~ Welcome to #thebalance 50 ~
Just back from a weekend away in beautiful Oregon… quick in & out for a college buddy’s wedding. Air quality finally started improving toward the end of the trip after a couple nights of rain. A few photos of the beautiful state below!
Another busy week ahead, jumping right in!
❤️ Likes, shares, and ‘my contacts’ adds are appreciated! It helps others discover what they have been missing out on while ensuring gmail doesn’t junk this thing either :)
⬇️ #thinkingthings, #followerthings, and #otherthings ⬇️
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🤔🤔 #thinkingthings
🟥 >>>> The Unwritten Laws (until now)
A lighter one to kick us off this week for eppy #50 of thebalance.
This, I’d say, is what I am perpetually after… to become an “interesting” person of sorts. At least in the way the author defines it below - I’m not ashamed to admit it :)
I think we all aspire to have interesting, fulfilling, meaningful lives… the key is to decide what ‘interesting’ means to you. Because once you have that, life just gets better of course. At least that’s what I hear!
>>> Interesting things happen when you do interesting things. It’s an equation, an unwritten law, and a universal truth all rolled into one. It’s a way at looking at each day, at each opportunity, each time you meet someone.
>>> It allows you to adopt a different viewpoint to failure, it invites you to trust in putting your work out there into the big wide world and gives you the freedom to be braver with your ideas, your work, and your thinking.
>>> Interesting can help you. It can make your work better, it can open doors that you thought never would be open to you, it can help you work with amazing people and do amazing things.
My favorite excerpt:
6. Learn from Velcro.
Velcro works like this: On one side is a series of hooks going in lots of random directions. On the other side is a series of loops going in lots of random directions. When a hook meets a loop, they connect. It is in the connection business. And if you are an ideas person, so are you.
Runner Ups:
5. Step outside your world.
If you can code, don’t go to a conference on coding. If you design, don’t go to a design conference. If you run startups, don’t go to a startup conference. Be eclectic. Open up the mind. Don’t close it down.
15. Become an intellectual tourist.
“Limited references create a limited life. If you want to expand your life, you must expand your references by pursuing ideas and experiences that wouldn’t be a part of your life if you didn’t consciously seek them out.” The Giant Within.
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1. Outputs are directly related to inputs.
If you go looking in the same place for inspiration as everybody else, you will find your work quickly resembles theirs. Go and see that odd Polish subtitled movie. Be one of the three in the audience.
2. Comfort zones are creative dead zones.
To feel most alive you have to be doing work that keeps you on your toes. Once you have your successful formula, don’t repeat it. Start again, but start from a new place. Having doubts about your work means you are trying new ways.
3. The more interesting your circle, the more interesting you will be.
Great writers need to hang out with great writers, great artists need to hang out with great artists, people who want to to change the world need to hang out with people who want to change the world. Your circles define and push you.
4. Think different is more than a slogan.
To think different, do different, read different, travel different, eat different. We stay interesting by stepping outside of our daily routine. We keep pushing; we leave what we know behind for a bit in order to let new in.
8. Listen.
The best way to be interesting is to be interested. Stop being on transmit, and flip the switch to being on receive. Listen hard, listen without thinking about what you are about to say. Good listeners are sought after.
11. Treat failure as a rite of passage toward interesting.
How you view failure will determine how much success you have. If you fear it, you will hold back. And if you hold back, you will not be brave with your ideas. Ideas require you to be at your bravest in order to stand out.
13. Take cold showers.
Have one thing that people talk about. Run without trainers. Make a rule when you see a river, you have to go for a swim in it. Do something for people to see you differently. Surprise others. But, as importantly, surprise yourself.
16. Interesting and happiness are good mates.
Happiness fuels success, not the other way around. When we are positive, our brains become more engaged, creative, motivated, energetic, resilient, and productive at work.
19. Say yes when would say no.
In order to keep things interesting, saying yes to something you would normally say no to. It opens up new connections. Connections that you wouldn’t normally have made. And, sometimes, they are the best.
20. Zag.
If you are doing the same thing as everyone else, you are not going to be doing interesting. Don’t go with the crowd. If that means you are alone for a while, be comfortable with that.
🟥 >>>> Air Quality Index - helpful tidbits
As I was in Portland and the surrounding area all weekend long… the AQI was something I was checking vigorously to get an understanding of just how bad the air quality was while there.
And, damn, was it bad the first couple days… PORTLAND BROKE 500 just before I was there. Lucky it cleared up by the weekend - but it was still in the 2/300s throughout a decent amount of my time there 👎
Given the increasingly catastrophic world we live in these days, I thought it was useful knowledge that everyone might want to have… thus, we have this weeks chart focused section.
