Weekly Mix #183 - No Headphones, NFTs, Writing Simply & Low Expectations

Weekly Mix #183 - No Headphones, NFTs, Writing Simply & Low Expectations

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Happy Monday!

My favourite short essay this week was about Getting Unstuck.

A reminder that if you'd like to build a writing habit for 30 days, you can enroll in the March cohort of Ship 30 for 30 with me.

In this week’s newsletter:

Article: It's ok to take a walk without headphones - Khe Hy​

Article: A Word on NFTs - Continuations​

Article: Write Simply - Paul Graham​

Article: An Ode to Low Expectations - Tim Lahan​

Product: Hypothesis​

10 Tweets

Have a wonderful week!

Graham

Article: It's ok to take a walk without headphones - Khe Hy​

This one hit me hard.

Khe distinguishes between telic activities—those directed towards an end goal—and atelic activities—those done for their own sake.

He makes the point that earphones, podcasts, and a myriad of other media have made it possible to be "productive" during almost any activity. Even those which should be pursued for their own sake.

“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone”—Blaise Pascal

Article: A Word on NFTs - Continuations​

NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have been shaking up the art world, with pieces of digital art selling at astronomical prices. On the surface, they don't make much sense.

How can you sell a Tweet?

How can you sell a digital product at all, when they can be copied perfectly, and infinitely?

This piece provides the best explanation I've come across so far:

"The underlying misconception here is to think that in the digital world copies are indistinguishable from originals. In a trivial sense this is true. Let’s say you copy a digital artwork, you will now have exactly the same bit sequence as the original. But in a much more profound sense it is not. To understand that it helps to follow a thought experiment.

Put yourself 100 years ahead. We have made further progress in sensors and in 3D printing. You visit the Louvre, hold up your phone and take depth scan of the Mona Lisa. It captures not just the visible light at the top but also every layer underneath it. Back home you feed this into your advanced multi materials printer and it produces a perfect replica of the Mona Lisa.

Do you now own the Mona Lisa? No, you have a copy of it. Even though your copy is now identical to the original. Imagine for a moment trying to sell it.

As long as a buyer can easily call up the Louvre and ask them if they still have the Mona Lisa and they can credibly assert that they do, your copy will be worth very little."

Article: Write Simply - Paul Graham​

A quick read from Paul Graham on why you should write in a simple way.

"There's an Italian dish called saltimbocca, which means "leap into the mouth." My goal when writing might be called saltintesta: the ideas leap into your head and you barely notice the words that got them there."

"...fancy writing doesn't just conceal ideas. It can also conceal a lack of them."

Article: An Ode to Low Expectations - Tim Lahan​

A quick read that should serve as a reminder not to take yourself too seriously:

"Strive for excellence, by all means. My God, please strive for excellence...But lower the bar, and keep it low, when it comes to your personal attachment to the world. Gratification? Satisfaction? Having your needs met? Fool’s gold. If you can get a buzz of animal cheer from the rubbishy sandwich you’re eating, the daft movie you’re watching, the highly difficult person you’re talking to, you’re in business. And when trouble comes, you’ll be fitter for it.

Revise your expectations downward. Extend forgiveness to your idiot friends; extend forgiveness to your idiot self. Make it a practice."

Product: Hypothesis​

Hypothesis is a Chrome extension that lets you highlight and annotate anything on the web.

Add the extension, click it when on a webpage or story, and then highlight away. Those highlights are saved to your Hypothesis account.

I use Readwise to automatically sync those highlights to other tools I use, like Evernote, Notion, and Roam.

It's hard to understate how useful I find this tool.

You can get a free month of Readwise here.​

10 Tweets:

​20+ ways to improve your writing​

​Everything you need to know to build an audience online​

​Why you need to be the boss of your own ideas - Tim Urban​

​How to overcome procrastination - Julian Shapiro​

​Why creating and building for your own satisfaction is the greatest perseverance hack - Scott Belsky​

Photos: First pizza of 2021

We had an unusually warm day here on Friday, and made the most of it by firing up the pizza oven for the first time this year!

Sunsets and homemade pizza—small joys.

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