It's that time again for my weekly update, which includes a short collection of noteworthy finds, posts that inspire, as well as a few reflections from the past week or two. I'll aim to land these in your inbox by the weekend, in time to pair with your morning coffee (or your preferred cup of inspiration).

The Latest Drippings ☕️

  • You Optimize a System by Looking at the Whole Flow. Two years ago, I was tinkering around with an idea around viscosity and 'the property of resistance to flow' was an interesting place to poke for change. Using this thinking as a method to 'bring awareness to the current state of things and how they can be improved is the beginning of the groundwork to articulate a vision for change' was an interesting question. But, what I've come to recognize since then, is that everything around us is systems. Once you see it, you can't unsee that systems are a part of everyday life: politics, government, work, healthcare, etc. 'The question that matters is not how to make one part faster, but what a change does to the whole flow. Skip that question and you optimize inside an illusion of progress: a fine result at one station, while the total lead time stays the same or gets worse.' As an aside, if this topic is interesting to you, I'd highly recommend Donella Meadows' 2008 classic, Thinking in Systems. Seeing the world (or work process, or whatever) as a series of interconnected elements rather than isolated items, is a fascinating space to explore.
  • Is Education for Industry or for Thinking?. When I read this article, I instantly thought about Sir Ken Robinson's classic TED talk, Do Schools Kill Creativity. His wonderful talk centered around education systems having a stigmatization of mistakes, and how creativity was being stomped out. 'I believe this passionately, that we don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out of it.' This post comes at it from the other side on the role of schools - they should be focused on getting people employable. Robinson would call this an illusion of progress: you have more employed, but the system itself is broken when it's educating people out of the very thinking it claims to be building.
  • On the Difference Between Rest and Idleness. 'The approved rest goes by many names. Recovery. Recharging. Self-care. Downtime. It arrives now with its own industry: the apps that track your sleep so you may optimize it, the retreats that cost a month's salary, the scented candles sold with the vocabulary of medicine, the entire apparatus of wellness, which is simply the word the productive world uses for maintenance performed on itself. This rest is permitted, encouraged, even prescribed, and the reason it is permitted is the reason it should be regarded with suspicion: it is rest in service of work. It exists so that you may return to your labors restored, sharpened, more efficient than before.' I really enjoyed this post (and added the site to my weekly reading list), which I would retitle 'an ode to idleness'. The idea centers around the belief that being idle - with no goals, just to 'be' - is a true discipline and requires no justification around how you spend time. 'Idleness has no alibi, and wants none.' Love it.
  • When Success Stops Working: Bill Reilly's Map for Friction Before Burnout. I'm sensing a theme developing where I've been spending time lately: friction. This post explores a talk in which Bill Reilly talks about the Reinvention Cycle, and why 'high-performing individuals often experience professional friction despite maintaining their work ethic.' Adding this one to the 'read later' archive, as there's a super interesting playbook in here that I need to certainly spend some time thinking about.
  • The Dark Side of Mindfulness (gift link). I'm the first to admit - my sleeping habits just suck. It's not for a lack of trying and I certainly don't view this as a badge of honor. Instead, it's a real problem. And, as I've talked to people about it, I am often told to lean into meditation or breathing. That's why this post really surprised me: it asks whether meditation carries a risk of harm. It's one of the few pieces I've ever read about the risks of it.
  • An End to Fully Open Networks. 'It's hard to overstate how profound the idea of permission-less contact was to the flow of information and the growth of commerce and culture. Just as you could mail a letter to a stranger, you could also call or email them. When it works, it’s very powerful.' But, how far has this gone? 2026 feels like a total barrage of noise that grows daily and that something has got to give.
  • I Rented a Car, and Within Hours, My Driver's License Was for Sale. Well, this is just gross. KrebsOnSecurity is reporting that an ID scanning service used at a car rental service had a data breach, and that their databases of scanned driver's licenses are now for sale on the dark web. The scary part: the exploit isn't patched and still leaking new IDs daily.
  • I Want to Be Unremarkable. 'I am compelled not only to write, but to write in public. A compulsion to show my work and share myself as much as possible. I want there to be a record, a carving in the stone. And I have to reconcile this compulsion toward legacy with the fact that I want to remain, personally, unremarkable.' Just sit with this one for a while. I'm still processing how profound it is.
  • Why High Achievers Are Miserable. Scott's new book, How to Live, is due out in October, and he's been knocking it out of the park with his posts during the writing process. This blog post, on external validation, addressed a personal character flaw that has been rolling around my skull for some time now. 'I am a recovering high achiever, and I know why some people are so driven to win. If they were truly confident and loved themselves, winning couldn’t be so important. They’d have less to prove. This tells us something about who competes at the highest levels of business, politics and culture. There’s something deep down driving them that likely doesn’t come from a healthy place.' Repeat after me: I am a work in progress. Lots to think about here.
  • How to Play Pinball. Shifting gears now away from self-reflection, read about why pinball machines are a metaphor for life. 'Over time, pinball machines become something other than what rolled off the assembly line. They do time in arcades, movie theaters, bars, etc. Sometimes getting serviced by people who know what they’re doing. Sometimes getting serviced by people who have more creativity than sense, and sometimes getting serviced by people who know just enough to be dangerous. (Feel free to map these categories to medical professionals you’ve interacted with.) What I’m saying is that no two pinball machines are alike.'
  • How the Hell Did an Island Suddenly Appear, Then Vanish?. 'An island that appeared to suddenly materialize, then vanish, on Williston Lake in British Columbia over the summer was rediscovered on the massive reservoir on Monday. Once you’ve taken that all in, let’s ask the important question: How the heck did that happen?' Read more regarding the theories on how this floating mass (230ft x 460ft) of trees and vegetation was formed.
  • Violent Checkers. What's not to love; checkers redesigned as a physics-based demolition derby. Gleeful chaos.
  • The Deep Life Map. In 2023, Cal Newport called it a 'Deep Life Stack' and has been reframing it recently as a 'Deep Life Map'. What I found interesting (as I hadn't seen that original video), was how many parallels it has to what I've been noodling around with Life 2.0. Cal's 'life map' thesis is that there are three territories to explore: capability, values, and vision; and that people wander between these in a non-linear way rather than progressing through them. Interesting concept, and I look forward to reading his upcoming book on it.
  • When Meta-Work Becomes the Work. 'I’ve wasted countless hours testing new todo apps, distraction-free editors, Obsidian plugins, citation managers, read-it-later apps, etc. Each promises to unlock productivity. Some might, but in aggregate they don’t make up for the time wasted. Worse, meta-work creates the illusion of progress while accomplishing little.' I've written before on how PKM is dead, but what caused me to highlight this post, is that the author suggests that while true for humans, delegating these systems to agents is a different place for them so he can explore things of higher-value. Interesting.

Amor Fati ✌🏻