Scree

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

Reminiscing →

Published October 27, 2023  ·  All posts on Oct 27  ·  

I’ve often mentioned journaling. A few years after I began journaling seriously, I started taking time to read my older journal entries. Initially, I was setting aside some dedicated time early each month to simply spend time with my old journal entries. I was just randomly hopping around looking up things, and reliving old adventures (at least, those I’d taken the time to write about.) I soon ended up with bookmarks at various number-of-years-ago.

Eventually I wanted to reign in the time I was spending reading. (The author of my journals is the most fascinating person I know of, so I can really get lost navel gazing into my journals.) I process-ified the entire thing (which I’ll skip explaining because it’s not important) and now, every day, I read my journal entries from 1-, 3-, 6-, and 9-years-ago. It only takes a few minutes and it is endlessly illuminating.

Oh the adventures I’ve had! The thrills… the spills… the ups and downs!

[…] most of the fun is in the experience and not in the reminiscing. We don’t actually spend most of our days enjoying memories. How many minutes yesterday did you spend thinking about that trip you took last year?

~ Jacob Falkovich from, Shopping for Happiness – PUTANUMONIT

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This article by Hoffman is typical. You’ll probably love it or hate it. The part I’ve quoted is way down in the middle part and not a major point. But it leapt off the page for me. I’ve long known that journaling has at least corresponded with my improvements, in the sense that it has raised the depth of the downward dips—this is a very important achievement. Alone, it’s reason enough that I intend to never cease journaling. Hoffman’s mentioning reminiscing as being a valuable activity related to happiness, has made clear another reason to never cease.

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Challenge →

Published October 25, 2023  ·  All posts on Oct 25  ·  ,

Setting a challenge for myself seems simple enough. Pick a goal and then work to reach it. But there needs to be more than the goal, and the process. There also needs to be some sacrifice; What will it be necessary for me to give up in order to attempt the challenge? There also needs to be some risk; Risk of physical loss, injury or monetary cost are obvious options, but a good challenge has mental, even spiritual, risk attached. Who will I be after this challenge? What about success itself? I think a good challenge must seem achievable (it mustn’t fly in the face of reality) but must actually be uncertain. It takes a special person to set and truly attempt a challenge that they aren’t certain they can achieve.

I am going to try to convince you to spend the next 4 days watching a YouTube live stream of people running round a 4.1 mile loop in Tennessee, all day and all night.

~ Matt Webb from, Why you should watch Big’s Backyard Ultra, which starts tomorrow (Interconnected)

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I’m not sure what to say about this “backyard ultra”. Fortunately for you, the race will be over by the time this post appears. You don’t risk being sucked into the live stream by reading Webb’s article. While I’m not the least bit attracted to attempting something like this, I read the article slowly. The challenge that lies at the heart of this race is something I understand. I’m not suggesting you go try to run one of these races, but I do hope you have experienced true self-set challenge.

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60 Seconds with Mandell Conway →

Published October 23, 2023  ·  All posts on Oct 23

60 Seconds – with Mandell Conway

What role does storytelling play in driving creativity and engagement in personal projects like podcasting and daily writing?

Mandell Conway and Craig Constantine discuss the art of generosity in podcasting, daily writing challenges, and the power of pushing through creative discomfort.

I’m building the material up. I’m building the reps. I’m getting better and then I can go and say, ‘okay this is the part that I want to keep.’ I’ll share this today. I’ll share this tomorrow. …or I’ll share this next year. But just get in that habit of doing the emotional labor. I think I want to be able to push through that. Versus just saying I would spend 20 minutes and that drained me— [then] ‘yeah, I’m out of here.’ What would happen if I just sat in it for a little longer.

~ Mandell Conway 24:55

Mandell Conway and Craig Constantine explore the concepts of giving and generosity. Mandell speaks about the importance of daily writing, acknowledging the emotional labor involved and discussing the benefits of creating a content backlog for challenging days. They emphasize that the primary goal should be writing, with publishing (in whatever medium) as a natural outcome of this consistent practice. Mandell also offers some perspective on the creative process, emphasizing the commitment required to share impactful stories with the world.

