Music of the Week
Sound Tribe Sector 9 (STS9), an instrumental band fusing rock, electronic, funk, jazz, and hip hop, is a group I listen to to calm the mental chatter. There’s an element of instrumental music that allows me to focus deeply. STS9 is one of these groups that taps into something deep within me. Some of my favorite songs include Tokyo, Peoples, Metamene, Shock Doctrine, and When the Dust Settles.
Quotes of the Week
Stop trying to be spectacular. Start being consistent. – Shane Parrish
Marry someone who is a better person than you are. Always associate yourself with people who are better than you. – Warren Buffett
Fix the lifestyle you want. Then work backward from there. – Cal Newport
It is not necessary to accept the choices handed down to you by life as you know it. There is more to it than that — no one HAS to do something he doesn’t want to do for the rest of his life. – Hunter S. Thompson
If you do not actively choose a better way, then society, culture, and the general inertia of life will push you into a worse way. The default is distraction, not improvement. – James Clear
This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. – Alan Watts
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. – Albert Einstein
So much of success in business comes from keeping your head in a good place. – Brad Jacobs
The first thing is that you like what you are doing, that you are passionate about your work. I insist on this idea because it is very important. It has to be something that you would almost pay to do. – Amancio Ortega
And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good. – John Steinbeck
It doesn’t matter what other people do, say, or think. It only matters what you do. – Marcus Aurelius
Time is our most irreplaceable asset— we cannot buy more of it. We can only strive to waste as little of it as possible. – Ryan Holiday
The number of people who stand ready to consume one’s time, to no purpose, is almost countless. – Booker T. Washington
I didn’t see why it has to be either. If you have a job in the daytime, you write at night. It’s all a question of how much you want to do it. – Margaret Atwood
When you have great ingredients, you can have great cuisine. – Emeril Lagasse
Don’t behave as if you are destined to live forever. What’s fated hangs over you. As long as you live and while you can, become good now. – Marcus Aurelius
If you are doing something primarily for money and without a real emotional commitment, it will translate into something that lacks a soul and that has no connection to you. – Robert Greene
I figure out what I don’t like instead of figuring out what I like in order to get what I like. I sometimes think straightforward too, of course. But thinking of what I didn’t like and how I can avoid it has just work wonders for me. – Charlie Munger
Articles of the Week
“I suppose one of the solutions is, as Charlie Brown, just to keep on trying. He never gives up. And if anybody should give up, he should” from ‘You have to just draw something that you hope is funny’: How Charles M Schulz created Charlie Brown and Snoopy inspires you to never give up.
“Web services such as Trello, Microsoft Flow, and Asana allow all of a team’s tasks to appear as cards on a digital bulletin board, so that everyone can see who’s working on what and how it’s going” outlined in Why Remote Work Is So Hard—and How It Can Be Fixed offers helpful work tips.
“There’s always something that’s late, always a message that can’t wait until the next morning, always a nagging sense of irresponsibility during any moment of downtime” quoted in Why Do We Work Too Much? gives me pause about the perils of burnout.
“To connect to the grid, these energy parks will have to contend with energy-market regulations and grid-reliability rules that have yet to evolve to support this kind of combination of power supply and demand at such a large scale” in Google plans to build gigawatts of clean power and data centers together heightens issues electricity buyers are facing.
“He has replaced most of his asynchronous messaging with a “regular rhythm” of meetings, which allows him to eciently address issues in real time” from Was E-mail a Mistake? shows the dangers of e-mail if not used properly.
“Don’t simply write an abstract list of things you hope to accomplish. Instead, directly confront the time that’s actually available to you, assigning specific work to specific hours” outlined in How to Have a More Productive Year gave me productivity tips.
“Mr. Jobs seemed to understand the iPhone as something that would help us with a small number of activities — listening to music, placing calls, generating directions. He didn’t seek to radically change the rhythm of users’ daily lives” quoted in Steve Jobs Never Wanted Us to Use Our iPhones Like This is a warning about the dangers of phones grabbing your attention.
