Hi All!

Here is your weekly round up of what I’m pondering and exploring. Feel free to forward along to a friend if you think they might enjoy.

Minimum viable effort

Have you been wanting to start a new project? Or perhaps start exercising? But you feel overwhelmed by the act of going from zero to one?

If you’re answer is yes, let me introduce you to a concept I call minimum viable effort.

It’s pretty straight forward, and all it really is, is just doing bare minimum.

It’s not trying to be the best, or trying to be perfect on day one, it’s just taking one step, and simply heading in whatever direction you’re trying to go.

Thinking about what the MVE could be in any area of my life, has really helped reduce how daunting large tasks might feel.

I often apply this to writing, training and reading, because it’s much easier to set and hit a goal of writing one paragraph versus being overwhelmed at the thought of writing an entire novel. The same goes for setting the bar so low when it comes to running that you almost feel like an idiot, if you can’t even run to the end of your street, and back.

However, usually what happens once you’ve started the thing, is momentum picks up, and you keep going far beyond your expectations. And if for any reason that doesn’t happen, you still did something, and you made progress even if it’s tiny.

Not sure if this will help, but maybe next time your procrascinating have a quick think about what the minimum viable effort might look like.

Go do stuff

Quite a while ago I used to think all you could do with your friends or even by yourself was go get food, train, watch the footy, or go for a swim.

This might be a slightly different for the girls, but I think in general for guys at least, there is a limited set of activities we’re accustomed to doing.

And because of this it can get boring very quickly when the weekend approaches and it feels like you’ve been doing the same thing over and over and over.

However, as I’ve matured, and opened my mind, I’ve come to realise there is so many things you can do.

Take my past month and a bit for example where I’ve went to comic con, played chess in the city, practised my anatomy at a live drawing event, played magic the gathering with strangers, went to my first book club meetup, acted in a movie, explored dozens of muesuem exhibits, watched tonnes of films at different cinemas, got kicked out of a comedy club, rode lime bikes with my friends, went on dates, the list goes on and on.

All I’m trying to say is that there is so many things we can do with our time but we often fall into the same routine simply because it’s what we know.

Which is why I say yes to almost anything, because I love doing random shit.

No half hearted bullshit yeah?

Here’s a poem I found on the internet by Khalil Gibran I wanted to share with you.

Do not love half lovers Do not entertain half friends Do not live half a life and do not die a half death If you choose silence, then be silent When you speak, do so until you are finished Do not silence yourself to say something And do not speak to be silent If you accept, then express it bluntly Do not mask it If you refuse then be clear about it for an ambiguous refusal is but a weak acceptance Do not accept half a solution Do not believe half truths Do not dream half a dream Do not fantasise about half hopes Half a drink will not quench your thirst Half a meal will not satiate your hunger Half the way will get you no where Half an idea will bear you no results Half a life is a life you didn’t live A word you have not said A smile you postponed A love you have not had A friendship you did not know To reach and not arrive Work and not work Attend only to be absent The half is a mere moment of inability but you are able for you are not half a being You are a whole that exists to live a life not half a life

Keep thinking

OpenAI & Meta have both just released brain numbing short form apps filled with AI slop.

While Anthropic, the team behind Claude (My favourite AI) is releasing videos like this, ecouraging their audience to keep thinking.

This is why I love Anthropic. They have aesthetic sensibility, and are encouraging empowerment through their tools, not the retardification of society. Huge, original visionary Apple energy.

Brainrot education

I know I just talked down on mind numbing AI generated short form content, but let me share something happening online that I’m finding very interesting.

The video above is a new form of content that’s emerging across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube where creators are taking complex subjects like math, physics, and engineering, and turning them into easily digestible content that slips right into our feeds.

I don’t know exactly where this goes, but I find it very interesting, and think there is something here to do with engineering retention in the right places, not just the wrong ones.

Hope everyone enjoys their week.

Love,

Jet Williams

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