any idea of what’s needed to perform at the level you aim for? How do I make sure how do I make sure that I get an even better idea of what’s needed to perform at that level? How am I going to arrange that? Who are the people I need to reach that goal? And how can I make sure that they’ll help me to reach that personal goal? Am I sure I want to reach the goal and why? Those were the original set of questions that I received.

~ David Epstein, ibid.

That’s a tremendous set of questions for self-reflection!

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Who is really in charge?

July 2, 2022 · All posts on Jul 2

In democracies, policies are correlated with public opinion, but why? The obvious explanation is that people choose representatives, and those representatives give them what they want. But maybe the causal arrow points in the other direction—maybe elites choose policies, and the public gradually figures that since that’s how things are, it must be right.

~ “Dynomight” from, The death penalty as a lens on democracy

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The death penalty is usually a third-rail—touching it means instant, well, death to reasonable discussion. In this case, the death penalty happens to be a rare topic for which good data exists, and is one upon which nearly everyone has a strong opinion. That combination enables the discussion in that article. It’s not about the death penalty being right, wrong, good, nor bad. Rather, the discussion is asking: Who indeed is really in charge in a democracy.

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Play with Mary Hendra

July 1, 2022 · All posts on Jul 1

What role does play have in professional spaces, and how can podcasting facilitate conversations about it?

Podcasting serves as a gateway to deeper dialogue about human connection and creativity.

I wanted to talk with people who brought play into their professional spaces in part because of the tension between the fun of play and the resistance from others saying, ‘If you want to succeed professionally, you have to be more serious.’

~ Mary Hendra (3:28)

The conversation centers around podcasting as a medium for creating meaningful dialogue and exploring deeper themes, particularly the concept of play in professional settings. Mary shares her journey into podcasting, explaining how an interest in intimate, conversational formats led to creating a podcast about integrating play into work environments. She discusses how play fosters authenticity and challenges societal norms around professionalism.

The discussion also goes into the technical and emotional aspects of podcasting, including preparing questions, handling unexpected moments, and maintaining natural conversations despite the constraints of recording. Mary shares insights from their experience interviewing diverse guests and reflects on how play transforms professional interactions and personal development.

Takeaways

Play in professional spaces — Play challenges traditional workplace norms and fosters authenticity.

Podcasting as a learning tool — Hosting a podcast provides opportunities to explore new topics and engage with diverse perspectives.

Conversation dynamics — Asking visceral, open-ended questions can create relaxed and meaningful dialogue.

The role of preparation — Balancing structured questions with spontaneous conversation enhances podcast quality.

Play and societal expectations — Discussing play uncovers tensions between fun and societal demands for seriousness.

Podcasting challenges — Navigating technical and interpersonal hurdles helps improve the craft of interviewing.

Authenticity through play — Play helps individuals reconnect with their true selves and approach challenges with clarity.

Resources

Mary Hendra’s Website — Contains links to her work, podcast updates, and details about her projects.

Lead with a Dash of Play Podcast — A podcast focused on the intersection of play and professionalism, launching soon. Will be linked on Mary’s website.

Hindenburg Editing Software — Mentioned as a tool for post-production in podcasting.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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