Never give up. Never surrender. The wisdom of your quiet mind. You were born to work hard. Irrational generosity of friendships. Bullshit jobs. Unintended consequences.
“Never give up, never surrender”
– Commander Peter Quincy Taggart (Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen)), Galaxy Quest
I think I’ve mentioned before that I don’t pick a theme for these newsletters, but often one just kinda happens. I guess this week we have two: not giving up (with a hat tip to Galaxy Quest), and the ever ubiquitous of late, AI. Sometimes I gravitate towards writers who challenge my thinking, and sometimes I find writers who put things into words better than I ever could. I encourage you not just to read my pithy little comments, but click through to the referenced articles. I picked them all because they spoke to me in some way, and I hope they do to you as well.
Take care,
1. “You are not the best judge of what your life will become”
Never Give Up. Never, Ever Give Up – Tom Greene – (Wit & Wisdom)
With a couple of startling examples, Greene illustrates how poorly we envision our future, particularly when we’re struggling with something major.
At the lowest point in your life, if someone had shown you how the story ends, you wouldn’t have believed them. Things almost always turn out better than we expect, no matter the circumstances.
It’s always hard to be objective about our own situation. That can make hope difficult.
Do this: Hope.
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2. “Acceptance is not giving up”
Old Age Is Just One Damn Thing After Another – Gary Buzzard – (Enjoy the Moment)
The full quote:
Acceptance is not giving up — it’s getting in touch with what’s actually happening now and taking action.
Buzzard’s acceptance practice revolves around aging.
Be willing to be there fully and completely with whatever it is you’re feeling about old age — and then do something about it.
I resonated with the title of the piece because it most definitely feels like one damn thing after another. But as always, denial or complaining won’t help. Only accepting what is, and then acting on it appropriately makes for a way forward.
Do this: Make a way forward.
3. “Inside you are two writers. Unfortunately, you’re the dumb one.”
12 Reasons You Have An Amazing Body – Mike Sowden – (Everything is Amazing)
This is part of reason 5.
Inside you is another mind, a deeper you, sitting in pristine darkness and silence, undistracted by the noisy world pressing against your senses, and with the ability to think about stuff in a way you just can’t. In this sense, it’s functionally a lot smarter than you are. It’s what you’d be like if the whole world would just ****ing well shut up for five minutes.
This isn’t really a new concept, though Sowden presents it in an entertaining way. The traditional advice is to periodically step away from whatever it is you’re working on to let that quite mind get a word in edgewise. It usually has something very valuable to say.
Do this: Step back periodically.
4. “We tell ourselves a flattering story about greatness”
Nobody is destined for greatness. – Joan Westenberg – (Blog)
The myth, of course, is that some people are born to succeed; they have some innate talent or skill from the get go, and thus a guaranteed path to success has been laid out for them.
Doesn’t work that way. There’s no such thing as a natural or overnight success. The one skill that leads to success? Hard work.
The people we file under genius turn out to be the ones who put in absurd quantities of hard, unwitnessed work before anyone noticed them.
“Unwitnessed” is an important part of that observation. They weren’t relying on accolades along the way, they just did the work that took them to their destination.
Do this: Do the work.
5. “Friendship has always depended on a certain irrational generosity.”
The quiet grief of adult friendship – Pranav Jain – (The Times of India)
I think many of us feel this. Having friends as adults is not only more difficult, it’s almost a radical act as you set aside priorities and productivity for “unoptimized presence”.
… somewhere between “Let’s catch up soon” and “Sorry, life has been hectic”, adult friendship became one of the most emotionally significant and least discussed losses of modern life.
And have no doubt, it is a loss. And unlike other life changes, the slow, gentle, fading away has no specific boundary to be recognized and mourned. Or repaired.
Do this: Make the effort.
6. “Most people reading this post have a job that didn’t exist a hundred years ago.”
Value creation, bullshit jobs and the future of work – Seth Godin – (Blog)
From my perspective a very practical view on how work is changing, particularly in the face of AI.
The turmoil is certain, the human costs will be real, but the likely outcome is more value created by more people, over time.
The key is “over time”. It’s going to be a bumpy ride, but it’s a ride we’ve been on before, and will no doubt see again in the future. They key is to position yourself properly prepared for the chaos.
The best plan is resilience. Find a way to create value, more each day. Consider enrolling in the bumpy ride that change brings, because holding on tight to the job we have today is probably going to be insufficient.
Interesting times.
Do this: Create value.
7. “Increasing the efficiency of a resource can lead to greater consumption.”
The Dark Side of the Jevons Paradox – Cal Newport – (Blog)
You’re hearing a lot about “Jevons Paradox”, captured in the takeaway above, lately because of the many who hope it applies to AI’s impact on the workforce.
The Jevons Paradox implies the opposite might occur. If you make workers more efficient, their output will become cheaper, and the demand for their services might grow.
Newport also points out that there are also often unintended consequences, for example the increase in air pollution in the 1800’s as more efficient steam engines resulted in more coal being burned for more engines applied to more tasks. It remains to be seen where AI’s impact will be felt. (While most will consider similar environmental impact, I think it’s too soon to point the finger in that direction alone.)
Do this: Look for the side effects.
Random Links
- This Changes Everything for Human Connection with Jo Franco – On the Linking Your Thinking with Nick Milo YouTube channel, a podcast episode discussing journaling as a tool for self-discovery, emotional processing, and intentional career navigation. with a very wide ranging and interesting background.
- YouTube is a Research Library. Here’s How to Search It Like One. – From Card Catalog, a comprehensive description of all the ways to search and wrangle YouTube to find what you need.
- Taken – A good example of the information websites get when you visit any page.
What I’m reading now
- Platform Decay – Martha Wells
- The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better – Will Storr
- The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive – Brandon Sanderson
- The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke – (Audio)
- The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark – Carl Sagan
My Reading List – everything I’ve read since 2021.
My Sources Page – the common sources I scan/read regularly.
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