Weekly Mix #232 - Lessons of History, Note-Taking, Work Habits, Jake Gyllenhaal and Drones

Lessons of History, Note-Taking, Work Habits, Jake Gyllenhaal and Drones

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Happy Monday!

Lately I've had lots of conversations with friends thinking about changing course: considering a new job, a new city, a new relationship.

I try to avoid offering advice one way or the other; they should be the one to make the decision, and believe it's their own.

But there are two things I try to emphasize.

First, what's the worst-case scenario?

Often, it's much better than we imagine. But because we don't think about it in detail, we assume it's some kind of nightmare scenario.

The other: what will this teach me?

Even if the worst-case scenario is realized, most people forget that they will learn something valuable. Their assumptions about what a job might be like, or being single, or what's important about where they live.

Learning something new about important areas of our lives is so important.

But often we're scared to make the decision that will teach us something.

Have a great week.

Graham

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Links

📚 Book Notes: The Lessons of History - Will & Ariel Durant - The Durants wrote a massive 11-volume series called The Story of Civilization. The Lessons of History is all the main points distilled down to just 128 pages, which is short enough to read on a quick plane ride (like I did). A lovely little book with reminders of how much the world changes—or doesn't—that's guaranteed to give you some perspective.

📖 The Problem With Note-Taking - Lawrence Yeo - More to That - A short read that hit home for me—if you're a meticulous note-taker (like I am), what's it all for? What's the sacrifice of doing so? I've long believed that I remember less when I write things down (the upside being that I can look back at my notes).

📖 Atlassian’s work futurist says it’s time to spring clean your musty work habits - Lizzy Lawrence - Protocol - A good list of useful work habits and templates here, which begins with consistently evaluating if you can remove things. Actionable stuff in here for individual contributors and managers alike.

📖 The realities of the four-day workweek - Alex Christian - BBC - Four-day work weeks are an option where I work (Unito—we're hiring), and becoming more commonplace; a friend of mine had his whole company adopt the philosophy recently. But, as with hybrid work, there are lots of complications, both in how it is implemented, and the difficulties for those that opt in (if it's not company-wide).

📖 Secret ingredients for cooking - Hannah Loewentheil - Buzzfeed - Back with another Buzzfeed list, this time with secret cooking ingredients. There are a ton of useful ones in here, most to do with adding a bit of a particular flavour—saltiness, umami, creaminess, etc.

📖 Jake Gyllenhaal Reconsiders - Eric Sullivan - Esquire - Gyllenhaal has long been one of my favourite actors, and this profile is an interesting look at how he's evolved both as an actor and as a person through more than two decades in Hollywood.

📖 DJI's newest drone can fly in heavy rain—and has its own robotic dock - Sean Hollister - The Verge - Drone technology has come a long, long way in the last 10-15 years. The latest model from DJI shows just how much, with tech like autonomous landing and takeoff, 3-rotor emergency landing, and all-weather durability. Unbelievable (and not hard to imagine a human-size one).

🍿 Alicia Keys: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert - I love Alicia Keys and love Tiny Desk concerts. This one is a fun, intimate, chill set that's great to enjoy in the evening or on the weekend. Make sure you can enjoy the quality of the sound.

​10 Tweets

​10 visuals about success and productivity​

​How Sahil Bloom operates his personal flywheel​

​An upcoming lecture series about René Girard​

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