Things of Note #04
Flowing into the Long Game
Hey Everyone,
This week started out with me feeling inspired. I was re-watching a video essay titled "The Long Game", which Nish had shared with me a while back. Thank you Nish!
The core message is that a lot of history's greatest achievers have a common thread: they played the Long Game. Contrary to what it seems like from the outside, they were not an overnight success. It took years. For instance, even Da Vinci took decades of perfecting his craft before creating his masterpieces. These are the missing chapters we don't see.
In today's world, we are even more deluded. We want success now. The essay contends it is mostly due to two reasons. First, in the early 60s, advertisers realized that targeting the youth is the most optimal strategy over the long run as they would then spend money on the product all their lives. And thus advertisement started doing that, making youth desirable and fashionable. Secondly, with today's technology, that effect has been amplified to create this distorted sense of time where 30 feels like old age. Nobody wants to put in years of work before achieving things they want.
Yet that's exactly what we must do. And although it's never been easier to share one's work, given the attention deficit nature of modern existence, more often that not, we end up “making art in the dark". And who wants to do that?
Well, turns out Van Gogh did just that for much of his life. This is what I find so inspiring. He was plagued by a lot of things in life (poverty, mental health issues) yet he kept making art even though he only had an audience of one (his brother). It was almost as if he was doing it for its own sake, like he was in a zone, in flow, as if when he created art, nothing else mattered.
Personally, when I recount my happy moments of say, the past six months, a lot of them involve such moments of flow. They are too few and far between but I can still spot them. Moments when I was so engrossed in the code, or piece of writing that nothing else seemed to matter, not even my critical self. I am sure you have also felt so at some point. Hopefully, pretty frequently.
The achievers we admire did that almost every day, consistently, for years and decades. They played the long game.
// Videos
The Long Game
Adam Westbrook | 20 mins | Part 2 : Part 3
This is that three part video essay :)
What is Flow Theory?
John Spencer | 5 mins
The concept of Flow primarily brought forth by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi sheds more light on the phenomenon described above.
This short video, although targeted at educators, does a great job of introducing the concept.
// Readings
10,000 Hours With Claude Shannon
Jimmy Soni & Rob Goodman | 29 mins
Shannon was an intriguing person. Of course, he contributed a bit to the information age ;) However, (as with a lot of these larger-than-life people) there was much more to him:
“Claude Shannon wasn’t just a brilliant theoretical mind — he was a remarkably fertile, fun, practical, and inventive one as well. There are plenty of mathematicians and engineers who write great papers. There are fewer of them who, like Shannon, are also jugglers, unicyclists, gadgeteers, first-rate chess players, codebreakers, expert stock-pickers, and amateur poets."
In this article, the authors (who wrote a biography about him) cover what they learned from his life. The point headers:
1. Cull your inputs
2. Big pictures first. Details later
3. Don’t just find a mentor. Allow yourself to be mentored.
4. You don’t have to ship everything you make.
5. Chaos is okay.
6. Time is the soil in which great ideas grow.
7. Consider the content of your friendships
8. Put money in its place.
9. Fancy is easy. Simple is hard.
10. The less marketing you need, the better your idea or product probably is.
11. Value Freedom over status
12. Don't look for inspiration. Look for irritation.
Keanu Reeves, Explained
Aja Romano | 17 mins
A fun article that explores the answer to the question we all have about Keanu... No, not his secret to not ageing (that is a solved problem). What makes Keanu so different, so likable?
"In other words, the Keanu Reeves of 1989, 2009, and 2019 are all, more or less, the same Keanu Reeves. He hasn’t changed; instead, 30 years after his career took off, the culture has finally caught up to the idea that the actor who embodies some of our most rigidly masculine cinematic tropes — the badass action hero, the unstoppable cop, the martial arts master, the guy who levels up to save the world and get the girl — can also be a gentle, soft-spoken, wholesome dude who eschews those tropes in his own life".
I sell onions on the Internet
Peter Askew | 5 mins
When life gives you... onions. Or more precisely: Vidaliaonions[dot]com. You gotta do what you gotta do.
Such an interesting story of a guy following the serendipity of life and putting in the work of following through.
// Tech
10 Tips for Research and a PhD
Sebastian Ruder | 10 mins
These tips are most useful for people doing ML research. But I think there are possible takeaways for anyone doing knowledge work.
TL;DR:
Read broadly.
Work on two things.
Be ambitious.
Collaborate.
Be proactive.
Write a blog.
Keep a source of positive energy.
Play to your strengths.
Intern or visit a university.
Play the long game.
// Might-be-Useful
Intention
StayFocused was my go-to app for restraining myself from indulging in too much digital distraction. However, I have found this app (also introduced to me by Nish) to be more in line with how I feel it needs to be handled. It does have a daily allocation of time for target sites but also prompts me every time I visit the site (right now for me, these are reddit, twitter, and facebook) so that I can be intentional about why and how long I am there. Of course, quite a many times I do end up automatically snoozing "5m" multiple times :| Oh well.
// Stories and Poems
Pep Talk
Muna Gurung | 11 mins
I love, love this story.
Invictus
William Ernest Henley | 2 mins
A classic. And for good reason. Steadily inspiring.
// Music
Powerful, poignant, evocative. Strong music. Strong message.
Awesome vibes.
// Wholesome
That’s it for today!
Do reply with your thoughts on any of these. Will be delighted to receive them :)
With Love,
Bijay
(P.S: If you know anyone who might enjoy these letters, do share it with them! Ciao).
A special highlight to the line: "he contributed a bit". Loved what you did there.
The past week was surrounded by negativity. Heartbreaking stories, news and developments. But this "things of note" makes me feel better and sets a positive mood for the coming week.