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Cogito →

Published October 23, 2023  ·  All posts on Oct 23  ·  ,

I don’t think ego is good or bad, it simply is. What matters (to me) is what I do, and what I do with my ego. Do I project my ego out onto the world (the way one can project a film onto a live scene in daylight: You can see the original people and things, but the film adds color and shape and, possibly, changes one’s perceptions) and examine and evaluate others colored by my own ego? …or do I try to go deeper and imagine what others might actually be experiencing, what their ego might be like?

Foremost, you must make a decision about your ego.

~ Paul Niquette from, Recommendations: Packing for Ego-Trips

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That insanely deep dive by Niquette is a refreshingly self-aware attempt at proving who should be given credit for inventing the word “software”. The part I’ve linked, isn’t even the last part. I found myself reading and knowing there was a time when I could easily have fed my ego in such a protracted journey— but I don’t think I would have been able (back at that time) to do the self-aware zoom-out that Niquette attempts. Possibly interesting to you; Definitely the sort of thing I find myself mulling over these days.

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October 22, 2023 — #55 →

Published October 22, 2023  ·  All posts on Oct 22  ·  

Reading time: About 6 minutes, 1200 words
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This issue is https://7forsunday.com/55

I should take a break →

Published October 22, 2023  ·  All posts on Oct 22  ·  , , ,

Taking a break is really difficult. A short break is often easy enough if you’re comfortable simply ignoring everything… for 10 minutes. But if you really want to take a real break, the difficulty escalates rapidly. I recently spent a long weekend camping a short, walkable distance from the beach. Each of the three full beach sitting days I tried to lengthen the stretches of time I literally sat in a beach chair without getting up. By the third day I was feigning agitated exasperation, and making jokes like, “That’s it! Today I’m getting serious about holding my chain down in the sand. No more standing up for me!” But in reality, I was bumping up against bodily functions, sun exposure (even under a magnificent umbrella), and peer pressure from my beach pals warning me of deep vein thrombosis. (I hope you never know what that is.)

I’m only half kidding. Everyone talks about taking a day off from work, and about looking forward to the holidays (for family and experiences, sure— but we all mean for the break we pretend we’ll get, but never do.) We even have a dedicated word, staycation (a word so legit it even passes my spell–checker) for suggesting some days we’re taking but not even going anywhere, just because we need a break. Our phones ring, our apps go bee-BOOP! and it’s ping! notification this, and ding! notification that. And an email arrives, and the dog needs walking, and the children need this, and the housemate that…

The hard work is actually prioritizing, pruning and putting one’s life in order. The impossible work is getting sufficient duration, and premium quality, sleep.

Taking a break isn’t lazy – learning to recharge is a skill that will allow you to enjoy a more creative, sustainable life.

~ Alex Soojung-Kim Pang from, How to rest well | Psyche Guides

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What’s that? How long did I manage to sit in the chair? On day three I managed a transcendental 5-and-one-half hours of literal sitting, toes in the sand. And I was on a roll, no where near needing to arise, having perfectly judged my fluid consumption, sweating, and kidney function up to then. I was foiled by my beach mates forcing me out of the chair (and at least part way into the ocean.) Which, all things considered, was very nice of them.

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People first →

Published October 20, 2023  ·  All posts on Oct 20  ·  ,

People who become engaged with movement in the found environment develop a new way of seeing their environment. Well, t e c h n i c a l l y , they recover a way of seeing their environment which they lost. Mountains, hills, water, stairs… and the moats that criss-cross our communities where the big metal and plastic boxes whiz along— these all become “challenging.” Walls (of various heights from knee to enormous), railings, painted lines— these all become “challenging.” And yet, I’ve had the pleasure on countless occasions to stumble into a built space which feels different. Spaces which don’t require me to see differently. Spaces which beckon me to sit, stand, move, climb, and play.

