Musings
Weird and interesting things I’ve found…
Here are some things I’ve been musing about lately…
Dan Pink’s book “Drive” remains one of the best books on motivation (though most of the principles are still not applied in most workplaces), and Eric Barker, of “Barking up the Wrong Tree” still has one of the best summaries of Dan Pink’s book, with specific recommendations on how you can use them to motivate yourself (or your employees) better.
https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2015/01/how-to-be-motivated/
For the vast majority of human history, humans have had few calories and little information, so we evolved to seek rich sources of both, and we did not evolve mechanisms to stop overindulgence. So now, when we have huge amounts of calories and information easily accessible, we seen in our society an epidemic of obesity, and an epidemic of overuse of Facebook, YouTube, and related technologies. This article from Wired proposed that analogy, and it’s an interesting one. I’m not sure I agree with everything they have to say about it, but it sure made me think.
https://www.wired.com/story/free-speech-issue-tech-turmoil-new-censorship/
Here is some evidence that you make better decisions by looking at past events or other people’s experiences that are similar to your own — what this article calls the outside view — than by the inside view, assuming that your situation is different, and that you understand what’s going on. I think this article could have explained the point better, but it’s still an interesting one.
https://www.fs.blog/2015/05/inside-view-michael-mauboussin/
Before you post that link, take 30 seconds to verify it. If everyone did that before posting, we wouldn’t have the problems with misinformation and “fake” news that we have now. And it really only takes 30 seconds, so time is not an excuse. Here’s how to do it.
https://hapgood.us/2018/01/23/it-can-take-as-little-as-thirty-seconds-seriously/
Food for thought: “If the art legitimates cruelty, I think the art is not worth having.”
https://austinkleon.com/2018/01/30/when-art-just-makes-things-worse/
What I’m reading:
Fiction:
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
I’ve read and enjoyed many books by Neil Gaiman, but this was the one that really made me a fan. Set in the same story world as “American Gods” (the TV show based on the book is brilliant, by the way, I recommend it), this book is much shorter and much lighter than “American Gods”, but just as profound. It is about the twin sons of the African spider god Anansi as the two find out that their father has died, and they have to sort out their own identities and relationships to each other and their late father. This is Gaiman’s best book, in my opinion, and considering what else he’s written, that’s saying something.
Non-fiction
Anything You Want by Derek Sivers
Sivers is an interesting person, because he managed to become a highly successful entrepreneur kind of by accident. This book is a very short, very fast read, almost an essay in book form rather than a book as we usually think of it. It details the lessons Sivers has learned from being an accidental entrepreneur (He started and sold CD Baby, the first successful platform for indie musicians to sell their music). He takes pains to point out that the way he did it is not THE way to make a successful company, but A way, and a way that is usually ignored by business schools and others teaching entrepreneurs. Even if you don’t have any plans to start your own business, this is a worthwhile read in terms of a very quick and easy way to glimpse a different way to look at life and work, and begin questioning things you’ve taken for granted.
Have a great week, and keep musing on interesting things…
Heather
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