Hi! I hope you had a good weekend! Whereas I raced both Saturday & Sunday last week, this weekend, I just took it easy both days.
On Friday, we had a fun photoshoot at the office & our company Christmas dinner. Kristy & I both shared our gratitude to the team in posts as well.
In preparing for this article, I came across this article by Joe Hunt about Alan Watts and the 5 lessons he took from Watts' philosphy. All a bit hoity-toity perhaps, but nice reading to round out the year & share here:
🤟Lesson #1: On the meaning of life – "In the West, how much you know is the basis of wisdom. The more you know, the more you understand the world. In the East, [...], how much you don’t know, on the other hand — now that’s a sign of true wisdom."
😕 Lesson #2: On uncertainty & insecurity – “To be secure means to isolate and fortify the “I”, but it is just the feeling of being an isolated “I” which makes me feel lonely and afraid. In other words, the more security I can get, the more I shall want”. To put it still more plainly: the desire for security and the feeling of insecurity are the same thing. To hold your breath is to lose your breath.” — Alan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity
🛐 Lesson #3: On religion & faith – "No considerate God would destroy the human mind by making it so rigid and unadaptable as to depend upon one book, the Bible, for all the answers." [...] “To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.”
☯️ Lesson #4: On Taoism & nature – “For to try to say anything definite about the Tao is like trying to eat your mouth: you can’t get outside it to chew it. To put it the other way round: anything you can chew is not your mouth.”
😌 Lesson #5: On the present moment – “I have realised that the past and the present are real illusions, that they exist only in the present, which is what there is and all that there is. From one point of view, the present is shorter than a microsecond. From another, it embraces all eternity. But there isn’t anywhere, or anywhen, else to be.”
All of these quotes are meant to be just enough to compel you to dig in a bit more. For me, it was a fun exercise to try some new (old?) perspectives on for size : )
As an aside, I googled the subject line (that I thought I penned) for this issue and discovered a song from 2017 existed with the same title. Haha! Enjoy!
as always, thank you for reading & sharing this newsletter,
Jon
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📷: Team snap taken last Friday by William Lounsbury
Cycling
Does the Bike Industry Need Brand Ambassadors?
Recently, I dug into Spencer's substack post (he was the web editor at VeloNews, co-hosted the VeloNews Show, as well as their Podcast & worked at The Pro’s Closet, making videos, writing and editing articles)
"It’s asking a lot for gravel to satisfy everyone from serious racing fans to alternative adventurers."
I think that might be it. Gravel as a catch-all trend is waning, and to earn as a rider, it is indeed leaning more towards race results unless your storytelling is world-class and can compensate for the lack of podiums. And like the comment section says: as a brand, failing to manage an ambassador program well makes it worse for everyone too.
I'm still percolating on a strong stance here but if one thing is clear: the old influencer model is dated, and expectations are higher than ever on riders and marketing departments alike.
E-Bikes Are the Most Attractive Mode of Transport in Germany
A study finds that e-bikes are the most frequently used electric means of transportation.
The electric car is here to save the car industry. Bikes will save the world!
komoot is hiring a Managing Editor - Routes for the USA
komoot is looking for a managing editor with large-scale content creation experience to ramp up their efforts in the States.
There is a part-time Freelance Route Editor opening as well!
Ideas
Alan Watts - The Principle Of Not Forcing
A 13min talk by philosopher Alan Watts on the topic of Wu Wei, or "the principle of not forcing anything in life." Clearly, this caught my attention this week. ; )
Wu Wei is the art of sailing rather than the art of rowing.”
"This quote elegantly illustrates the literal meaning of the term Wu Wei: effortless action. Using the workings of nature to our advantage allows our actions to become effortless. Thus, by intuitively choosing the right approach and timing we can not only achieve more but also do so smilingly."Dario Geffen
Read more about Watts and this concept here.
The Stormtrooper Problem: Why Thought Diversity Makes Us Better
Nice one from Farnam Street that makes me grateful to have such an already diverse team at Twotone & compels me to push for even more in the future.
- Visible diversity is not the same as cognitive diversity.
- Cognitive diversity comes from thinking about problems differently, not from race, gender, or sexual orientation.
- Cognitive diversity helps us avoid blind spots and adapt to changing environments.
- You can’t have selection without variation.
- The Stormtrooper problem is when everyone working on a problem thinks about it in the same way.
Our friends at NOMOQ are hiring a Regional Account Manager BENELUX
NOMOQ is a young high-tech company that primarily supplies craft beverage manufacturers with digitally printed aluminum beverage cans. Click thru to learn more. : )
The link below is the EN listing and here is the NL listing.
Friends
Exploring Success with Marius Nilsen
After living in the city became a little too insular, photographer Marius Nilsen decided a more adventurous change of scene was in order.
Marius has one of my favorite Instagram accounts. I wanna come visit, man!
The Transformative Impact of Women’s Empowerment: an Editorial by Daniela Abril Gutierrez
This article discusses the intersection of cycling and the empowerment of women. Very cool!
Jelle Veersema of Cycloon Cycle Couriers was interviewed by Stefano of The BroomWagon Podcast 🚌
"Jelle Veersema with his company Cycloon is pushing delivery, last-mile delivery to be more precise, to the next level with the use of bikes."
Great episode, Stefano & Jelle!
Radness
Solo Bikepacking Around the World: Mind Mapping (Part 1)
"Mind Mapping (Part 1) is a new film by Finley Newmark that documents Boru McCullagh's first month of a bike trip around the world..."
Keep going, Boru!