“I strive to divide my focused attention among four categories: community (family, friends, etc.), craft (work and quality leisure), constitution (health), and contemplation (matters of the soul)” in The Deep Life: Some Notes made me reevaluate my priorities.
“If you can recruit, over time, a thousand such loyal supporters, each of whom is willing to spend a hundred dollars a year to support you and your creations, you’re suddenly making a good middle-class salary doing creative work as your full-time job” from The Rise of the Internet’s Creative Middle Class reminded me of Kevin Kelly’s 1,000 true fans concept.
“The Internet at its best should be weird, energetic, and exciting—featuring both homegrown idiosyncrasy and sudden trends that ash supernova-bright before exploding into the novel elements that spur future ideas and generate novel connections” quoted in TikTok and the Fall of the Social-Media Giants highlights what makes the internet wonderful.
“Companies are pursuing every available energy resource — which each come with a different timeline — as they race to build AI computing infrastructure” in Meta’s all-of-the-above strategy shows why powering AI is so complex shows data center users scramble for electricity resources.
“Higher efficiency will enable greater computational power without reducing energy requirements, which is likely to keep energy demand high and continue to challenge grid resilience” from Navigating The ‘New Normal’ Of Energy double-clicks on the reality of the energy demands over the short-term.
“Company lifers can bring substantial advantages to a business. They foster continuity and enhance morale, as employees see clear pathways for their progression, which cultivates loyalty” quoted in From intern to CEO: does it pay to be a company lifer? brings to the surface how rare it is to rise to the ranks of large organizations these days.
“1) Living in the same place as the people you love matters, 2) Priorities matter, 3) Quality time matters” highlighted in The Tail End is an article my dad and I resonated with recently.
“I believe 2025 is going to be a pivotal year, when many projects initiated in 2024 will begin breaking ground. Given a three- to four-year deployment timeline for data centers, those loads will really begin coming online in 2027 and 2028” from Data center growth ‘dwarfs’ anything we’ve seen in computing history shows the insane electricity demand ahead.
Book of the Week
Michael Jordan: The Life by Roland Lazenby explores the competitor and adrenaline junky that is the basketball GOAT Michael Jordan. Lazenby’s biography of Jordan starts the book by going back to Jordan’s ancestors in North Carolina bringing you along for a ride through his life. The story starts with Jordan as a baseball little leaguer followed by the infamous story of Jordan being cut from the high school basketball team. Jordan goes to UNC to play for legendary basketball coach Dean Smith. He’s then drafted by the Chicago Bulls where he goes on to win six NBA championships. In between the champions, Jordan retires, attempts to play pro baseball, comes back from retirement, retires after this sixth championship, unretires to play for the Washington Wizards, and then becomes the owner of the Charlotte Hornets/Bobcats. You read about his the highs of his life from winning NBA champions and relationship with Nike to the murder of his father, his divorce, and struggles with his brothers and sisters. Additional Jordan books to check out include Driven from Within and Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made.
Podcasts of the Week
The Tim Ferriss Show “deconstructs world-class performers from eclectic areas (investing, chess, pro sports, etc.) digging deep to find the tools, tactics, and tricks that listeners can use. Episodes I recently enjoyed include The Random Show – Lessons from Tim’s Sabbatical, Alzheimer’s Breakthroughs, Kevin Tries a Medium, Fitness Tools and Protocols, Productivity Tactics – Two Approaches | Personally Use to Reset | Get Unstuck, and Focus on the Right Things, Andrew Roberts on The Habits of Churchill, Lessons from Napoleon, and the Holy Fire Inside Great Leaders, and Jon Batiste – The Quest for Originality, How to Get Unstuck, His Favorite Mantras, and Strategies for Living a Creative Life.
Bonus: Video I Posted
I posted a video on our recent trip to New York covering all of the places we visited, the food we ate, and the drinks we consumed. New York is the best! For additional videos similar to the New York video, you can follow me HERE.
Bonus: TV Show of the Week
Chef’s Table: Noodles “Uncover the art of noodle-making with world-renowned chefs as they share their culinary journeys and the stories behind their delicious signature dishes.”
