The Curse of Meh

Hello, friend.

I know, I know... it's been a minute since I've had a proper entry after my end-of-the-year "Things I Like" post. I'm still figuring out what I want to reshape my little corner of the internet into.

My initial intent with Makoism was to share a few links and ideas; it has organically morphed back into a proper newsletter/blog. While I aim to keep these together, I still need to figure out what shape they should take. Should it be one blast? Separate chains of thought? A unique area for a small group of subscribers with additional content? I want to keep this fun and exciting, so we'll see where we end up.

You may also notice that I've started to set up a few new areas on the site: favorite book lists, a now page, a gear shop, and other random stuff. I'm going to continue to play.

Shifting gears a bit, I wanted to put onto paper a few thoughts rattling around my skull lately around "The Curse of Meh" or, more precisely mediocrity brews mediocrity — the fate of being just, well, average.

When starting my career, one of the most powerful things I learned early on was in order to drive strong performance is to expect excellence.

I'm not implying that soul-crushing-endless-work type of crap that brews the bullshit around "10x Engineers". It's not about crazy micromanagement or pressuring people on a death march crunch mode.

Instead, it's about focusing on not settling.

Tim Ferris talks about this in The Four Hour Workweek:

Doing less meaningless work, so that you can focus on things of greater importance, is NOT laziness.

This is hard for most to accept because our culture rewards personal sacrifice instead of personal productivity.

Let's define "laziness" anew-to endure a non-ideal existence, to let circumstance or others decide life for you, or to amass a fortune while passing through life like a spectator from an office window. The size of your bank account doesn't change this, nor does the number of hours you log in handling unimportant e-mails or minutiae.

Focus on being productive instead of busy.

And often, it's not even about perfection (as there is no perfection in life), crushing a particular goal, or even something attainable. But the effort is excellent. Things are "ambitious but attainable".

And more often than not, it boils down to accountability.

The other day, someone in my board of directors said I've lowered my expectations for excellence in some areas. "Two years ago, you called out if someone was an hour late. Today, they are 20 minutes late." Instead of pushing to "be on time," I've lowered my expectations to "well, it's not as bad as it used to be."

Harsh and honest feedback. The type you need from your board of directors.

So, that's where I have chosen to spend a ton of time heading into 2024 - to stop rewarding mediocrity. Ensuring that I am providing clear instructions and expectations and making sure people understand. It's not easy either, as accountability is something many people need help with. You have to look inwards - mediocrity can often be a sign of poor leadership, not necessarily a bad team.

You get what you settle for. You have to engage your team. It would help if you asked questions in 1:1's like:

• What do you need to be successful?
• Help me understand what's going on.
• Is there anything I can do better to help you?

These can go a long way to comprehending a situation where someone isn't pulling their weight. But in the end, you need to set high standards.

I'm going to wrap this one up with a clip from Will Guidara, author of the book Unreasonable Hospitality, which is a fascinating story about excellence and mindful caring — a wonderful example of going beyond mediocre.

This story starts with a hot dog; and is the inspiration for a scene in my favorite new watch, The Bear.

For reference, the episode is in Season 2, Episode 7, also known as "Forks":

If you enjoy these posts, you can buy me a coffee ☕️, check out my store or just share my work. If you'd rather just keep up with my daily ramblings, follow me via your favorite RSS reader, via Mastodon or keep reading my posts on this blog. Your support is much appreciated!

Exploration 🧭

Someone finally kill-screened Tetris. Fascinating watch!

Quotables 📚

Quality of life is 10% about what happens to you, and 90% about how you choose to respond.
- Mijndert (mijndert)

Articles Worth Reading 🧠

Here are a few random findings that I thought would be interesting to share:

• When I was younger, my enthusiasm for technology burned bright, and, if I'm being honest, so much of that has been erased over the years with the demolition of privacy, the onslaught of rinse/repeat, and the lack of fresh ideas. Do What You're Excited About was a nice kick-in-the-pants for a few sources for inspiration on how to reignite passion once again, and how to be inspired by excitement.
• It's an artifact of getting older/wiser, but I always find these posts valuable in helping me re-examine a few things. The friendship problem was a thoughtful look at a feeling that the 'presence of friendship' was dwindling in the author's life and how 'modern loneliness masks itself as hyper-connectivity'. Another downside to social media is constant scrolling. 'We are so burned out by our data-heavy, screen-based, supposedly friction-free lives that we no longer have the time or energy to engage in the kind of small, unfabulous, mundane, place-based friendships or acquaintance-ships that have nourished and sustained humans for literal centuries.'
• I've often enjoyed NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series, but was entertained by Fred again..: Tiny Desk Concert. Fred again.. 's artistry is best known for his electronic DJ performances. Still, he has collaborated with other singers, such as Demi Lovato and Ed Sheeran, and has recently been nominated for Best New Artist. Check out a unique performance.
• If you purposely carved time out, how would you invest Those five spare hours each week? While the post talks about career building, I think this is a purposeful exercise for anyone, especially when the investment is in how you want to live your life and spend each day (Life 2.0).
• In How to Thrive as a GPM at Microsoft, offers some specifics about what makes a successful Group Program Manager. Still, I found his advice valuable for anyone who wants to be in a leadership position. I've been thinking a lot about fire starters lately, and his comments on being a change agent and finding your superpower are right on point.
• Not cool as OpenAI Quietly Deletes Ban on Using ChatGPT for “Military and Warfare”. When will people realize/understand that GPT is not artificial intelligence?
• Today I learned about The Hidden World of Undersea Cables. Wild stuff.
• In Game Thinking, Explained, read about 'art and science of engaging customers on a compelling path to mastery.' The core learning loop is solid advice for anyone, not just game builders, to consider when building compelling products.
• This Year, Let Go Of The People Who Aren’t Ready To Love You is a brave post on just stopping so you can start. 'Stop having hard conversations with people who don't want to change. Stop showing up for people who are indifferent about your presence. Stop prioritizing people who make you an option.' Minimalism.
• I love the phrase, Rust Never Sleeps. And while the post dives into the various forms of corrosion that occur in metal, the Statue of Liberty restoration project when I re-read the article I kept thinking about the 'rust' in our own lives. It's a powerful metaphor.
• I need to learn how to describe the essay, Qualities of Life. It partially talks about the 'influence of our networks from our societies', but deeper down it's really about having better tools in our hands—a really good thinking piece.
• A comparison to the crypto industry to The Bond villain compliance strategy. But I loved the framing and how it applies to so many (politics, work empires, etc.): 'He has long been adjacent to money and power but craves more. Several years ago, he escaped his low-on-the-ladder job at an existing institution. He built a base of power that is independent of institutions. From it, he successfully puppets any organization he needs to. He and his organization are from elsewhere, everywhere, all at once. They have no passports and fly no flags; these concepts are thoroughly beneath them. They move around frequently and are always where the plot requires them to be, exactly when it requires them to be there. No law constrains them. Governments scarcely exist in their universe. To the limited extent they come to any government's attention, no effective action is taken. The villain rises to the heights of influence and power.'

Recommended 🎸

Pass the Aux | Elton John and Brandi Carlile

Elton John and Brandi Carlile reflect on their early musical influences, the tracks that have left a lasting impact, and the personal significance of their new collaboration in this episode of “Pass the Aux”

PitchforkPitchfork TV

Be well. ✌🏻