12% battery remaining →

Published June 2, 2022  ·  All posts on Jun 2  ·  

Productivity hacks are fun, but they don’t always produce the greatest returns on your time. If you care about productivity, be sure to invest in your energy levels.

~ Chris Bailey from, Don’t forget the basics of productivity

slip:4uaido1.

I don’t do productivity “hacks.” I do productivity. My aversion to “hacking” anything runs deep. All of my productivity comes from doing things which return, the way compound interest returns. Whenever I can, I try to do the hard work up front. I am literally trying to pass gifts, (of time, energy, money, sanity,) to my future self.

It’s wise to occasionally erase the whiteboard to see what something could be like if built from scratch. It never ceases to amaze me when absolutely nothing happens nor changes when I entirely stop doing things. I recently removed an entire project—no one has even noticed. I recently was completely unreachable, (by everyone other than my wife,) for four days—no one noticed. If you started from a clean slate today, what would you choose to do?

ɕ

Today →

Published June 1, 2022  ·  All posts on Jun 1  ·  

I don’t complain about the lack of time… what little I have will go far enough. Today—this day—will achieve what no tomorrow will fail to speak about. I will lay seige to the gods and shake up the world.

~ Seneca, Medea, 423-5

slip:4a904.

Silence →

Published June 1, 2022  ·  All posts on Jun 1

The universe makes a sound — is a sound. In the core of this sound there’s a silence, a silence that creates that sound, which is not its opposite, but its inseparable soul. And this silence can also be heard.

~ Etel Adnan from, Shifting the Silence to Find the Meaning: 95-Year-Old Artist, Poet, and Philosopher Etel Adnan on How to Live and How to Die

slip:4uteee1.

I am not a poet. Who knows, maybe if I were, I’d still be at a loss for words. On one hand, having read Popova’s short article I feel relieved; At the least, I’ve now noticed a person named Adnan has lived, and I’ve enjoyed a small sip of her writing. On the other hand, a gripping panic begins to rise up as it’s painfully clear that I will never make even the slightest progress in experiencing the totality of what this universe has to offer. Anyway, go take a sip.

ɕ

Influence with Robyn Triggs →

Published May 31, 2022  ·  All posts on May 31

What are the challenges and rewards of starting and maintaining a podcast, and how can podcasting serve as a medium for personal and therapeutic expression?

Exploring the unexpected emotional connections created through podcasting.

There’s something to be said for the beauty of, oh, this person really doesn’t actually need an answer; what they really just need is another person to go, I see you, I see this struggle, I acknowledge the struggle is real.

~ Robyn Triggs (9:52)

The conversation explores the personal and emotional dimensions of podcasting. Topics include imposter syndrome, the experience of creating a podcast, and the choice to step back when priorities shift. It highlights how feedback from others, especially moments of profound resonance with listeners, can reaffirm the value of one’s work. The therapeutic aspect of podcasting, including the opportunity to process emotions and connect with an audience, emerges as a recurring theme.

The discussion also touches on the practicalities of podcasting, such as starting with minimal resources and deciding whether to publish episodes. The idea of podcasting as a platform for authenticity and vulnerability resonates throughout, with the emphasis on how sharing personal experiences can foster connection and healing, both for the creator and their audience.

(more…)

Better questions →

Published May 31, 2022  ·  All posts on May 31  ·  ,

Sounds like we’re losing our grit. We’ve been brought up to think we’re so smart and clever and that we don’t have to work hard for anything that we just give up when we come against a tough problem. The main difference between innovators and the rest of us is that innovators ask more and better questions.

~ Shane Parrish

slip:4a903.

Embedded in a culture →

Published May 31, 2022  ·  All posts on May 31  ·  

Ray Liotta died on May 26, 2022. I wasn’t a particular fan of his, but he was definitely an actor who was a significant part of the culture I grew up in. There are many such people; actors of course, and also authors, musicians, journalists, teachers, scientists, politicians, military leaders, activists, and others less classifiable.

It’s one thing to think: That huge band that I love, which I’ve seen in concert… they’ve retired and hung up the act. Just knowing the people are still around however, means that something of, whatever it was that I loved, continues on in whatever it is, (public or not,) that they’re doing. Nostalgia rises up as people retire and things become, “remember when?”

But slowly, year by year, those people die and that makes it clear: Everything has its time, and that time ends. There but for the grace of God go I, is a beautiful turn of phrase.

ɕ

Digital minimalism →

Published May 30, 2022  ·  All posts on May 30  ·  ,

To be a digital minimalist, in other words, means you accept the idea that new communication technologies have the potential to massively improve your life, but also recognize that realizing this potential is hard work.

~ Cal Newport

slip:4a902.

Bonding through movement →

Published May 30, 2022  ·  All posts on May 30

Today, a growing percentage of people find themselves alienated from any particular community, without strong bonds to any discernible group. Loneliness is on the rise. More people live alone, remain single or childless, move to new geographical locations on a regular basis, and otherwise fail to develop close ties. This is a shift that is unprecedented in human history.

~ Shane Parrish from, Muscular Bonding: How Dance Made Us Human

My pull-quote feels pretty obvious. What’s interesting is where Parrish goes in this article. There’s a lot of research and discussion around what happens to us—mentally and physically—when we move together. It’s not simply, “hey that was fun.” There’s a durable bonding that happens when humans move together.

ɕ

Keeping you small →

Published May 29, 2022  ·  All posts on May 29  ·  ,

The trick is: You bite off more than you can chew… and then you still chew it. Your mind always believes it can do less than it actually can. It will tell you it’s too much, to stop, to take a break, to cancel this or that. But your mind will lie to you to keep you small.

~ Will Smith

slip:4a901.

Discourse →

Published May 29, 2022  ·  All posts on May 29

You don’t know if your idea is any good the moment it’s created. Neither does anyone else. The most you can hope for is a strong gut feeling that it is. And trusting your feelings is not as easy as the optimists say it is. There’s a reason why feelings scare us—because what they tell us and what the rest of the world tells us are often two different things.

~ Hugh MacLeod

slip:4a907.

This quote, I think, also alludes to the problem of people “not getting” new ideas. It turns out that the same problem exists for old ideas to which people have grown unaccoustomed through lack of use.

Online discussion in forums is not a new idea. It’s a time-tested idea; They can be a space to focus interaction. There are ground rules. There’s a border defining what’s inside and what’s outside. Those inside have skin in the game. There is accountability.

The challenge is for each of us to resume engaging in reasoned discourse with others. That can be done in many places, not just in online forums. But in general, we’ve lost it in, (something like,) the last ten years when the current incarnation of the social networks rose and ate our attention.

ɕ