Espresso Shots 8-25-24

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 ☕️

• I've always enjoyed the phrase 'burn the ships' (must be the pirate in me). Still, I particularly enjoyed this read about overcoming the 'sunk cost fallacy.' By taking a lot of tiny pivots, Kristen Faulkner went from being a venture capitalist to Olympic gold medalist. Burn all the ships (and go for gold)
• A great read on 'knowing things'. Much of the information we hold dear is based on second-hand knowledge, and most understanding is due to society's reliance on unreliable information rather than their first-hand knowledge or experience. Nobody Knows What's Going On
• Jessica Hagy does it again with insightful visualizations where she discusses trend spotting. The idea is simple: first impressions and small details can accumulate into larger patterns and stories over time. Trend Spotting
• Well, this is just terrible to think of. The mummified remains of an elderly woman in Egypt in 1935 were known as the 'screaming woman' as how her mouth was found locked open. While initially thought to be due to a poor mummification process, it turns out, with recent discoveries, that the woman did indeed end up dying in sheer agony. The horrific secret of Egypt's 'screaming woman' mummy revealed
• I always thought my awakening at 5 am was due to my terrible sleeping habits (ok, I do have some apnea), but is 5 am the 'morning miracle'? A look at getting up before everyone else and how to win the day - or if its actually bullshit. The cult of 5 am: is rising at dawn the secret of health and happiness?
• On the flip side, with today's technology, access to step-by-step instructions for almost anything is available to anyone with an internet connection. This has an incredible shift where "how" is no longer a significant obstacle. Somebody Has Already Figured It Out for You
• I'm on a theme where 'little things matter' this week. 'Our actions shape our identities, which then shape our future actions - it's a self-reinforcing loop.' What Signal Are You Sending?
• I'm unsure how I feel about the 'personal readme' or 'instruction manuals' for working with me. I've often felt that people (including myself), don't know yourself as well as you think you do. Just showing up and talking to people over and over again (I talk to think often), building trust through actions, seems to work better (IMHO), but it's still an interesting read. Paolo's Handbook
• Well, I subscribed. Print rules. Fuck Everything, We're Doing Print
• I need to listen more, and I continuously need to remind myself of that. 'Being a good listener is quite simple, but like most things in life, it takes patience, practice, and persistence to master. It starts with an ability to listen unconditionally with no particular aim other than to understand another's point of view; to listen not to respond, but to ask questions and further conversations towards clearer understanding.' What Listening Does — An Untaught Life Skill
• A fantastic podcast from Scott Galloway this week which had an excerpt Josh Brown's upcoming book, Optimism as a Default Setting. 'My point is that it's easy to make lists of problems. Of everything that could go wrong or get worse. I could do it with my eyes closed, and so could you. It's much harder to have the imagination and the courage to talk openly about what might go right. What might improve. What unexpected thing could have a remarkable impact on how we work and live and change things for the better.' Our Habits Are Our Destiny
• Loved this stance from application developer Procreate. 'We think machine learning is a compelling technology with a lot of merit, but the path generative AI is on is wrong for us.' From their website: Creativity is made, not generated. Procreate's anti-AI pledge attracts praise from digital creatives
• Are you a leader who is always late? Michael Lopp on the 'chronic lateness is a strategic flaw that indicates a failure in leadership.' Late Again

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