brain pickings are are short and actionable advice on marketing, productivity and humaning. I write them daily'ish, sometimes insightful, sometimes personal, always humurous. happy scrolling!
the difference between you “could do that” and someone else that’s actually done that, is simply…
they’ve done it, and not you.
between all of the lengthy analogies, unrelatable stories and few actionable advice, at the core of every productivity self help book ever, lays the ultimate secret:
just do the fucking thing.
screw motivation, what you need is discipline.
I’ll see you tomorrow.
today is day 202 of the year, there are 163 days remaining of 2022.
I think about death all the time.
stoically, not… morbidly (most days at least)
it’s the reason I write the daily countdown at the end of every picking,
a reminder to myself (and now, you) to live every day as if it’s your last day on earth,
one day that will be true.
we were squeezed into existence by a flicker of chance,
on a land that offered us everything…
to wake up breathing the same air you went to sleep with, is a gift beyond human comprehension,
and so I feel compelled, every day, to make the most of it.
Derek Sivers said it so well:
“A lot of people die with things still inside of them.”
I want to go as far as my legs will take me,
think as deeply as my experiences will allow me,
and create until there’s nothing else to give it.
I want to die empty.
today is day 201 of the year, there are 164 days remaining of 2022.
the first time I’ve ever had to write a CV was for school, as homework.
it’s not all that surprising, seeing how I have a bachelor’s degree in human resources.
what is surprising, however…
is that, my first time writing a CV, has conveniently also been, my last.
why? well, at the risk of inserting too many backfitting explanations, it still reads as nice story, so here goes…
CV is an acronym for curriculum vitae.
curriculum = course/schedule
vitae = life
I’ve been completely financially independent since the old age of 20,
have had quite a few jobs clients since,
and have never once been asked to summarize my life’s course,
not in a linear-progression-of-job-titles-per-anum kind of way.
and thank god for that, I don’t think my kindergarten teacher would want to provide a reference.
work is less about the different forms of work and is more about the skills you develop playing this infinite game.
if you’re lucky to live in a country that gives you the freedom of choice and information, then you hopefully know that no one in history has ever had more options to choose a new career and access to learn the necessary skills, than we have today.
there is nothing inherently wrong with the idea of having your life’s course laid out, for an employer to measure your fit within the company,
what is wrong, is the mass obsession it produces for aesthetic job titles, as opposed to rewarding, or, dare I say, enjoyable ones.
I understand the need for a system that allows for easy vetting, but we must not substitute rigor for logic,
there are innumerable inimitable personal and professional experiences that cannot be reflected in a LinkedIn profile.
we have the technology to do it,
it’s simply a matter of erasing the hard lines the industrial revolution has drawn around work,
now we know better, so we must do better.
as for myself…
I am moved like a puppet pulled by the strings of my own curiosities,
the collection of rabbit holes I have fallen into trying to figure out “how this fucking thing works” now accounts for my continuously evergrowing and everchanging skillset,
I’ve completed enough levels to now know what game I want to play, indefinitely.
(at least for now)
today is day 199 of the year, there are 166 days remaining of 2022.
the bigger it gets,
the bigger the team,
the lengthier the list of software,
the more money,
the more responsibilities,
the more forceful the pressure to make (more) money,
the more we lose track of the obvious.
Obvious Adams by Robert Updegraff is a pillar book in marketing, we should all revisit with every trip to the bathroom.
if you haven’t yet read it, the premise of the book is “keep it simple, stupid”
writing must be simple,
product must be simple,
offer must be simple.
simple ≠ easy.
I found my most favorite example of this rule in a very unlikely place…
a farmer’s market in romania.
much like every other country, romania has different areas known to produce the best X product.
portugal has porto wine.
colombia has coffee.
dăbuleni has watermelons.
as a result, seemingly every single watermelon sold in romania comes from dăbuleni.
which makes me think that the sellers are either
A. lying or
B. lying.
I can tell you from personal experience that there’s nothing funnier than seeing a sea of watermelons at the farmer’s market with well designed “dăbuleni” signs on them.
as if screaming “I’m special, just like everyone else”
(the above is a great metaphor for what happens with most products in the market at the moment)
if all watermelons come from dăbuleni then no watermelons come from dăbuleni.
so what does this watermelon grower do?
something genius.
he takes a copy of his ID, that clearly states his city of residence, dăbuleni, and amplifies it 100 times over to create a massive banner.
he had the biggest queue in the whole market, here’s the legend in action.
keep it simple, stupid.
today is day 196 of the year, there are 169 days remaining of 2022.
I had my first panic attack rolling over a dirty floor in a Lisbon gas station,
I had gone from actively planning my summer vacation to impending death, in a matter of seconds.
I distinctively remember rocking back and forth waiting for the ambulance to arrive,
when I finally open my eyes to let the world in,
and that’s when I see him…
a faceless man looking back at me, chomping on a sandwich, watching the scene unfold with merry detachment.
this man’s evening had studently become more interesting than what the sunrise had promised. I became his entertainment.
lives continue to be lived, no matter what…
ironically,
this coolness gave me permission to let go and let live.
even more ironically,
what seemed like the finish line, had become a starting line for a life I could have never planned for,
(not matter how good my goal system is)
and while no one is allowed to die more than once, I know that a part of me ceased to exist that day,
destined to remain only in the fog of memory of those that knew me then.
I’ll see you tomorrow.
today is day 192 of the year, there are 174 days remaining of 2022.
most people spend more time planning their vacation than they do planning their lives.
can’t really blame them,
a vacation guaranteed to happen in the near future is infinitely more interesting to plan for, than a volatile and incontrollable life,
(the pandemic taught us that much)
I can’t really say that I was planning to retire at the young age of 35 once I’ve sold the lemonade stand cartel that I had built BUT, even as a child, I have always had a very strong sense of what I wanted,
I didn’t know how, I didn’t even know why, I knew what.
turns out, that’s the worse possible way to plan your life, at least for me it was.
for a very long time inertia had got the better of me and I got stuck collecting nothing more than blind momentum, that I had proudly labeled “achievements.”
luckily, it only took two panic attacks and nine months of weekly visits to the couch for me to stop and ask myself…
“what the fuck is this for?”
the answer to that question has allowed me to write myself reminders (not marching orders,)
and obtain more clarity and drive than I’ve ever had in my life.
I’ll see you tomorrow.
today is day 191 of the year, there are 175 days remaining of 2022.