It showed up on my family’s living room table just around when my grandfather died. A massive spiral-bound book that was almost the size of a ream of paper. It was a typed version of my grandfather’s journals, and over the next weeks I discovered in these pages answers to questions I never thought to have.
I’ll have an idea for a product, or a piece of content, and go on to explore it, but as I progress realize that someone has already written about it or started a company with a similar concept; and I’m stopped dead in my tracks.
The festivity was high, wine and conversation flowing freely. I met several people, and was reminded how hard it is to explain to a new acquaintance what exactly I do for work.
Those 5 articles you have open because they’re so important and you must read them? They’re actually just taking mental space from what is your primary focus now.
I wasn’t going to let my desire for perfection in ticking off every single day overshadow the primary focus of the day, and one of my values: celebration and putting life over work.
“You know, there’s a certain danger when you get deep into the optimize-your-life mindset. Getting up at 4:30 is great, but at the end of your life it’s not going to matter as much as how you loved people, how you made them feel, what good you did for them.”
You’ll like this if you enjoy a semi-regular virtual, at-scale letter. Which is why I sort of hate the concept, but here we are.
A collection of notes: a place to explore new ideas and old, get on my soapbox, and sharpen my understanding of the nature of things.
As I child, I thought everyone had a favorite font. This year I’ve taken this nerdiness to a whole new level and started to design and build fonts.