Dan Cullum

A house is far easier to keep tidy when at the end of every day we take 5-10 minutes to put everything back in its place.

Leave things out and about for a few days, though, and the mess adds up quickly. The accumulated mess can often take a few hours to unpick.

Tiny actions, every day, help to keep our houses, calendars, minds, projects, and goals clear of the clutter.

Everything from a luggage tag, to a Swiss Army knife, to insurance, is there just in case something doesn’t go to plan.

We prepare so the problem doesn’t hit as hard.

Or as Benjamin Franklin put it: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

I seldom hear regrets when someone anticipates and prepares for the ‘just in case’ scenario.

The writer throws the ball.

The reader still needs to catch the writer’s idea.

Reading requires work, effort, coordination, and practise.

This simple idea is taken from Mortimer J. Adler’s excellent text ‘How to read a book’. The key idea of the book is a reader must be active.

Passive reading, and an expectation that the writer does all the work, is not how we learn and grow.

Time since the US Declaration of Independence was signed: 246 years.

Time for Pluto to orbit the sun: 248 years.

I’m marvelling at Pluto and perspective.

“It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it.“—Jacob Bronowski

It’s not just staying curious that’s important, but also the way in which we turn up with that curiosity.

A ‘ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence’ implies a willingness to wrestle in the mud, to embrace the mess, and lean into the the struggle.

There’ll always been a chance to synthesise, simplify, and polish later.

I recently wrote about some of Nokia’s poor design choices in the mid-2000s. Given this backdrop, I feel compelled to write about Samsung’s latest phone, for which it’s pumping millions of dollars into marketing around the world.

The Samsung Z Flip4 is a continuation of its flip-phone line, and feels mostly like a nostalgia play. I see minimal functional benefit, except that the phone itself acts as its own stand to take selfies—which is barely a benefit worth mentioning.

Apparently, Samsung has 65% of the flip phone market, but the entire flip phone market was only estimated at 9 million units in 2021. Compare that to the 240 million iPhones sold in 2021 to get a sense of how small the flip phone market is.

Even if Samsung knock it out of the park with the Flip4, they’re playing in the small leagues.

I don’t see this phone’s sales performance matching the marketing spend placed behind it.

I’ve set a reminder in my calendar to check in 6-9 months once sales figures have been released to see if I’m right or wrong.

We should take the first step when we’re almost ready.

When we have sufficient knowledge to move, but not too much that it stifles us.

When we have the courage to try, but not so much that we’re arrogant.

When our naivety enables us to look at problems in new ways, but not so much that we get fooled by the tricksters.

By taking the first step when we’re almost ready, we leave some space for magic to happen.

“All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, until they take root in our personal experience.”—Goethe

The pressure is off.

We don’t need to invent anything new.

Rinse. Wash. Repeat.

Only the good stuff.

All the time.

I’m enjoying following this year’s Football World Cup.

In particular, seeing the likes of Japan topple Germany and watching their fans go crazy, that’s sport summed up in a moment.

It got me thinking about how every World Cup delivers surprise results. There is always an underdog who defeats a team much further up the FIFA rankings.

This idea extends out beyond football though. It feels like every news cycle or financial market update delivers some “unprecedented” finding.

Perhaps a better approach is to expect a surprise result. Might we be caught off guard less frequently? Could it make us more resilient in the face of adversity? Would we then welcome the normal result rather than take it for granted?

“In all affairs, it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.”—Bertrand Russell

I love how Russell uses “to hang a question mark” as though it’s a casual thing to challenge our most dearly held beliefs.

And maybe this unpretentious approach is what’s needed. Perhaps it improves our odds of coming away with a new, better, and more nuanced perspective.

Why is it that the cabins in planes seem to either be viciously cold or blisteringly hot? There is rarely a middle ground.

If anyone knows, let me know as I’m currently boiling inside a plane at Heathrow, but it’s freezing outside on the tarmac.

On the other hand, it’s a reminder to be prepared, especially when we already know what may be thrown at us.

A few years ago I switched to training in the morning. I found going to the gym first thing puts me in the right mental state for the rest of the day. Even if I can’t control what the rest of the day may bring, I can control that early morning window.

Many of the ideas in this blog are concepts that I find myself returning to over and again; relearning lessons and reminding myself of their importance. In this case, it’s another flavour of momentum begets momentum.

When is your day won?

It means “I’ll leave it up to you” in Japanese, and its root is the verb “to entrust”.

Yesterday was my first timing ordering omakase style at a Japanese restaurant. I gave the chef full control over the meal, and was not disappointed.

There was a cascade of fresh sashimi and perfectly plated sushi. Each mouthful was different, and it was likely the most flavours I’d tasted in a single meal.

Sometimes the best experiences happen when we forego control and just enjoy the ride.

The success of a team is correlated with how much a leader encourages its members to tell the truth; even when it hurts. Especially when it hurts.

It’s the truth, the facts, and the whole story, that lead to progress.

I recently heard someone refer to themselves as having a deep keel.

No matter the size of the storm or swell, they’re rarely swayed, shaken, or stressed. Their keel is holding their boat in place; keeping it upright, and ensuring it doesn’t capsize.

I loved this metaphor. There’s lots to learn here.