Quality over Quantity, 40 Afterlives, James Blake, & Severance (Find Something Cool)
At a glance:
- ☁️ Thinking: Quality over Quantity
- 📕 Reading: Forty Tales From The Afterlives
- 🎧 Listening: James Blake x Endel
- 📹 Watching: Severance
- ⚡️ Bonus: Winning Time
Hi makers,
It feels good to be back in New York after spending last week in Florence and Venice. I was blown away by the amount of creative history in both places. We were lucky enough to see a few pieces of it up close:
Seeing the David was one of most incredible things we got to do. Photos and drawings can’t do it justice. As we were leaving the museum, I actually turned around and went back to see it again.
We also went to a Da Vinci museum in Venice filled with his inventions. Here’s some of his handwritten notes to himself:
If you look closely, you’ll see that his note (on the left) is written from right to left as well as backwards. This is how he wrote most of the time; holding a mirror in one hand while writing with the other.
He didn’t want others taking his ideas, so this is how he recorded them in safety.
I also released a new podcast this week with Jesse Brian from Belief Agency. We discussed the history of propaganda, his experience of watching Mars Hill Church rise and fall, and how to build a compelling brand through simply telling the truth. Listen here!
Here are some cool things I found this week:
☁️ Thinking: Quality over Quantity
Fresh off our trip, I reflected a lot on the differences between Italian culture and what I am used to in the U.S.
The biggest difference is the emphasis on quality over quantity. In the locals we met, there was a noticeable lack of concern for how things could scale, made money, or how successful they would eventually be.
In fact, the definition of what “success” was seemed completely different to me. There was a focus on not working too much, enjoying long meals, and not watching the clock.
Being present.
It inspired me to focus more on quality than quantity coming back to the states.
📕 Reading: Sum: Forty Tales From The Afterlives by David Eagleman
What happens after you die? Truthfully, none of us know. The popular ideas like heaven, reincarnation, or nothingness seem obvious... but maybe we have been thinking too small about what happens after we go.
Sum: Forty Tales From The Afterlives is an exploration of these possibilities. Each tale a unique scenario for what happens after we die. Some are hilarious, and some are haunting.
The real magic of this little book is that it makes you want to live your life more purposefully. Each world mirrors different parts of life back at you, and ultimately calls us to being more grateful of what happens before our time has come.
🎵 Listening: James Blake x Endel
Endel is an app that I listen to for multiple hours a day. It’s generative (AI-ish) music designed for help listeners in specific scenarios. This could be focus, sleep, or movement, and I am a strong believer that the product actually works.
So when I saw they had a collaboration with James Blake (one of my favorite artists), I was excited to listen.
It does not disappoint and is perfect for the background in the mornings or night while getting a moment of peace. Quiet soundbeds along with solid melodies.
📹 Watching: Severance
Severance takes work-life balance to the extreme. Employees at a technology company have a microchip put in their brains. When they reach a certain floor of their office building, the chip triggers the mind into forgetting what happens in the outside world. The same happens when you leave.
When you’re at work you forget what your life is outside of it. When you leave work, you don’t know anything about what you do in the building all day.
Not to mention, the company itself is up to some mischief as well. I’m nearly finished, and I can’t wait for the last episodes to drop.
⚡️ Bonus: Winning Time
I love the Lakers. I love Adam McKay. I love unhinged Jerry West.
So far, I love Winning Time.
That’s all I have for this edition! See you on Monday with a new podcast.
-Alex