Archives for 2022

I love finding hidden gems in London.

It always feels like there’s a quirk, artwork, or piece of history that’s waiting to be discovered.

Today I came across a postage stamp vending machine.

Clearly no longer in use, but still left in its place just outside the post office.

It was less of a reminder, and more of a discovery of what life used to be like.

When letters were the fast form of communication, of course there would’ve been a postage stamp vending machine. I just never considered it.

Perhaps one day people will think the same about our current devices.

When I was a kid, my mum would always buy clothes and shoes in sizes that seemed like four sizes too large.

Some of you may be able to relate. Kids grow so quickly, so why not “buy something that’s going to last a few years.”

I was laughing with mum recently about how some items were worn well before they ever fit—like those clomping, clown-ish, school shoes that had much more than an extra thumb width of space.

But I loved, and still love, the sentiment behind the idea.

Think ahead. Plan for the future. What may be right today may not be the best for tomorrow. Deal with some discomfort now, but it’ll pay off later.

These principles usually hold true.

I may just avoid buying four sizes too large for my own kids.

There are other ways to learn that lesson 😉

Today was the first time in a long time that the number of people in the office outnumbered the number people on video conference.

I’m at the tail end of this persistent cold, so it meant I was one of the few people, if not the only person, who was dialling in remotely for my meetings.

But even from afar, it was great to hear the rumble of chatter and the bubbling energy that’s been missing for so long.

We’re back. It feels normal. And it a great sign of things to come.

This is always a trusty reminder: when working through a complex problem, tricky situation, or tough trade-off, it almost always pays to take a step back and ask “Why?”

We may already know the answer. We may learn something new. Or we may have been so deep in the weeds that we forget there is a larger purpose to the challenge at hand.

This little habit can help us with both making better decisions, and avoiding catastrophic outcomes.

The more meaningful the work, the less we overthink about the small stuff.

So when we overthink, it’s time to look at what we’re working on.

Is it a meaningful, worthy, and fulfilling way to spend the little time we’re given?

There’s been a stunning trend in recent years of musical artists selling their catalogues to labels and investment firms.

Bob Dylan, sold his rights and master recordings for $500 million. Stevie Nicks, sold hers for $100 million. And it isn’t just artists from past generations either. The Killers, Imagine Dragons, and Shakira have done the same.

In return for an eye watering sum, these artists give the new owners the right to licence the songs out to whomever they choose.

The principle behind any good investment is that the net present value of future cash flows will be worth more than the amount paid to buy the asset today. In the case of Bob Dylan, this means Universal and Sony think they’ll make significantly more than the $500 million paid for his music.

I’m no expert in this space, but I think we’ll see a few things happen over the coming years.

1) More and more artists will sell the rights to their music. They’ll receive an immediate, monumental pay day, and forego a set of future cash flows that weren’t guaranteed anyway.

2) There is going to be a tonne more music licensing in the future. The songs of these famous artists will be heard in more places, in more movies, in more advertisements, and at more events than ever before. The buyers have to make back their money somehow. The need to license will likely drive down the price to license a hit song, and create a lot more liquidity in the market. For example, right now I couldn’t upload a video to YouTube with a Bob Dylan song as the background music. In the future, for a few dollars, I may be able to licence any song from his catalogue, or any song from a long list of artists.

I don’t see how Dylan’s catalogue is worth half a billion, but someone does!

Finally, I’m still not convinced if this is artists selling smart, or selling out.

I’ve was unwell this past week. Not COVID, thankfully, but a cold / flu thing.

When I retrace my steps, I can pinpoint a few potential causes.

Travelling from New Zealand to the UK. Jumping straight back into working, exercising, and seeing friends without taking a moment to pause. Additionally, a bunch of cycles and runs in the rainy, windy, cold, winter weather likely weren’t helpful either.

One morning earlier this week, I went to the gym and my trainer said I wasn’t looking too good, but stubborn and committed, I said I was fine, and pushed through.

That evening, I felt rotten.

I didn’t listen to my body, and by exerting myself when my defences were already down, I believe I added a couple of extra days to the recovery required.

I’m really feeling this lesson this week: slow down to speed up.

My prescription sunglasses were useless after my LASIK surgery.

Instead of throwing out the pair, I popped out the lenses, and ordered a non-prescription set from Sunglass Fix.

