Newsletter #39

Last week, I posed a question:

Are you content?

Here are some of your replies:

One person said that the question was big and intimidating, and made them think about their life in uncomfortable ways. In case you’re wondering, they didn’t actually answer the questions, but that’s totally cool. It was still an interesting conversation.

Another said they aren’t content, and hope never to be. Because to them, being content is boring, and it means they’ve stopped striving.

The last also said they aren’t content because they haven’t achieved some of the things they set out to do this year, and that has bred insecurity and stress.

Thank you to everyone who responded for your time and openness. I learnt a little more about each of you, and had enriching conversations. It also helped me consider my own position on contentment.

Am I content?

This year has been good to me. I’m not making a million bucks, far far from it. But I’m growing and learning at a job that I chose for myself and am genuinely interested in. And I think it’s going moderately well.

In addition, for all the shitty stuff COVID-19 has wrought, I’m fortunate enough that my work is unaffected since I work from home and for myself.

My day-to-day is peaceful, my country and government stable, and I eat lots of good, reasonably priced food. I don’t think I can really ask for more than that.

I am content.

This week’s question

If you’re like me, you have a constant stream of thoughts and words running through your head every single waking minute. This helps us interpret and make sense of the world, and colours every interaction and experience we have.

So here’s my question for the week…

❓Question of the week
When you make a huge mistake at work, after letting loose a string of your preferred swear words, what do you tell yourself next?

In case you’re overthinking your response, I’d just like to take a moment to reassure you that there are no wrong or right answers. And there’s no need to posture or give a cool answer. Each response is simply the start to a lovely conversation.

🔥 Highlights from this week

• We launched a new Newsletter Glue update with lots of new features and upgrades.

💔 Lowlights from this week

• We were alerted to a bunch of bugs we needed to fix.
  It’s always a little demoralising hearing why people have deactivated your plugin. Having said that, having people tell you is actually a good thing, because now we know what needs to be fixed.

✅ Completed this week

• Launched new update
• Completed the first draft of the UI of the Newsletter block manager
• Worked on the first premium custom block which is a callout card block.

🎯 Goals for next week

• Bash out the rest of the premium custom blocks

🤔 Product thought for the week
You can’t test or anticipate everything.

🍕Hot and fresh from the Interwebz

Burning the Boats: Going All-In on a Side Project

In 2017, Tommy Griffith left Airbnb with much fanfare to start Clickminded, an online digital marketing course. And then he failed. Fortunately, he picked himself back up, kept going, and today it’s one of the top digital marketing programs out there. This is the story of how he did it. Link to article →

Why don’t I change? (podcast)

Argh, loved this podcast episode. Host Aubrey Marcus interviews Dr Ross Ellenhorn about why it’s so hard for people to break addiction or even just bad habits. The gentleness and thoughtfulness of Dr Ellenhorn’s insights and responses made me that much more empathetic towards people who are struggling to change their lives. And helped me look inward to see what I needed to let go of and how. Definitely worth a listen. Or go read his book, if that’s more your thing. Link to podcast →

Not So Simple

Economist Mark Boyle writes about how he unplugged from modern technology two years ago. As the title indicates, it’s not so simple. Lots of people long to withdraw from the stress and worries of 21st century living, but the fact of the matter is – we have it pretty damned good. In this article, Mark Boyle explains how living without running water, electricity, or machines, has made his life more complex. But also how it’s given him more time to enjoy his day-to-day. Link to article →

A Masterpiece Emerge from a Solid Block of Stone (YouTube video)

Sculpting is such a foreign world to me. This beautifully shot and soothing video educated me on the process of turning stone into a three dimensional portrait. Link to video →

What is happiness? (YouTube video)

Holy cow this was a great video. Thanks for sharing it with me, Bijay! In this long (40 min) video, Will Schoder dives deep into the philosophy, culture and psychology of happiness. In particular, I liked the concept of compression (starts at 26:48). Simply put, compression is when stress and negativity compresses your spirit, your mind narrows and your capacity for pleasure is smothered by short term tasks and concerns.

In contrast, an uncompressed person feels free, expansive. They’re open hearted and more likely to look up and enjoy the stars. I like the word compression because it’s an abstract term that somehow feels literal at the same time. Link to video →