Welcome to Friday,
I’m writing from a beige hotel room in west Texas, surrounded by rocks and cactus, quarantining for two weeks upon my arrival back in my home state. Having driven across the US three separate times this year (and it’s barely April), I’ve had ample time to think. One recurring thought is about how our framing of events matters much more than the events themselves. What you think about the choice is more important than the choice itself. How you respond to the disaster is more impacting than the event itself. A cross-country move is an opportunity to see with fresh eyes. Driving four days straight is practice in navigation and getting comfortable outside one’s comfort zone. A year later, the pandemic still presents the opportunity to read, journal, cook, exercise, write more than we otherwise would. Spending my days in a tiny room, an island of calm in the midst of swirling change, presents the challenge of perspective; of looking not for the bright side, but for the lesson. And so, whatever walls you might be staring down today or moving you may have this weekend, look for the lesson you might take with you when the experience is behind you. Look for perspective.
This weekend’s links:
Cal Newport is one of the few highly successful authors who understands and actively encourages his readers to put tech in its proper place, as a tool to improve your work or relationships, rather than as a compulsive overlord to appease. He writes about “productivity” with the perspective of keeping work within the larger context of living a whole and complete life. His piece on John Steinbeck’s 100-square-foot writing shed on the bay talks less about the idyllic setting (who wouldn’t want a private shed to unleash your creativity upon or private access to the waterfront?) and more about how the author structured his days. He contrasts Steinbeck’s wandering afternoons with the adoration of busyness, concluding that the time to amble and indulge curiosity resulted in impressive output. It’s an especially great piece to read on a Friday.
A Confederacy of Dunces and the stranger-than-fiction story of how the book went from struggling to find a publisher to winning the Pulitzer Prize.
New research links sleep deprivation and gut health. Could unbalanced oxygen partially explain why sleep deprivation kills animals, including humans? It’s fascinating to see studies demonstrating just how interconnected our bodies’ systems are.
I’ve read this essay five times in the past month. It is precise and true; Effort. “Here’s what I know: if someone’s much better than you at something, they probably try much harder. You probably underestimate how much harder they try. I’m not saying that talent isn’t a meaningful differentiator, because it certainly is, but I think people generally underestimate how effort needs to be poured into talent in order to develop it. So much of getting good at anything is just pure labor: figuring out how to try and then offering up the hours.”
Lastly, the future pictured by people in the past. Does the Jetliner picture remind anyone else of a cruise ship? Isn’t it amazing how closely our present resembles these imaginings? The sky really is (not even) the limit.
Currently reading: I Never Had It Made by Jackie Robinson
Have a great Easter weekend.
