Active Recall!

Podcasts, videos, and iPad art

SHAKE IT UP

Every day this week I’ve filled my shaker bottle with some powder or another and headed to the gym. I want to have that kind of consistency with creating content.

I said I’d post something daily. I haven’t followed through with that. I do want to create content for this blog weekly. I have been creating things this week, though.

  • Video: The Power of Moments: Video games, wrestling, and TV (10 mins) – I made this thinking I’d get back to doing very frequent videos. People are subscribing slowly and that feels more good than the thumbs downs feel bad. So there’s that. Video is a fun format.
  • Daily emails. I started writing a daily email to Wally. It’s something I’m trying out. Instead of doing the outline for the book of the week I just sent Wally some thoughts. I’ve been subscribing to some daily newsletters to see how they write. There’s an informality I really like about it. It might have to do with expectations. Typos are okay in emails. It’s okay not to have so much structure.

I’m going to try sharing an excerpt, a quote, and some thoughts from things that I’m reading. I’ve been consuming a lot of books.

Time to shake it up!

21: Not Caring What Other People Think is a Superpower

Check out my other post about this book.

Sun’s up WHAT’S UP. Welcome to ANOTHER-ANOTHER-ANOTHER episode of Active Recall. We used to need an intro. Now we need a better intro. 

This week’s book is Not Caring What Other People think is a Superpower. Ed Latimore (@EdLatimore) can actually hit hard. He’s a boxer. He can hit hard with his words as well. I really enjoyed this book.

Ed’s site: https://edlatimore.com

The Knowledge Project: Ed Latimore (A better podcast that had Ed on as a guest)

  • Why you should practice gratitude like practicing a jab. Ed Latimore is a boxer. I’m guessing he’s throwing jabs daily. I was listening to The Talent Code and there’s a quote there from Yo-Yo Ma about practice. Skip a day and he can notice, 2 and his wife notices, 3 and the world will notice. Gratitudes can be similar. Think of things that make you grateful every day.
  • You can’t be angry and grateful at the same time. This makes it very concrete. When you feel anger and frustration building up, think about what you’re grateful for. It helps.
  • Why even the best boxers have coaches. In team sports, it’s clear to see that coaches focus on strategy and the players are focusing on tactics. You can go a long way by being great at the tactics. As you get higher and higher you need an understanding of strategy. Mike Tyson has one-punch power, but he needed a trainer day-in day-out to teach him how to get in range and land that shot. Whatever project you’re working on, do you have a way to know that your overall strategy is a good one?
  • Strategy and tactics are both important. Coaches cover the strategy and the players work on the tactics. This ties into the three models of practice. When using the music model or the sports model, you’re usually practicing tactics. With the chess model, you practice strategy. 
  • Warren Buffet’s 2-list strategy. Write down 25 things you’re working on. Circle the 5 most important. The other 20 are now your most challenging distractions, because you can justify working on them since there’s some good.
  • Why you need to have a plan (even after you’re punched in the face). The difference between a dream and a goal is knowing the steps in between. That’s planning. If you’re trying to be the single best boxer in the world, you know it will take genetics, luck, and a ton of hard work. The goal doesn’t always need to be “single best”. 

In two years, let’s say you want to be a full-time videographer. What steps do you need to follow? Who’s done it in that timeframe and what can you replicate from their success? 

Check some of that out, and MORE! On this episode of the Active Recall podcast with Walter and Francis. The duo second only to bob and weave.

20: Barking up the Wrong THREE

Check out the full notes for Barking Up the Wrong Tree

Sun’s up WHAT’S UP. Welcome to ANOTHER episode of Active Recall. We tried a third time with Barking Up the Wrong Tree. It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s better than our first and second attempt.

  • I recorded in Washington again. Just some podcast equipment nerdery: I used a Zoom H1 to record but ended up just using the backup audio with a stock Earpod headset.
  • Four metrics to measure your life with: happiness, achievement, significance, and legacy. We talked about this last week also.
  • We talk about how life achievements relate to achievements in game. It’s important to celebrate the small badges along the way and not just completing the game. There is no peak achievement that keeps you happy for the rest of your lifetime.
  • We are all significant. You don’t have to count to millions of people. It’s more important to count to the people you care about.
  • Legacy. A few years ago my cousin said “You’re my hero”. I’d love to someday earn that title but it means a lot to know that I’m setting a good example for someone I care about.
  • Introverts and extroverts. One of us is an introvert and the other is an extrovert. Can you guess who’s who? (Here’s a clue: I’m writing this on my couch and it isn’t the first thing I wrote on my couch today. And I consider this a good day.)
  • WNGF: Winnable, novel challenges, goals, and feedback. It’s a good idea to give your work some elements from good games. Wally talks about how he’s turned some elements of his job into a game.
  • Grit or quit. Wally pulled a quiz from the book. We get closer to whether I should continue with writing or quit writing.
  • Toronto ra..coons?
  • WOOP: Wish, outcome, obstacle, plan. Wish: be an awesome writer. Outcome: I stand in the airport and admire my book sitting in like a Hudson News or whatever then get on the first class seat and read my book in front of the peasants walking by while sipping the complimentary champagne. Obstacle: I am a bad writer. Plan: I’ll become a better writer.

We’re gritting along and adding an episode at a time. Thanks for checking this out!

19: Barking up the Wrong Tree, Again!

Check out the full notes for Barking Up the Wrong Tree

We tried having Barking Up The Wrong Tree as our book of the week again because we weren’t satisfied with our first attempt. Our hunch was that we’ve got a few months of experience podcasting so we’d do a better job this time around.

