I was reading: Entropy: Why Life Always Seems to Get More Complicated (sounds chill right?) and then, as I do, I looked for words that rhymed with entropy for the subject line.
The example was a Cursive lyric:
"The abortive child of entropy
Careening for identity"
– 'Tempest' from The Storms of Early Summer: Semantics of Song [Remastered] by Cursive
I learned Cursive just re-released a 20th anniversary remastered version of The Storms of Early Summer: Semantics of Song. (Listen on Bandcamp) I've been a fan since the early 200o's but somehow skipped this album & immersed myself in Burst & Bloom, Domestica and Ugly Organ... OK, digressing a little bit here.
But still, all these 20-year reissues get me thinking sometimes of how decades mash up more easily than they used to for me. The scale of time has gained perspective; I can wrap my head around 10 years pretty easily now. And, yet, at the same time, like I said at the beginning: life always seems to get more complicated.
So what can one do to rein in the entropy? The article I read by James Clear has some practical insight & actionable advice:
- "It is likely you'll face mismatch conditions in your life. At the very least, life will not be optimal [...] It is far more likely that you are living in a mismatch condition than in a well-matched one.
- Knowing this, you must take it upon yourself to design your ideal lifestyle. You have to turn a mismatch condition into a well-matched one. Optimal lives are designed, not discovered.
- There is a related insight here: You should probably quit things faster than you do. There is always a risk that you will quit too early, but of all the possible things you could be exposed to and invested in, it is very unlikely that you are currently engaged in the best thing for you. Thus, if results are not coming easily, move on.
- It is nobody's fault that life has problems. It is simply a law of probability. There are many disordered states and few ordered ones. Given the odds against us, what is remarkable is not that life has problems, but that we can solve them at all."
As an eternal optimist, the concept of entropy doesn't dissuade me from believing things will likely be solved and even end up awesome just often not like we had hoped. What do you think?
as always, thank you for reading,
Jon
❤️ this? pls tweet, share on LinkedIn or share on FB. Thanks! 🙏
Cycling
XPDTN3: MT. TSURUGI, JAPAN
Marc of XPDTN3 decided to head south instead of Tokyo, to the Tokushima prefecture, to ride with Hayato Higuchi and Minsu Oh from ASAHI. Their target was the longest gravel mountain road in Japan, the famous Mt Tsurugi "Super Forest Road". Can't be a bad choice with that name...
Gravel Club Utrecht
Who says North Holland doesn't have great gravel?
PREORDER | The MOSKITO Watch
I'm kinda obsessed with these. Learn more.
Startups
✌️❤️ : PEACEANDLOVE
Businesses need both to survive.
My bud Benjamin helps young companies grow up,
and older companies learn from their children.
I also like to play guitar with him : )
"52 things I learned in 2017" by Tom Whitwell, a consultant at Fluxx, reformed journalist, hardware designer.
These are amazing.
Decrypting Crypto, From Bitcoin and Blockchain to ICOs – Andreessen Horowitz
This is worth a watch whether you know Bitcoin and Blockchain or not.
Also worth your time: Ben Evans' keynote at Andreessen Horowitz's annual 'Tech Summit' conference. He spoke about the state of tech today and what's likely to happen in the next decade: mobile, Google / Apple / Facebook / Amazon, innovation, machine learning, autonomous cars, mixed reality and crypto-currencies: http://bit.ly/2BeCbPM
Sales
SalesHacker @ Workspace6 - 3 amazing speakers: IBM, de Persgroep and Keynote!
TONIGHT is the last Sales Hacker edition of 2017. We're going to zoom in on two hot topics in the sales industry:
- What are the possible applications of blockchain technology within our industry?
- And how to leverage the role of being 'local' in your sales process?
Failed Startup Interviews: Failory
Failory is a community where failed startup owners tell their stories and the mistakes they committed so that future entrepreneurs can learn from them.
I've written about glamourizing failure, rest & criticized over using burnout as a crutch but I'm opening up to the idea of the importance of having a breakdown.
Rules for working in a studio
- Don’t hide your work
- Offer help
- Ask for help
- Tell the truth
- Upgrade your tools
- Don’t hide your mistakes
- Add energy, don't subtract it
- Share
- If you're not proud of it, don't ship it
- Know the rules of your craft...
Radness
Light | Camera
I caught this through Jon Moss' newsletter. I've been secretly longing for a new point & shoot. Won't likely spring for a Leica and considered Sonys, Panasonics, and others. But this looks rad! Anyone have experience?
