Espresso Shots 6-22-25

Here's my weekly update with a few interesting random findings that I came across the last week or two. I am going to try to make sure they're here in time for you to enjoy with your morning coffee (or beverage of choice) every Saturday or Sunday, and include some of my thoughts around them.

Videos 📺

Northwestern University held its 167th annual commencement on June 15, where Steve Carell delivered the commencement address. After last week's post, which mentioned the 20th anniversary of Steve Jobs's Stamford speech, I wasn't expecting to post another graduation so soon. But Steve Carell's talk was so damn good (and funny!), how could I not. "Turn your jealousy into admiration and use it to fuel your ambition in a positive way.". Great stuff.

Remember that kindness isn't a weakness it is a very potent strength the best way to see and understand another human being is to listen. To listen is to show respect.

If you want to see the entire 17 minute version (it's worth it), watch here.

The Latest Drippings ☕️

• Expert Generalists. Easily my read of the week as I've been spending a ton of thought space in the areas of generalists and curiosity. 'There are two sides to real expertise. The first is the familiar depth: a detailed command of one domain's inner workings. The second, crucial in our fast-moving field is the ability to learn quickly, spot the fundamentals that run beneath shifting tools and trends, and apply them wherever we land.'
• Why Learning How To Learn Is The Skill Behind All Skills. 'Learning how to learn comes down to three essential practices that compound over time. Rather than chasing learning hacks, focus on these three fundamental practices that work regardless of what you're learning or how your brain is wired.' Always be learning.
• This Took Me 14 Years to Understand. Continuous reinvention - Life 2.0 - has been a personal calling for a long time now. 'You need to constantly renew your purpose, find new puzzles to solve, and new mountains to climb. It's this ongoing pursuit that fills life with genuine joy and excitement.' Well said.
• Living Two Hours In The Future. Three unrelated, but great ideas in this issue of The Imperfectionist. As a proponent of 'the idea of a PKM is dead,' the concept of a closed list for task management, while simple, is wonderfully brilliant. 'A closed list is just any list that has a fixed number of entries, as opposed to an endlessly increasing number of entries.' Say no to protect the yes.
• Social Media Warps Our Sense Of Reality. Shout out to Matt, who linked this post from Ezra Klein (gift link). 'What has resulted in for the 80% who are just doom scrollers is this false perception of reality. Take a person would say their center left, and it gives them a false perception of everyone on the left believes this. And it pulls them that way. And then it gives them a false perception that everyone on the right believes the most extreme version of the right.'
• How Tech's Most Resilient Workers Handle Burnout. We've all been there: burned out. A good read on the traits and habits of tech workers who experience low to no burnout and those who manage burnout effectively.
• Throw Away the Scales. Powerful read here: 'The problem here isn't so much a lack of work-life balance (something that never even occurred to previous generations) but a lack of meaning. Agency. Autonomy. Pride. Social worth. Contribution. Mastery. Vocation. Perhaps the solution isn't more leisure, more so-called balance, but long-term work worth committing to: purposeful, engaging, challenging, worthy of dedication.'
• The Design Review. I dislike the "fail fast" meme that has permeated engineering cultures over the last few years; sure, its intent is fine, but it's often to get teams in the spirit of 'we're going to try stuff.' But it often misses the point of this philosophy, which is to learn from failure. I appreciated this post on why 'the design review exists to create safe failure loops.' Which is very different than sloppy failure.
• How Field Notes Went From Side Project To Cult Notebook. Back in 2008, I wrote on my original blog (btw, it's kinda fun to see posts from back then), my thoughts when I got my first pack of Field Notes notebooks: 'The inside has 48 pages of 1 pica graph paper that is, well, graph paper. It works, has no feathering and I've only had minimal bleeding from one page through to the next. As others have mentioned, the inside covers are great - they're filled with practical applications for the notebook ... It even has a built in ruler on the back cover. How much more can you ask for?'. It was enjoyable to read about their story, and I'm glad they continue to have success. Their future goals are straightforward: Generate more interest, tell interesting stories, and get wider distribution. Love it.
• Beyond Hierarchies: The Real Org Chart. A cool look at relationships and how crucial they are in shaping outcomes within organizations (more than titles or formal structures).
• Take 3 Minutes To Delete These Words And Improve Your Writing Forever. There are some excellent tips here to elevate your writing to the next level.
• Do You Follow Your Own Advice? I am looking forward to Scott Berkun 's upcoming book, Rules To Live By, and have been reading through his online posts as he goes through the writing process. 'Following advice is often easier said than done; it requires time and effort to see real results.'
• The Atlantic Is Making A Big Push Into Games. Given that the NYT Games app has higher revenue than the paper, I'm not surprised that The Atlantic is heading down this path. Though, I have to admit - I still play Wordle daily.

Amor Fati ✌🏻