“Evaluate every lesson twice: once when considering the messenger, and once when taking the messenger out.” From Scott Berkun on Substack. Talking to someone can be inspiring, annoying, amusing, depressing, surprising or exhilarating. However if they’re actually making an insightful point it’s often good to separate that from the associated emotions to fully benefit fromContinue reading “The Message And Messenger”
Information As A River
Interesting thought from Oliver Burkeman, well-known from his books on productivity and it’s limits (my emphasis in bold): “To return to information overload: this means treating your “to read” pile like a river (a stream that flows past you, and from which you pluck a few choice items, here and there) instead of a bucketContinue reading “Information As A River”
The Underappreciated Voice
I’ve been dipping into the interesting book Do Nothing: How To Break Away From Overworking, Overdoing and Underliving by Celeste Headlee. The extracts below reminded me how easily we take the voice, eyes and ears for granted in communications even though immeasurably more sophisticated and advanced than any smartphone: “Human beings are perhaps the bestContinue reading “The Underappreciated Voice”
Moving On In New Ways
Somewhat by accident I listened to a radio programme by Matthew Syed on what we value and why. For me, I interpreted one of the powerful stories discussed slightly differently as ‘moving on in new ways’. It centred on the classical violinist and prodigy Min Kym having her very expensive Stradivarius violin stolen by professionalContinue reading “Moving On In New Ways”
Isolation And Conversation
There has been a lot of discussion in the media on the reduced role of conversation in society with the increasing use of digital tools. In addition in this hectic world people may be concerned that conversations may be non-productive or simply not interesting/fun. Surprisingly some of these biases may be unimportant in practice (here’sContinue reading “Isolation And Conversation”
Seeing Things From Another Angle
I’ve written a few articles on the skill of better noticing things (in business and everyday life) and then, if relevant, joining up some areas/dots in an impactful manner. As an extreme visual example of noticing I found this (above): vertical panoramas of churches. Usually when you visit a church you look straight ahead withContinue reading “Seeing Things From Another Angle”
AI And The Information Market
From Tiago Forte: “You may never have conceived of information as a market, but it absolutely is. You invest your time, attention, and effort into collecting, organizing, and utilizing information, and you expect a certain return on those investments, whether that’s measured in income, business results, creative fulfillment, or social status. Information is a market,Continue reading “AI And The Information Market”
Brave And Different Voices
From Simon Kelner on the passing of the provocative but always stimulating broadcaster and journalist Rod Liddle (paywall): “And with his passing goes another bulwark against the homogenisation of public life. I’m not talking about the ability to cause a media storm – anyone with a smartphone and an opinion can do that. And weContinue reading “Brave And Different Voices”
Impressive Examples Of Serendipity
Sheldon Lee Glashow, Nobel Laureate in Physics (see also here), has written an interesting ‘abecedary’ of scientific serendipity that has had significant global impact. The key to all of them was noticing the unusual and then taking action. A few that caught my eye were: C is for Cisplatin, the trade name for a chemicalContinue reading “Impressive Examples Of Serendipity”
Natural Innovation
I decided a couple of years ago to change my lifestyle, mainly by having a more diverse group of friends (giving a wider outlook on life) and to be less screen focused (increasing thinking time and reducing distractions). One aspect of this was to spend more time in nature as luckily I have country parksContinue reading “Natural Innovation”