They’re an Australian-based business that has a “cut on demand” lens service. They have the frame dimensions of thousands of frames and manufacturers, making it super easy to find the right lens/frame combo.

If you still like your frames, but perhaps the lenses are scratched, they provide a great low cost way to get a “new” pair of glasses; without the waste, and without the cost.

I’m a big fan of businesses like this where the idea just makes sense.

I really liked Seth’s post from today.

Here’s a short excerpt: “We were wrong.” Groups rarely say this. They often (and loudly) state “we are right,” but when the future arrives, and it always does, it’s not surprising that it turns out that many projections and predictions turned out to be wrong.

How much better could our work, relationships, friendships, and projects be if we created a safe space to say, “We were wrong”?

And what if we welcomed it? Celebrated it? Normalised it?

Safe spaces may see more mistakes, but they also see more magic.

I saw a quote on Twitter, I believe incorrectly attributed to Steve Jobs, but it did get me thinking—and that’s the important thing.

“The only button a microwave needs is “+30” seconds.”

Most microwaves are unnecessarily complicated. There are too many buttons, too many options, and my bet is 95% of the functionality is rarely used.

Microwaves aren’t important. But our ideas, projects, products, services, and experiences are.

Why add all the noise when one button does the trick?

I’m about 3 weeks into my half marathon training, and I thought I’d share my programme with you.

I’ve had it vetted by a few trusted friends—all of whom are much more experienced runners than I am.

The plan is deliberately conservative.

My goal is to complete the training programme, and the race, with zero injuries. I’m not concerned with my pace or time.

All my training runs are low intensity, targeting 60% of my max heart rate: which is around 120bpm. I use a Polar H10 synced to my watch to keep track of this during my runs.

I do a short, medium, and a long run each week. And I’m also targeting a 10% increase in distance each week. Being disciplined with small, incremental mileage increases mean that I haven’t yet had a day where I’ve woken up feeling sore.

A half marathon is 21kms, so my goal is to get to the point where I can run 17kms for my long run, and then I’ll be ready to tackle the event.

I’m also trying to get to the end of every run with some gas left in the tank: meaning I could comfortably run another 1-2kms. This rule has helped immensely with recovery and fatigue.

Regarding diet and nutrition, I’ve been low carb for a number of years now, but I’ve now added carbs into my diet; mainly oats and wholegrain rice and bread. I’m keeping protein intake high as I’m still continuing with strength training 3-4 times per week.

Here is a link to my training plan. All numbers are in kilometres.

I really liked this thought from Dee Hock, the founder and former CEO of Visa.

Before we speak or write we should have five things in mind:

1. Ignorance is arrogant, wisdom is humble.
2. Ignorance asserts, wisdom considers.
3. Ignorance demands, wisdom suggests.
4. Ignorance is verbose, wisdom is reticent.
5. Ignorance is pervasive, wisdom is scarce.

It’s a great sense check we can use in our daily conversations, and for when we put pen to paper.

You can start a sentence with ‘and’.

And whoever told you that you can’t, is wrong.

Writing is about what sounds and feels right.

The rules are a helpful guide, but don’t let them suck the soul out of what you have to say.

Since travel opened up last July, I’ve noticed an odd thing in a few of the smaller, tourist towns I’ve passed through.

Some products are sold very close to, or even past, their best before date.

I noticed it with sunscreen in Spain, and a health foods and supplements store in New Zealand.

It makes sense. Many stores in these places missed their usual flow of travellers for almost 18 months. Products bought, and expected to be sold, weren’t. So they sit on shelves until they do.

At the beginning, I complained about the “expired” sunscreen. But as time has passed, I’ve developed a bit of Best Before Leniency.

Everyone has had a tough couple years, especially hospitality and tourism. And given the best before date is only a guide, there’s no need to waste.

This is a small and trivial example, but it did get me thinking more about leniency as a concept. We can choose to be more lenient if we want to, and we can choose to put fewer things into black and white categories. And I wonder if that’d make a difference, for us and for others.

Genuine question: what is the best way to learn how to relax when under pressure to ultimately make better decisions?

There is a lot of theory on decision making, but much less on making good decisions when under pressure. And learning via personal experience (often through mistakes) seems like an inefficient and costly way to learn.

I’d be keen to hear your thoughts!