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.

I’m happy for you

It makes me happy seeing my friends thrive. Some of them are working on their biggest projects to date, some are raising a family, some are getting into new relationships, some are traveling on the other side of the world, some are finally getting the recognition they deserve, some are finally finding their voice and some are just genuinely happy for the first time in a long time.

I’m proud of everyone and I can’t wait to see how everything unfolds for you.

Now, if you’re someone reading this whose life doesn’t feel like it’s going to plan and nothing is working, just hold on and give it some patience. The world works in mysterious ways.

Financial rules

As you know, I’m actively working to get better with my money management and spending habits. So here’s a small list of seemingly inconsequential rules I’d like to follow a littler closer.

1. Audit your subscriptions and cancel everything you genuinely don’t need.
2. Always carry a reusable bottle with you. DO NOT PAY FOR WATER.
3. Buy secondhand tech when you can. Facebook marketplace is your best friend.
4. Mend over end. Learn to fix your belongings.
5. If you don’t immediately need to make a purchase, sleep on it and see how you feel the next day.
6. Try to use cash more often, it’ll make your spending feel real.
7. Use your local library.
8. Go with free and open source products over big tech when you can.
9. Look over your bank statements from a place of curiosity not fear.
10. Ignore false urgency created by grifters.

Measuring success

If the only unit your using to measure your work is how many likes or views it gets, it’s going to drastically warp what you make. You’re going to start catering to the algorithm and will most likely unconsciously start emulating what you’re seeing working for others.

This isn’t a bad thing either. You can probably find quick growth with sensationalism and attention grabbing techniques. However, I think there’s other units of measurement we should be holding up against what we make.

Instead of focusing on likes, views and followers, have you ever asked yourself any of these questions?

• Did I enjoy making this?
• Would I still be happy with what I’ve made even if no one saw it?
• Did I grow spiritually or emotionally in the process of this?
• Did this help me improve my craft?
• Was that fun?
• Would I be proud to show this to my future kid?
• Did that genuinely help someone?
• Did I steal someones time or did I add to it?

The list goes on and I urge you to think of some of your own metrics to hold not only up against your work but against how you live your life.

I draw similarities here between the algorithm and societal expectations. Likes, followers and comments are just the digisted houses, jobs and awards. It’s all external validation which might be great, especially if it’s deserving but as the quote goes, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

Mr Robot and other TV shows

I never watch TV shows because I feel like they’re a waste of time and I’d much rather sit down for a two hour movie, than donate a dozen hours to a show. However, there’s a series I’ve just started watching again that I love.

It’s called Mr Robot and the last time I watched it was almost five years ago when a girl I met on Bumble (yes, I know, embarrassing) came over and put it on for us. We only ever watched a few episodes and never saw each other again, because you know… dating in the 20s be like that.

But besides that memory, I’m glad that I’ve managed to stumble back towards the show.

For those that don’t know, it’s basically about a paranoid IT employee working in corporate America that gets recruited into a secret hacking group. I won’t say anything else other than that but as someone who loves computers and technology, it’s amazing.

And now that I’m on the topic of TV shows, I may as well share my all-time favorites with you.

• Yu Gi Oh GX
• Shameless
• Black Mirror
• Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
• How To Make It In America
• Silicon Valley
• South Park
• Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?

The Steam Machine

If your a gamer you’ve probably seen Steam’s recent announcement about their first gaming console, the Steam Machine.

It’s an affordable, nonchalant, little black cube that will be able to hook into your TV and play practically every single game of all time.

If I worked at Sony or Microsoft, I would be shaking right now. This device feels like the console killer that we’ve all been dreaming of.

This is genuinely the first time I’ve been excited for a new gaming console to release. I actually can’t wait for next year to get my hands on one.

Hope everyone enjoys their week.

Love,

Jet Williams

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