Hi all, Some personal news: my wife and I had a baby girl on Saturday. Mom and girl are doing great and we’re excited for the new addition to the family. Trevor
What to do with all our of leisure time (article)
Meandering article that I wouldn’t typically link to, but it asks a great question: what are we all doing or going to do with all of our newfound free time? Nobody has a good answer for this; _“There must be such a thing as a use of time that is not structured by external pressures but solely by the engine of our own efforts and desires, something that human beings do with their time when it is truly their own. Yet Aristotle didn’t know what that was, and I don’t know what it is, and you don’t know, either. And this, to quote Keynes, is a “fearful problem.” “_ And:
“Whereas surviving on your own is difficult, finding meaning on your own might just be impossible. “_ What is the thing that is not work that you must rest from, and that is not rest whose job is to prepare you for work? What activity do you do purely for its own sake?
Launch 3 times (article)
Anil Dash gives good advice on how to get your product out into the world. I think it’s underrated how much getting the word out about your particular thing can be all the difference between success and failure, even when your thing isn’t totally differentiated on its own. This understatement is especially true in the tech world. _“Often times, people are afraid or embarrassed to make changes to things like branding or design because they’re some of the more visible aspects of a product or service. Instead, they retreat to “safe” areas, like tweaking the pricing or copy on a web page that nobody reads. But the vast majority of the time, the single biggest problem you have is thatnobody knows you exist, and nobody gives a damn about what you do. “
The Courage to be Disliked (book)
I’ve been rereading this all-time classic, and it is still wonderful. Indeed, it’s one of those books that new life experience adds to. Highly recommend giving it another read if you’ve enjoyed it before, or if you’ve never heard of it until now.
A Sense Of Getting Closer (song on YouTube)
Enjoyed this piece of music while writing the newsletter tonight. By Max Cooper. I’ve also enjoyed his Order from Chaos.
Video of that famous Ira Glass quote on taste (5 minute youtube)
It’s the full quote (this includes pieces I’d never read in the online quotes), it’s him saying it, and he adds his own examples of how bad he used to be 8 years in. This is so much better than reading just the original quote, and the quote was already pretty good.
”Nobody who ever did anything worth remembering believed in themselves first”_ (long quote via tweet)
“that's the scam they sell you so you stay frozen waiting for a feeling that only comes after you've already jumped”_ It goes on…
Advice columnist on what love & partnership & relationships actually are (article on The Free Press)
Extremely earnest and mostly right: _“The deal [modern women] offer a man is essentially this:I’m awesome and totally self-sufficient, looking for a man who’s awesome and totally self-sufficient so that we can be awesome and independently self-sufficient, together. That’s the prevailing ideal today, and there’s nothing sinister about it, per se._ _“Except that it isn’t the stuff of love.”
Quote about Americans (tweet)
“You'll miss the American, who deals sharply but cheats no one, who is tougher than the thugs and cleverer than the tricksters, who says "I can do it" when others shrug, and who respects learning but is suspicious of those claiming to be learned, when the last one dies.”_ A wonderful description of the American ethos.
The Most Amazing Bowling Story Ever (article)
There have only been 21 certified perfect 900 games bowled, ever, and I’m going to spoil the story for you: a guy bowled 3 games in a row and scored 899, missing a single pin on the very last frame. What is sad, and what we should remember, is how he thinks his life would be totally different if he’d his that 10th pin: _“Fong truly believes that the last pin could have made his life perfect. “It would have made all the difference,” he says. With a 900, he theorizes, he might have made SportsCenter, and he would surely have sponsors. He thinks he might have had a chance to join the pro tour. At least, he figures, he’d be the best of all time at something, with the name Bill Fong immortalized above even the legends of the game—and he wouldn’t be just a regular guy.”_ The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves are so important in how we live our lives, what we aspire to, what we attempt, our goals, and even our own perception in whether those goals are ever achieved. Does anyone talk about this other than the most woo woo folks? Does anyone universally respected talk about this? The closest thing we have is probably religion, people telling themselves they were made in the literal image of God, and that they are therefore inherently good if they can only remember to act as such.
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