Michael's Musings

The technical

April 13, 2019April 5, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Organization

With a blog I’ve been working on for about three years (on and off), and other social media accounts I’ve had for longer – as well as the new website, a podcast, a radio show, and a new media showcase about to start production on Sunday, sorting through the technology requirements on a limited schedule is complicated.

Right now I’m working on batching blog posts so that I can have at least five done each day. The last two weeks were pretty well shot with rehearsals, a new office, and advisory council appointment orientation. As everything settles and I work on processing incoming data efficiently, I’ll lay out those inbox sorting techniques here (somewhere.)

Accountability

April 12, 2019April 5, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Work

Remember, there are roles in which you have to produce, and there are roles when the production is its own reward. The first usually has a paycheck, or a familial compulsion.

For the latter, there is no grade. There is no paycheck. No boss saying nice work, or do it again. But this work I’m producing is something I get to hold myself accountable for. The reward is my own satisfaction, and sometimes that’s enough.

Beware

April 11, 2019April 13, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Advice, philosophy

Well, I missed the Ides of March. But what I’ve found more insidious is the barrenness of a busy life.

“Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” – Socrates

There’s so many variables in the busy life, and yet it was the same 2,100 years ago as it is today. If we don’t make time for what’s important in our life, not only do we fill our time with the unimportant but we neglect what is truly vital. Thus our life is barren.

The night is dark

April 9, 2019April 2, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Sleep

Woke up, after many troubled minutes of trying to get to sleep, with only 90 or so minutes of rest. Again, tried sleeping but couldn’t shut down the brain. It sort of rip-rocketed on overload tonight. There’s a familiar feeling in my stomach, one that harkens back to a night spent on my couch in 2004. Oh, the things you remember.

So, after trying to put myself back to sleep for near an hour, I knew it was impossible. I published my website, started writing, and read a little of Steven Pressfield’s War of Art. This month I finish this book, and check it off my reading list.

Why no sleep? Why is the brain disquieted on this dark night? Because the past is real and it isn’t. Though the Buddha teaches that only the present moment exists, the past has a living representation in our mind. When we recall a feeling, be it hurt or love, it isn’t anything external to our self that is causing that feeling. Only our mind.

And control of the mind is one (of the many) aspects of Buddhism I’ve not mastered.

Thus I decided to take the advice of Jim Collins, who said, “And what I’ve learned is I guess two or three things specifically about the sleep process for me. This is just personal. One, the 20-minute rule. If you wake up in the middle of the night and you check the time — first of all, it’s also by the way fun to see if you can guess what time it is, right? But then check the time. And then if you’re not back to sleep in 20 minutes, get up. Go back to the simple work.”

Something about a rock

April 7, 2019April 2, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Poetry

A rock moves not when great winds blow,
Nor does it burn when near a flame.
It may grow hot or may grow cold,
Yet the rock will remain the same.

But constant stream of gentle water
Can wear it down to smallest stone,
And what was once hard and strong
Those things it no longer owns.

Now the passage of water and of time
Can make dust of immobile boulder.
Yet still it lives, though changed forever,
And us, a little bit older.

Fear not these passings, time flowing by,
When age comes to us all.
But hold them close, those that you can,
When death has come to call.

A post a day?

April 6, 2019April 2, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Writing

I use my iPhone’s Notes app pretty religiously. Here’s a screen shot:

So, this awkward little snapshot into my thought processes is embarrassing. But the one post a day idea I jotted down on March 11 came back up on April 1st, when I was listening to the first conversation Seth Godin and Tim Ferris had, back in early 2016.

Seth said, “The first thing I would say is everyone should blog, even if it’s not under their own name, every single day. If you are in public making predictions and noticing things, your life gets better.

Because you will find a discipline that can’t help but benefit you. If you want to do it in a diary, that’s fine. But the problem with diaries is because they’re private, you can start hiding. In public, in this blog, there it is. Six weeks ago you said this; 12 weeks ago you said that. Are you able, every day, to say one thing that’s new that you’re willing to stand behind? I think that’s just a huge, wonderful practice.”

Now, will I post every day? Who knows. But will I try? You betcha!

March Reading List

April 5, 2019March 31, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Books

March, 2019

Books Bought:

The Essential Drucker – Peter Drucker
The Effective Executive – Peter Drucker
The Intelligent Investor – Benjamin Graham
Kraken – China Mieville
This is Marketing – Seth Godin

Books Read:

This is Marketing – Seth Godin
Kraken – China Mieville (unfinished)
The Aspirational Investor – Ashvin B. Chhabra
Tools of Titans – Tim Ferriss (unfinished)

For March, I didn’t get a whole lot done. Bought a few used books, read a little. March was a transitional month, one job shifting to the next. The last week in March was the first week of work, and it was a lot of hours in the new role.

This is Marketing – quintessential Godin. For whatever reason, any time I listen to him I generate ideas left and right. It’s motivational, and I enjoy everything about his work. I have The Icarus Deception around somewhere, and I may need to reread that as well soon.

Kraken, off to a strange start. The mystery grabbed me finally, about sixty pages in, but I don’t know if it will keep hold of me. I’m curious to see how it all plays out. It reminds me a bit of Christopher Moore, but with less humor. Maybe not less humor, but different humor. And I miss Leon already…

The Aspirational Investor came recommended, so I gave it a try. My money in the markets usually goes up and down, and I just put more in every month. At some point I may do more with it. That remains to be seen. This book was fine, but it wasn’t really new information. I did like the three-tier breakdown of risk, which I’ll likely use in my investments.

And then Ferriss, which I just pull from time to time. This month, reading about acroyoga has led me to further exploration of that activity.

Consuming film

April 4, 2019March 31, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Film

The early days of film showed us new possibilities in the world of reality. Images that moved as in real life – no longer just things of fanciful imaginations.

Now, the experience has evolved. And the way that we were cultivated to view cinema is changing as well.

Netflix came under attack recently from industry elites, such as Steven Spielberg, who said that Oscars should be limited to cinema releases, not the Netflix brand of entertainment. (I can’t help but imagine the discussion surrounding film as it related to theatre when cinema began its rise in popularity.)

The joke is, it is industry elites vs. streaming elites, when the real change is through the democratization of entertainment. What will make the most radical difference is how user-uploaded streaming is going to continue to change the face of moving image-making, and what that will mean for the industry.

The work’s the thing

April 3, 2019March 31, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Work

Remember who you are producing for. We don’t live to work better. We work to live better. Every job we do is a reflection of how much we appreciate ourselves. Not the company, or the product. And we may think that it’s an amazing company or product – which is why we align to it.

But there must also be balance. Don’t sacrifice life just to work. Be the living worker, and not a robot.