Small Break and Large Backlog

/ Small break. This past few weeks is best summarized as “time spent cultivating, refining, and doing life.”

Have numerous one-off thoughts to add. Before, I would write a few paragraphs around one central theme. Have felt life has been presenting more one-offs…maybe the burden is on me to find common dots. Anyways, time to get up to speed.

Have been thinking about how I want to write going forward. A chronically iterative process.

Also considering hosting this on a simple HTML page…the page takes too long to load!

Let’s get started in no particular order.

Assorted Thoughts:

I like this small clip here (17-second clip between 0:28s and 0:45s) from this interview between Joe Rogan and Garrett Reisman (engineer/astronaut).
- You can watch the first 28 seconds if you wish.
- Takeaway: It may be helpful to simplify all decision-making to “does X help me achieve my singular end goal?” as if you are viewing it through a prism.
Reminded about the importance of design in communication. Even in highly technical material, design is very important. My example is a large # of companies will have a “Corporate Presentation” or essentially a marketing deck that talks about said company. Some are great, and some much less so.
- Takeaway: Design and communication go hand-in-hand and seem to always be very important. Whether it is your wardrobe or your marketing materials, try to look your best!
This is a controversial and nuanced point that I don’t expand upon fully in this bullet but I do encourage you to try to see what I mean (if you don’t agree).

Mentioned it before: conflict of interest (COI) is a huge unavoidable flaw in life. More recently to me, it makes it difficult to view content or advice or guidance that you think is objective/earnest (?).

Example 1: If financially incentivized to generate sales, one may produce content that is less truth-seeking and more attention-seeking.

Counterargument: “Well the customer is always right, so cater to their desires.”

My response: “Yes, sure.”

I just feel that there are SOMETIMES you’d prefer the author or creator to not be financially incentivized so you are more likely to trust it as they can just write whatever, popular or unpopular.

Put another way, two books you are told are of equal value, both cost $10. One author pockets it, the other donates it to charity. Let’s say just for the sake of this example, both authors don’t NEED the $. Which one are you picking?

There is a great example that I unfortunately cannot name publicly (can discuss in private messages) that 100% illustrates this point.

I am a big proponent for pricing things based on value. I just get increasingly curious (and concerned) when these two remain unhinged, and in some cases, EXTREMELY unhinged.

Such a complex and nuanced topic two people can contrast their views about but for now…
- Takeaway: It takes extra work to see if informational content is written for truth or for attention…what role does financial incentive play in this…and the dynamic that is extreme dislocation between value and price of products. In general, how do you reconcile truth, integrity, and COI?
Trying to find webbing between…
1. How to quickly triage whether something is in your control 100%, partly, or not at all, and with good judgment quickly prioritize and be correct.
  1. An expansion on this is triaging what in life 1) benefits you, 2) hurts you, 3) both, and 4) doesn’t actually impact you. A friend remarked yesterday about the stress they faced in college about their grades…a very interesting remark that isn’t as trivial in my view. So much to digest there.
2. What is the value of the journey vs. the destination in different endeavors? Is it helpful to circumvent and jump to the end sometimes? What can you leapfrog and skip vs. what do you HAVE to go through?
3. Doing something just for the sake of doing it vs. caring about your outputs and the rationale for why you do what you do.
Takeaway: What can you do to make sure you spend your energy on the things that matter?

tl;dr Read takeaways above.

All for now.

Cheers,

Vishal

Published on August 20, 2023.