That we immediately switch to building our cities and countries around people, instead of cars.

~ Peter Adeney from, Less Cars, More Money: My Visit to the City of the Future

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Cars (small trucks, commercial trucks, planes, trains and ships) are tools. As I’ve said before what really matters about tools is one’s thinking and choices about tools. What I rarely hear mentioned is that tool choices also affect us. Our use of tools changes us. That’s what I really care about. How am I enabled (to do other things, to live more fully, etc), or constrained, by my choices with respect to tools? Furthermore, how do my choices enable or constrain those close to me? …in my community? …country? …world?

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Presence with Pete Machalek →

Published October 18, 2023  ·  All posts on Oct 18

Presence – with Pete Machalek

What are the benefits and challenges of incorporating video content into professional communication and personal branding efforts?

Pete Machalek discusses presence, in-person, and in both audio and video mediums.

I do think there is something about the challenge of presenting to a camera that a lot of folks can benefit from practicing. […] It’s something that I recommend challenging yourself about, if your presence is something you want to get better at. There’s a visual component to it. [But] it’s certainly not all visual.

~ Pete Machalek 24:42

Pete Machalek and Craig Constantine explore some of the intricacies of presenting in both audio and video formats. They discuss the advantages of audio-only presentation, noting it limits what the audience can judge you upon. Some video presentation strategies and formats are discussed, including the challenge of accommodating different visual perspectives as seen by viewers. Pete also shares the evolution of his content creation, explaining experiences and improvements in his vlogging journey.

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Could 1 be none? →

Published October 18, 2023  ·  All posts on Oct 18  ·  

There’s a mantra meant to remind one about being prepared: 2 is 1, 1 is none. If something is important, one should have a spare (the thinking goes.) Instead, I like to ask myself: Could 1 be none? So rather than doubling up the complexity by having 2 of something… And rather than just having one of something and hoping it doesn’t break (or even having a plan for when it breaks)… Could I just get rid of that one thing?

The larger the scale the more management becomes a stochastic job. It is impossible to know that everyone is doing the right thing all the time. We have to approximate it by randomly sampling the breadth of it. This is why dogfooding is so important. This is why skip-level 1:1s are so important.

~ Andrew Bosworth from, Spot Checks and Brown M&Ms

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I’m not a manager of people. But I am a manager of a lot of things, responsibilities, resources and goals. Your life may be similar. I’ve found that problems don’t fix themselves, and so I’ve a habit of immediately fixing problems. Or, at least adding it to the lists of things to get to. Quite often, when I start fixing (whatever that means in the situation) I realize the problem runs deeper. Quite often, when I find I’m ignoring, resisting, loathing, or outright complaining, about a problem… there’s something deeper going on. I start turning 2 into 1… And then could 1 be none?

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Structure with Moe Poplar →

Published October 17, 2023  ·  All posts on Oct 17

Structure – with Moe Poplar

What are the essential considerations for independent podcasters to enhance their show’s quality, define its purpose, and create a meaningful connection with their audience?

Moe Poplar shares his expertise and insights on format, structure, and connecting with your audience.

[…] what service are we providing to our audience? I think if you know what goes into your show— if your show has a format— You also can start building a level of trust with your listener so that they understand your agreement. Because nobody wants to listen to the podcast that says this is what we’re gonna talk about, this is what we’re gonna do, this is what we’re not gonna do… You know? We’re looking for people like us, who say the thing in a way that we would say it, so we can understand it.

~ Moe Poplar 24:38

Moe Poplar brings his experience in producing and editing podcasts, as well as his various podcast projects, to this conversation. He highlights the importance of defining a clear format and structure for podcasts, emphasizing the role of a format in establishing a contract with the audience. Moe also touches on the significance of the host-listener relationship, where setting expectations and creating a rhythm in the podcast can enhance the overall listening experience.

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