Espresso Shots 8-18-24

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 ☕️

• No one but Carl Sagan could encapsulate in better words the magic of books. 'One glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person maybe somebody dead for thousands of years across the Millennia an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head directly to you'. A quick, but worthy, watch. Carl Sagan describing books.
• My favorite post of the week talks about how there are 'truths to be learned from the old things' and that old things have a soul. Think of those handwritten letters, old typewriters, and the craftsmanship that is needed one these old things that bring us closer to our humanity. There Are Truths to Be Learned From the Old Things
• The title of this one says it all - 'What if, instead of looking for the helpers, we became them?' Fuck Looking for the Helpers. Be One.
• Invert! I loved the idea that every to-do list has an invisible "Not Doing List" that is often even more telling. The Not Doing List
• If you've been reading Makoism long enough, you already know why I love the idea of the 'pirate code'. A quick read on how to leverage a pirate mindset to encourage innovative thinking and action and how to tackle problems more efficiently. Why Thinking and Acting Like a Pirate Can Change the World
• I was incredibly fortunate to meet Gareth Dauncey back in 2023 at the Do Wales event. His talk was about an app he created called Mood, but recently he has been diving into this concept of One Day Architecture. [Gareth Dauncey here and here]
• Hugh MacLeod recently posted, "The price of being a sheep is boredom. The price of being a wolf is loneliness. Choose one or the other with great care.". In large organizations, Seth Godin calls it sheepwalking, "the outcome of hiring people who have been raised to be obedient and giving them a braindead job and enough fear to keep them in line.". This post ties it all together on how important critical thinking is; and that having the ability to question authority, seek the truth, and question our perceptions of reality, are life skills worth investing in. Sheepwalking
• 'What happens when journalism forgets about quality writing?' A thought-provoking exploration about the decline ((and potential collapse) of the magazine industry. The Death of the Magazine
• Omar sent me this article on the quest mentality, and the reframing of viewing 'challenges as opportunities for growth', is a wonderful way to build ongoing momentum in solving large problems. Do Quests, Not Goals
• I'm not a therapist (although play one on TV), but there seems to be a growing mental health crisis among young (and not-so-young) adults in 2024. This piece from The Atlantic suggests that it's being exacerbated by excessive screen time and social media use and that most individuals can't define meaning in their life. I've certainly expressed previously how much better I've felt just deleting Facebook and Twitter, but this idea of seeking out joyis something I think we all could benefit from. The Best Therapy for Our Anxiety Epidemic - Gift Link
• Speaking of doom loops, this one dives into the problem today generation loss. 'What we’re dealing with here refers to deteriorating data quality when a signal is repeated over and over again'. How to Know If You're Living in a Doom Loop
• A bit scary this one, but a look into companies and workplace monitoring (aka bossware). 'All of this turns into a dashboard that shows how each worker is performing from instant to instant, whether they are meeting time targets, and whether they are spending more time on a task than the client's billing rate will pay for. Each work order has a clock showing elapsed seconds since it was issued.". And, the inevitable outcome: 'any metric eventually becomes a target.' The reverse-centaur apocalypse is upon us
• A fun one-on-one on how many creative individuals perceive rules as restrictive and counterproductive to authentic self-expression. Why do people give up on being creative?

Amor Fati (translated from the Latin as 'love of fate'). ✌🏻