In the U.S., the AQI is calculated using four major air pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act:
Ground-level ozone
Carbon monoxide
Sulfur dioxide
Particle pollution, also known as particulate matter
There are a number of factors that can increase the concentration of a region’s particulate matter. Some common examples include:
Coal-fired power stations
Cooking stoves (Many people around the world burn organic material for cooking and heating)
Smoke from wildfires and slash-and-burn land clearing
Air quality scores can fluctuate a lot from season to season. For example, regions that are reliant on coal for power generation tend to see AQI score spikes during peak periods.
One of the biggest fluctuations occurs during wildfire season, when places that typically have scores in the “good” category can see scores reach unsafe levels. In 2020, Eastern Australia and the West Coast of the U.S. both saw massive drops in air quality during their respective wildfire seasons.
🟥 >>>> How to Scale your Time
A skill I am being forced to hone more and more these days. Accelerated pace of life. Lots of change. Lots of momentum. No traditional work/personal boundaries. So little time.
Don’t get me wrong, I love just about every second of it! But I also am being forced to become extremely particular about how I manage my time. It truly is the scarcest asset of them all. Also the most valuable, I’d argue.
Although written for a founder, I think the below post can be applied more broadly, esp if you are looking to streamline your life a bit. I personally already follow most of them - always room for improvement though :)
My favorite:
Communication is key to maximizing leverage on your time. Communication is about repeating in a clear way what needs to be done.
Working on:
Perform regular time audits. Think about what you want to be spending your time on, and look back on your calendar to find out if you actually are spending your time in that way. Looking back on a weekly or monthly basis and making adjustments will really pay off over the long term. I used to change up my own management schedule every 12-24 months as the business evolved.
Important, not urgent. Learn to distinguish between the important and the urgent, and focus on the former.
Essential:
Prioritize your health. Sleep, exercise, and nutrition are a must for a healthy mindset. Every hour you gain at the cost of your health will be paid for by decreased energy and cognitive performance across the board.
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Running a tight schedule. For example, my day is scheduled ahead of time in 15-minute increments. US President Bush used to schedule his workday in 10-minute increments, and likewise, President Obama’s workday included very little unscheduled time.
Creating a routine to reduce unnecessary cognitive load and complexity in life. Mark Zuckerberg famously wears the same shirt every day “to make as few decisions as possible about anything else” except how to run his company. You don’t have to take it to that extreme, however — personally I think you need to have some flexibility, and allow for the kind of serendipity in your day that spurs creativity by changing things up on occasion.
If it can be done quickly, do it now. Get in the mindset that if something can be done quickly, do it now, in keeping with David Allen’s famous concept from Getting Things Done that you should never put off something that takes two minutes or less, like sending a quick email reply. When you get something done quickly, it reduces your mental load and also establishes a habit of speed for the rest of your organization.
Keeping meetings short.
Practicing meeting management. Make it clear that each meeting needs to have a clear agenda, clear purpose, clear owner, and clear follow-up notes — especially for any meeting longer than 15 minutes.
Delegating as you scale. The only way to prevent your calendar from being overwhelmed as your company grows is to free up time by delegating with explicit instructions and responsibilities.
Say no. Saying yes to everything is the opposite of focus. You have to be disciplined and learn to say no to meetings, events, etc. that are not likely to be productive. Don’t succumb to FOMO and say yes to every opportunity that crosses your path
Define the purpose of your time. It helps to internalize this principle: start everything by thinking about the purpose of your time: “this day/meeting/period of time will be a success if X happens”. This is likely to shift as your company grows, from product-building in the beginning to comms/HR later on.
Give yourself space to focus. I’m also not a big believer in multitasking. When I’m doing something really important, I like to turn off all my notifications and even physically escape to a secluded, solitary environment.
Learn from others. As I wrote in How CEOs Think, seeking out advice and feedback is key. The more advice you can get on your time management, the better. Get regular feedback from a coach, mentor, or peer set so you can learn how to improve your time management skills so that your organization can thrive as well.
📲🧑🏽🤝🧑🏻 #followerthings
I’d like to think this is not referring to future me 😂
Real talk on this tweet
++a bonus #thinkingthings embedded in a tweet this week :)
📚⏯️🎤 #otherthings
Wedding venue. Vineyards and a rainbow.
A few good (grooms)men + me.
Had to get some hiking and fresh air in!
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Stay safe out there. Peace and love to all y’all.
Curiously,
-Block
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About me:
My friends call me Block. I am the Chief Strategy Officer at Alkemi.Network, a company focused on bridging digital finance for institutions. This newsletter is my passion project.
I am endlessly curious and blissfully dissatisfied. I love new ideas, obsessed with all things technology, and am always seeking to broaden my perspective while striving for balance, of course.
I am a futurist, investor, entrepreneur, builder, advisor, life long learner, hockey player, traveler, podcast addict, hip-hop head, e-newsletter junkie, event planner, and comedic-short producer. Follow me on Twitter here and Instagram here.
“Find a question that makes the world interesting.” - Paul Graham