Espresso Shots 12-8-24

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.

The Latest Drippings ☕️

• Beans and Noses. Favorite post of the week 🤔 with some simple life advice that I need to keep reminding myself of: 'No matter how much you try, you can't stop people from sticking beans up their nose..'
• What is the Art of Hosting?. As we approach the end of the year, some solid thinking on 'first and foremost the Art of Hosting is an art. Of hosting conversations that matter.'
• Why I Will Always Be Angry About Software Engineering. I've mentioned his blog previously, but Scott Boms has a fantastic weekly note where I find plenty of enjoyable inspiration from and discovered a link to an insightful post on career frustrations (while focused on engineer, as Scott points out, can be applied anywhere), the 'lack of meaningful work' and this particular authors journey on discovering that 'the little things matter.'
• Modern Work Fucking Sucks. It is a powerful read that is dead on how much cognitive overload there is in modern-day business. The 'tragedy is how much time gets sucked into this vortex of fake productivity' that has led to an 'absurd cycle, where the only thing more exhausting than the work is pretending to do the work' is something everyone should take a step back and re-evaluate how they spend their time bank.
• 6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person. Originally published at the end of 2012, this post has had more than 25 million views; it's a good one to throw on the 're-read every year' pile as it's a solid reminder of the importance of self-improvement and personal responsibility and incredibly blunt. I love it.
• This is how we make slides at Apple. I don't know if this is really how Apple produces decks, but it's a great read/reminder on the power of storytelling when presenting. There are many good tips here; a personal favorite: 'YOU are doing the talk. Not the slides.'
• 10 Signs You're an Extroverted Introvert. I teased out back in 2022 that I probably fall in the extroverted introvert category, but the signs laid out here ring true to my brain.
• Rebel Optimism: How We Thrive in a Broken World. It is a powerful read on surviving in a world that 'is crumbling in real time.' In the past, I've discovered that stoic optimism is a good, 'practical mindset for resilience,' I dig the concept of 'rebel optimism. 'Thriving in a broken world means translating hope into behavior—every day, in every context,' seems an even better path.
• Modernity is stupid: A rant not about politics. Oof, another powerful rant on the challenges of managing digital information, information overload, and the continuing enshittification of platforms. Side note: it looks like Instagram just retired an API that allows journaling apps, such as Day One to integrate with it. Lame.
• The Observer Effect and Social Media - How Constant Observation Warps Us All. I seem to have several new links from Joan Westenberg this week on how observation alters behavior. The post had me nodding in agreement, especially around the observation that social media creates a 'distorted reflection of identity' as people change to meet the expectations of countless observers.
• Aging Well in an Era of Uncertainty. Here are 'four tools to stay grounded, hopeful, and functional' as you get older. As I crossed 50 a few years back, I've noticed a dramatic change in what I care about. A lot of this is advice I had taken more seriously when I was younger.
• Against New Year's Resolutions. I haven't done 'resolutions' as part of New Year's for as long as I can remember. But I love the reframing here: 'If it's worth doing, it's worth starting now.'
• The Sisyphus Treadmill: Why we keep falling for rehashed ideas. Why do we generally fall into 'repetitive, futile efforts' and the psychology behind it? Our brains are typically wired to like things that feel familiar and safe, which certainly circles the 'thats not the way we used to do it' mentality. The post has some lovely ideas on how to break away from 'just collecting ideas*' and how to focus on actually doing something with what we learn.

Amor Fati ✌🏻