Carpe Diem

As a subscriber of this experiment/newsletter, you have seen many videos and quotes from Steve Jobs that I've shared over the last year. I promise you that I'm not a fanatic but I've have been spending more time recently revisting (perhaps out of nostalgia?) a few of his past lessons that shaped my thinking over the years.

I came across a video of his 2005 commencement address at Stanford University earlier this week that I had seen years ago and it struck me as an incredibly important one to remind myself of as we spin through space for a limited time on this rock.

The entire speech a wonderful tool to understand the art of storytelling (here's a breakdown of the 'three stories') but the important part is ultimately the message he delivers:

I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

I know far too many people who are unhappy with their "present" situation. The power each of one of us has is that it's within your individual grasp to make those changes. Don't let things around you dictate that and continuously evolve.

Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.

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Forward Thinking

I came across a powerful video from author and motivational speaker Simon Sinek on "what to do when you want to give up". He touches on a simple concept that help anyone in a situation where they are thinking about quiting: "someone having your back" is the thing that will get you through.

Latest obsession

I've owned a bunch of coffee mugs over the years and recently "upgraded" to a YETI 20oz tumbler w/ a tumbler handle.

Seriously: who really wants a small 11oz or 16oz mug when you can have a nice 20oz cup (or 30oz!) that keeps your drink hot for hours, and comes with has an amazing magnetic lid for a coffee on the go without spills.

This weeks "Deep Links"

Here's a few of the articles and videos that resonated with me over the last week:

• As a former employee at Microsoft, I've seen a bunch of internal prank and spoof videos (including the famous 'Microsoft designs the iPod package'); but I had never heard of this one before. It's awesome! Read about "Microsoft Coffee. The Last Prank Before PR Ruined Everything". - More
• The most important read of the week: "After Working at Google, I’ll Never Let Myself Love a Job Again". An opinion piece by Emi Nietfeld who describes the dangers of work becoming a "surrogate family"; especially when that place was protecting someone who was harassing her. - More
• "Hear How AI Software Wrote a ‘New’ Nirvana Song" is a look at AI software that studied vocal melodies, chord changes, guitar riffs and solos, drum patterns, and lyrics up to 30 songs by Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain in an effort to guess what their “new” compositions would sound like. - More
• I personally stumbled across this with my kids when they were younger, but in "Blood, Poop, and Violence: YouTube Has a Creepy Minecraft Problem" WIRED does an investigation that found tons of kid-focused videos with disturbing thumbnails that the platform shows on the topic pages of popular games. Parents beware! - More
• "Are we too busy to enjoy life?" ponders if 'being busy all the time can give us an illusion of productivity which may feel reassuring, but isn’t there a risk we are too busy to enjoy life'. - More
• Mark Manson looks at the last year as "a kind of hydrostatic stress test for each place and each person around the world"; in "Finding the Best and Worst in Ourselves", he dives into the 'stress test of our daily lives' - More
• "Enemies of Execution: How To Stop Procrastinating" goes through several ways to defeat enemies of execution: the things that stop us from taking action, staying productive, and becoming better versions of ourselves. - More
• Read about Annie Withey, the founder of Annie’s Homegrown. "Annie's Mac and Cheese is based in the Bay Area, but Annie is not" is a retrospective on her life and how she has stayed on her farm in Connecticut. - More
• "Culture DOESN’T eat strategy for breakfast!" is a debunking of Druker's famous quote and what determines success for a company. - More
• In "How Sounds Are Faked For Nature Documentaries" Richard Hinton talks about how he creates fake sounds for nature documentaries; I never realized there was an art to this, but it is facinating. - More

Fin

Leaving things on a more humorous note this week. As a huge Marvel fan, I've been enjoying The Falcon and The Winter Solider - and in what's going to become the new Yule log - please enjoy one solid hour of Zemo dancing awkwardly.