Our hunch was wrong.

Still, we showed up and it’s an episode. Here’s what we discussed in the episode.

  • Spider-Man and his alien symbiote suit. Sometimes we mess up work/life balance and end up with work being more like an alien symbiote suit. It drains you.
  • Four metrics to have a successful life: happiness, achievement, significance, legacy. Perfectly balancing these metrics probably isn’t possible. It’s good to keep an eye on which ones you’re furthest behind on.
  • This podcast will be the entirety of our legacy. Okay, maybe not. But it will be some part of it. It’s part of why I consider this podcast a success even if we aren’t nailing the more traditional metrics of podcast success (e.g. actual listeners, interesting episodes). By next year, we’ll have 40+ hours of audio that we can pass on and bore future generations with. What’s more successful than that?
  • The top 0.1% in many fields are available to see online. Through the internet, top performers are more accessible than they were at any time in history. Don’t measure your success against them. Or at least don’t base your happiness on that comparison. If you’re inspired by it, good. If you’re depressed by it, stop.
  • Einstein’s not-so-romantic letter to his wife

Someday we will do a better job with this book. I believe that. It’s 100x better than our shows about it. As mentioned in the show, go check out Eric Barker’s blog. It’s the best newsletter on the internet.

Daily creativity: First, through writing

As mentioned, I’m going to start writing more often. I initially said every day. I then followed by not writing every day. I’m going to say every day again. I want to get better at writing.

Here’s what I’ve been doing to improve as a writer:

  • Started an article writing course. It’s the one from Psychotactics. So far I’m really enjoying it. Thinking about it now, it’s the most I’ve spent on something digital. Probably more than I’ve spent on eBooks this year. Maybe. Though probably not more than I’ve spent on eBooks and audiobooks combined. Man I’m buying too many audiobooks.
  • 9 connections exercise. Sort of. I’ve been doing a 9 connections exercise just about every day for the past couple months. It’s been my writing practice. Within the first hour of my day, I open an app on my phone and go through some writing prompts to build an outline. I made a few videos with a similar exercise. I write 3 sources down and then I got hrough each and think of an idea from each and then I try to connect the ideas to other sources. When I’m feeling it, I try connecting the three sources to each other. Sometimes a source comes to mind and I hesitate because it might be hard to think of an idea from that source. Without fail, something comes to mind. It’s similar to James Altucher’s Idea Machine method. I now have a bunch of outlines that might not materialize to anything else. But going through the exercise is good practice.
  • Writing daily. I’ve been writing daily. Last year I wrote 100 posts in 100 days. It was challenging. I have a feeling it wouldn’t be quite as hard this year and I suspect I might even be better. I’m going to give it another shot. I’ll start keeping better track of the posts. And I’ll post them on this blog as I go along.

I want to post daily right now as I’m starting the article writing course for a couple reasons. First, I’ll be able to set a baseline for my writing. I’ll be able to compare before and after the course whether I’m improving or not. Second, I want to build the habit of posting daily.

Cardio Sucks book note: A little bit at a time

I need to start doing cardio. I did what I usually do when I want to start something new. I bought a book. Yes, I need to start applying it. I bought Cardio Sucks by Michael Matthews. I went with someone whose work I’ve enjoyed in the past. I read Matthews’s Bigger Leaner Stronger and I listen to his podcast regularly. He’s practical and motivating. Here’s what he has to say about building habits in Cardio Sucks.

Mini-habits can also fit into even the nuttiest of schedules and days. Andre Dubus III wrote the inimitable House of Sand and Fog in 20-minute daily installments in his parked car, longhand on a notepad, before driving home from work to join his family for the evening. Twenty minutes per day. House of freaking Sand and Fog. I love that and remember it whenever I feel like slacking off.

This reminded me of the Joshua Schachter interview in Founders at Work. The book is filled with very successful tech startup founders who succeeded in the first internet bubble. A lot of the stories are as expected: blood, sweat, and tears. Schachter, though, talks about building del.icio.us in his free time in very small increments.

Livingston: When you were doing this in your spare time, did you ever say, “Ugh. This is too much work”?

Schachter: Not really. I was always very careful (not anymore, because the guys that I work with are better programmers) to structure the code—each chunk of code wasn’t larger than the screen—such that I could come in and look at it, figure out what I’m doing, do it, and be done for the day in 15 minutes. So if I could get one thing done a day, I was happy. A lot of stuff, if I could spend more time, I did, but as long as I could get one or two things done a week total, if I didn’t have time, I didn’t have time. So it moved pretty slowly. I worked on it for years.

Learning to estimate 15 minutes of work accurately becomes a skill itself. Good enough is good enough. “If I didn’t have time, I didn’t have time.”

It’s easy to forget this. I’m trying to remember it in pursuing success in all the different pillars in life. More than once, I’ve put too much weight on the bar thinking I could power through it with enough willpower. I’m sure I’ll do it again in the future. At least once a week, I get frustrated that I don’t have enough time to finish some post or a video. In the long run, it doesn’t matter if I post it next week or even the week after.

You can argue that it might set a trend of laziness or not keeping to a deadline. That’s valid. On the other hand, in a year, if I write 80 posts or 120 posts it’s sort of the same. At least to a new reader. In the sense that they’ll at best read 2 or 3 articles and most likely will only read the one they land on, if that.

Anyway, I’m a fan of consistency. I know that I can accomplish something in small increments as long as I keep the momentum going. At the same time, missing a day isn’t anything to beat myself up over. Three days in a row, though? Now we’ve got a problem.