Busy day today, so slightly cheating and pointing you to to this.

I’m in a funk.
And struggling mightily to get out.

Rebuiding stuff and writing for friends took up all of the last three days.

So sorry, nothing here.

But Daily Writing definitely got done.

Speaking of which, I’m experimenting with Static Site Generators.

Janusworx is now a Nikola powered blog, because I wanted something simple.

“Don’t think about making art, just get it done.
Let everyone else decide whether it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it.
While they’re deciding, make even more art.”

— Andy Warhol

Picture Credit - Ian Burt

But of a funny kind.

As I watch Poirot, I seem to have a strange longing for that period.
The 20s to the 50s.

I love the art of the age, the music, the food …

Everything seemed so … simpler, yet more elegant then.

I’ve been raving to my friends about Akimbo and I’m surprised I haven’t written about it here.
It’s one of the reasons, I’m glad I’m alive at a time like this.
There’s no way without modern technology, I could learn from a master like Seth Godin for free!

Akimbo is Seth’s latest project and it’s podcast on all things Seth.
To me, it’s my real life MBA.
They’re weekly, punchy, 20 minute episodes on a topic.

Last weeks episode about Genius was genius.

This week was all about The Long Term.
Ponzi schemes, Bitcoin ponzi ICOs, Mr. Ponzi himself, Whales, Hippos, Fedex, Olive trees, Starbucks and even Superman make an appearance.

Here are a few scambled notes …

• Emergencies feel like a matter of life or death
• Every culture in every corner of the globe has adopted the mindset that tomorrow is too late!
  1. We’re impatient and want a quick return on our effort
  2. We want proof. We’re insecure that our effort will pay off
  3. We want excitement!
  4. All three of these create a ratchet, that quickens things up drastically (and on a personal note, makes things overwhelming)
• Human beings are really shitty at the long run
  If you want prople to take action, you gotta compress it forward.

• If you want to change the behaviour of a group of people, make it all about the now. Make it urgent, not important.

  • Make it painful and expensive in the moment, if you want to stop them doing something (e.g. hefty taxes of cigarettes)
  • Make it lucrative and fun when you want them to pay attention.

• Stuff that matters, Mother Nature, everything actually takes a looooooong time.

• We need to figure out how to build resilient organisations with a mission that goes out further than a week

  • Our mission statement can’t be about market share
  • But about the work that matters

• Every one of us is capable of doing it

• There’s a significant advantage to be willing to take a long time, to inexorably evolve bit by bit, day by day, to deal with the Long Run.
  We are capable of of building organizations and companies like this.
  You could use emergencies to our advantage, create positive ratchets.
  Drip by drip, day by day, we change the culture.

Don’t forget to catch the show notes for each episode. They’re delightful.
And yes, go subscribe!

Maybe the lucky ones are the hidden figures.

… The motto of the philosopher Epicurus, which was taken up by the great essayist Montaigne as well, was lathe biōsas. Live in obscurity. The French saying, Pour vivre heureux, vivons cachés: “In order to live happily, live hidden.”

This is not to say you must be poor or a failure. You can still be extraordinary. You just don’t have to be the most extraordinary. You don’t have to strive to beat out all the other broken people, to be the most well-known out of everyone who ever wanted to be known.

Because what is that actually worth in the long run? Do you think you’ll appreciate your fame and money after you die? You think Alexander the Great knows that Alexandria is still standing?

Know your enough!

via Ryan Holiday’s The Most Successful People Are The Ones You’ve Never Heard Of (And Why They Want It That Way)

One of my biggest goals in life is to become as good as Randall Munroe, at explaining stuff, in such a warm engaging manner, by telling the awesomest stories!

THIS IS AWESOME!

I get both optimistic and a little lost and hopeless now a days.

What if I never do what I’m aiming to?
What if I can’t catch up with the young ones of DGPLUG?
What if the newer ones pass me right by as an old fogey?

And somewhile ago, I’d read this. And this.

And that got me thinking.

I’ve been working for 20 years now.
And when it comes to stuff I know, I know stuff.
It’ll take any johnny-come-lately tonnes of effort (not to mention, how many hours of their life) to know what I know.

And that got me thinking further.

Not everyone is an autodidact (like cough yours truly cough)
Not everyone loves to put in the work.

And that’s the meta skill I’m building right now.
To show up every day. To do the work.

If I do that, I will pick up skills.
And they will accrete.

And I will have my moat again.

Come to think of it, I have two moats now.

• My experience (what I have and what I’m buiding)
• My love of learning.

And that I think, will be the wind in my sails …