Archives for August 2023

Not every post makes it to publish.

Not every idea ends up working.

Not every product gets traction.

Embrace the duds.

They’re part of the journey.

Apparently, you should repot your indoor plants every 2 years.

For ours, it had been 3 years.

So as we pulled all of our plants out of their pots this weekend (we repotted every plant in the house!), we saw how the roots had swarmed and sprawled to the edges of their pots. The poor things were starving more space and soil.

I couldn’t help but see the metaphor for our own journeys. We’re always growing and changing, and eventually we outgrow the pot we’re in and require a change. That change can be stressful, and selecting the right sized pot and right type of soil is critical.

I have a pretty good hit rate when it comes to picking out Venus in the night sky. It usually looks like one of the brightest and largest stars, and typically hugs the horizon.

I enjoyed this article covering the only photos we have from the surface of Venus—the last being from 1982.

I find it fascinating that Venus is one of our closest planets (Fun fact: Mercury is in fact the closest planet to Earth), yet we have no photographic evidence of what Venus’ surface looks like other than a 57-minute photoshoot from 40 years ago.

The photoshoot lasted less than an hour because Venus’ surface temperature fo 450 degrees Celsius and atmospheric pressure of 90 atmospheres (equivalent to a depth of 900 metres), made it extremely difficult to get even a few photos.

Think about all of life on Earth, and everything that has ever existed on this planet, and imagine if the only image you’ve seen was from a 57-minute photoshoot, on a random day, in a random place somewhere on the planet.

Of course, our planet is lucky to be teeming with life and much more interesting that Venus. But these photos got me thinking a lot about perspective.

I was watching the Australia vs. France women’s World Cup quarter final match this morning. Australia’s captain and the world’s best female player, Sam Kerr, has been hampered by a calf injury and has not started in any games this World Cup. However, she has been brought on in the final 30 minutes in the past two games to give her team an edge.

In the 65th minute, one of the commentators mentioned how the intensity of the game lifted once Kerr came on the field. I thought it was an excellent example of how a leader can raise the intensity, performance, and spirit of their team when they lead from the front and jump in to do the hard work.

I spent two months in Ecuador in 2013 and I took my Lonely Planet guide with me everywhere. Although I don’t use their books much anymore, that book on that trip made me a fan of Lonely Planet for life.

Every recommendation was high quality; from food, to accomodation, and experiences. And through it I discovered experiences that I never would’ve otherwise found. One of those was biking ‘La ruta de las cascadas’ or route of the waterfalls in Baños—a 2-hour, 18km downhill cycling journey through a valley with 11 waterfalls along the way.

Close friends are about to embark on a multi-month journey through South East Asia, when I saw their stack of Lonely Planet books, I was confident they’d have an amazing time.

A friend recently gave me a helpful piece of advice: increase your surface area for serendipity.

In a world where success is a combination of talent, hard work, and luck—and usually more luck than we care to admit—creating moments where more luck can happen is important.

Staying in our shells, in our comfort zones, and within the safe confines of what we’ve always known reduces the chance we may meet someone, learn something, or try something that may change our lives for the better.

Whenever possible, increase your surface area for serendipity.

I enjoy reading Paul Graham’s essays on start-ups and building companies. In his most recent post, he talks about the importance of following your interests and curiosity when wanting to do great work.

I especially liked this sentence, “There’s a kind of excited curiosity that’s both the engine and the rudder of great work. It will not only drive you, but if you let it have its way, will also show you what to work on.”

Curiosity is both a driving force, and a guide. That resonated.

My grandparents had a plum tree in their backyard a few steps away from the veggie patch. Every summer they would pick the plums, give away bags to family and friends, and grandma would make plum jam to last all of us all the way through the winter. Granddad and I used to hang CDs from its branches to keep the birds away from the ripening fruit.

A few days ago my sister went back to the property to pick something up from the new owners, and the plum tree was still there. My sister told them stories about the special role that tree played in our family’s story, and it brought her joy to hear the new family were making their own memories with that old plum tree.

It brought me joy too.

I’ve heard people say that if the Barbie movie was made 10 years ago, they would’ve painted Barbie as perfect. And it would’ve been bland and predictable.

I’m glad they didn’t do that. We saw it yesterday and it is thoughtful social commentary delivered at the right time.

Pair the above with its bold, creative, and hilarious execution, and it’s box office success makes a tonne of sense.

Many of you will have already seen it, but if you haven’t yet, it’s well worth the watch.

I read Ray Dalio’s Principles back in 2017 when it first came out. One of the ideas that stuck with me was ‘believability weight your decision making’.

The idea is that when you’re working through a difficult decision, find people who have a credible opinion on the subject and ask for their advice. Then “weight” the advice according to the people with the most knowledge, experience, or credibility.

This may sound like obvious advice, but in the heat of the moment we often don’t have a reliable framework by which to parse and judge feedback from others.

For example, we may overweight the feedback of family or friends because we care more about their opinion of us vs. strangers. However, there’s a risk they’re more likely to tell us what we want to hear compared to an impartial third party. This is potentially a dangerous combination.

On the other hand, we may be getting advice from online articles, blogs, or even ChatGPT, and we can’t be certain of their source, motivations, or credibility. We need to treat that advice with much suspicion when the stakes are high.

A good rule of thumb is to find the most believable people and triangulate between their advice—picking what we believe to be the highest probability path to success within their range recommendations.

Maru and I have been playing poker with a group of friends for the last 6 years. One person hosts the group for dinner, and afterwards we play for a pot where each player has contributed a £5 buy-in.

For a short period, we tried to increase the buy-in to £10, but we quickly reverted back to £5. It didn’t feel the same because it’s always been more about the time together than it is about the poker.

And over the years, as the games have gotten shorter, the dinners have gotten longer. I’m confident we’ve now got the ratio right.

The first draft is a good start.

The second version creates space for new ideas.

The third edit sees a lot of bloat removed.

But nothing compares to hitting publish. That’s when the work has to stand on its own two feet.

There is a newspaper and coffee stand that just opened 5 minutes walk from home. On their first day of operations, I went down to buy my welcome-to-the-neighbourhood coffee.

I asked for decaf. No decaf.

I asked for semi-skim milk. No semi-skim.

I asked to pay by Apple Pay. No phone payments, only card.

But… I walked away with an on-the-house, whole milk, caffeinated coffee. I promised I’d return and pay.

It was a very physical reminder of something we talk about often when building digital products: ship before you’re ready.

The early adopters are forgiving. They want to see you succeed. They’re willing to put up with a lot, and are empathetic when you’re still figuring stuff out. In fact, seeing the rough edges build affinity and loyalty in a way that isn’t possible once a business or product is established.

The unwelcome truth is likely the message we most need to hear.

But it’s these truths that we’re used to ignoring because they’re hard to hear, and often require an arduous and uphill battle.

But what would happen if we learned welcomed these unwelcome truths. How much faster would we learn, grow, and improve?

I love this clip of Freddie Mercury and Brian May in the studio working on the song One Vision.

In the first few seconds, Freddie says, “You can do better.”

The pair then spend the next few minutes trying new sounds and approaches.

What I love about it is the respect and trust between the two musicians, as well as the lack of ego. Hard feedback doesn’t have to taste like vinegar when both people know the criticism is levied at the work, not at the person.