MNTS #8
Ogilvy, Kitchens, Wendler, Graham, Bloom, Randall, FS, Millerd [Week 27/ Year 2023]
Mainly, Notes To Self - my weekly attempt to compress everything noteworthy I read, watched, listened to, and discovered during the past week.
New Posts
Updated Book Notes: Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy - I finished processing my highlights and provided additional opinions and distillations.
Watching
For the Love of Kitchens Season 2 - enjoying the earnest, low-key, English snobbery and emphasis on artisanry. Taking lots of notes and inspiration for building out our future kitchen.
5/3/1 Most Common Mistakes - First off, I just have to say I’m really enjoying watching Jim Wendler grin and bear his way through recording YouTube videos. I don’t know who talked him into doing these, but I love them for it. Second, if you are familiar with the programming, he shares a useful tidbit on how he is currently setting his training max by using the heaviest 5-rep weight with perfect form, good control, and bar speed. This will likely end up being quite a bit lighter than if you have been using a one-rep max for calculating a training max like I’ve been doing for the last several years. Something to consider, as progress has been grinding to a halt lately.
Reading
How to Do Great Work by Paul Graham - My favorite piece I’ve read this year; I’m legit excited by it. I’ve perused Paul Graham’s work before, but this long-form piece is so good it makes me want to go back and read everything he’s ever written. While reading this, I took so many highlights that I will make a separate post to break it down.
How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom - I’ve been on the hunt for a challenging book club to join, and I think I found it. I signed up to attend the Other Life book meetings, which aim to “conquer the canon” over a five-year (ish) span. The first one is July 12, and we are reading Harold Bloom’s How to Read and Why. I wanted a challenge, and I certainly got it right out of the gate. I’ve had to keep a dictionary handy to translate the esoteric prose. Since I’ve yet to read most of the literature discussed in the book, I’m having a hard time appreciating the critiques. I’m very curious to know what other folks will think of it.
Playing Different Games by Everett Randle - always seek to understand what rules your competition is playing by. Are they immutable?
FS Brain Food: 531 - We see that even in companies—“I’m doing this because so-and-so made me angry. I’m doing this because…”—and you end up making some poor decisions and ceding power because of someone else. You’re willing to make a poor decision. You’re willing to give up. Sometimes people are willing to give up their entire future dreams because of X, Y, and Z, and it’s a tragedy. — a poignant to be wary of this in colleagues and a note to self not to do this.
Self-Publishing Journey & Perspective by Paul Millerd - as an Ops guy, I always appreciate a good deck. I also learned it’s far less daunting and cost-prohibitive to self-publish than I would have assumed. Definitely get’s my wheels turning.
Listening
I took a break from podcasts this past week, but I have several I’m excited about in the hopper.
Still jamming to songs of summer 2023
Random
Until next week.
Stay spirited, stay resilient.
Andrew
Fun round up - the Other Life book club looks awesome, Justin Murphy is a cool dude.