Colin Charles Agenda

I recently saw Molly’s Game on a flight. It was so good I ended up getting the audiobook, to see if I missed out on anything. Molly Bloom (her Wikipedia page is a great read) is an entrepreneur. She trained to ski (and had a tough father, and siblings who skied better than her), but due to injury decided it was time to go find herself. From a terrible job as an assistant, she quickly began running poker games for her boss. When her boss decided to cut her off, she became independent and anticipated player’s needs and became an even greater success. Her games even brought in Hollywood celebrities.

When she exited the LA market, she did games in New York. So no stranger to starting from scratch, in an industry that she was already well-versed in. Eventually the law caught up with her, and she had to give up her high life. But with grit, the rebirth seems to have been writing her story, which became a movie that Aaron Sorkin directed.

Constant reinvention and perseverance. Those are my takeaways from both the book and the movie. I recommend watching the movie, then deciding if you are still interested before getting to the book/audiobook.

Last week, I read in the WSJ an article about Beyoncé and Jay-Z and their new album, “Everything is Love”. If you have a subscription, feel free to read: Beyoncé and Jay-Z Go Pay-to-Play With New Album.

Naturally, that tempted me to listen to the album with my Apple Music subscription. I was not moved (keeping in mind, Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind is one of my favourite tunes).

So Taylor Swift has done before too. One of the reasons why I have subscribed to Apple Music was to listen to her music when she pulled out of Spotify. While this has changed, I have never bothered to change my streaming music service of choice.

It occured to me that these folk only do this to get in the news. It is free advertising, via “earned media”. I generally don’t read music reviews in the papers that I subscribe to, but if it makes the main pages, it is quite hard to skip over.

It has been a while since I visited Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This time I didn’t go as a tourist, so no trip to Grouse Mountain or anything.

While walking the streets, I overheard a conversation between 2 folk about how hard it was to buy Bitcoin. This is in contrast to nearly every street corner having a marijuana dispensary, some looking very inviting like a hipster coffee shop. People buy and smoke openly, even though its not entirely legal, yet.

However, I did go to a bar, the Lamplighter Public House and found a HoneyBadger ATM. Withdrawals and deposits do work for Bitcoin/Ethereum/Litecoin.

For steaks, The Keg Steakhouse & Bar seem to be very good value for money. It is highly recommended.

Instead of the Bloody Mary, you can have a Caesar that comes with Clamato (a mixture of clam and tomato juices). Yes, clams. Why do I talk about a Bloody Mary? Because I thought I could try a local variant at the St Regis (it is a ritual, a signature cocktail at the St Regis since 1934). It turns out that this is not a regular Starwood St Regis, so a fake. Read more at: Would The Real St. Regis Please Stand Up?.

I tend not to have a sweet tooth, but my weakness is good tasting ice cream or gelato. I am fond of the gelato affogato, but in Vancouver, I felt like a kid at Bella Gelateria (yes, one night I consumed a handful of scoops as dinner). They’ve won awards, and their gelato is excellent. I learned to eat gelato when I lived in Melbourne, and Lygon St had plenty. Even better? Upon returning the staff recognise you, which is amazing considering the long queues that they tend to have.

I had a massive suite at the Hyatt, and there was a user accessible balcony on the 30th floor. This is something that one would find rather odd in Asia!

Being able to walk, see parks, the water, I can see why the quality of life is generally quite good in Vancouver. I can see why they make it as a liveable city in most rankings.

While I’m not about to purchase The Archive as another app (I’m all in on Evernote and Ulysses, with a little help from Drafts 5), it seems like reading the principles behind zettelkasten seemed rather interesting.

Some highlights for me, which I totally agree with include the fact that reading is easy, writing notes is also easy, but the processing does take time. In the Collector’s Fallacy Confession, you’ll note that “For every hour of reading, it can take up to double the time to take proper notes.” I tend to agree. I don’t process notes like the author, but I myself do write down stuff with a pen and on paper. Sometimes I scribble in the physical book itself. I find that when I read on Kindle, I highlight, but don’t make notes (at which point, I’ll have to export the highlights and make notes around it).

Then I move on to reading The Collector’s Fallacy. Collecting itself isn’t progress, “Collections make us drown in liabilities.”. “kept isn’t read”.

I myself am a big consumer of RSS. There are thoughts on note taking from RSS. For me, I tend to tweet links that I think others might find interesting. But if I want to archive it, I quite happily send it along to Evernote.

When it comes to reading, you need to read analytically, practice so you know the topic, and then gain insight. I’m all in on Learn Faster by Writing Zettel Notes.

The writer refers to the short knowledge cycle, which more or less can be summed up as research (find the materials), read, take excellent notes, then compose notes. So you read, process, reflect, then adapt/change the routine as you see fit.

I was about to purchase Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process by John McPhee, but then I read Who Can Afford to Write Like John McPhee?. Apparently most of the book has already been published in The New Yorker. So I might just settle for the audiobook, and/or read the articles in Instapaper (probably both; to listen to it in transit, with the ability to highlight notes in the articles).

First, I needed a table of contents. Then I found pretty much all his work at his author page. Now the articles, presented in order:

• Progression
• Structure
• Editors & publisher
• Elicitation
• Frame of reference
• Checkpoints
• Draft no. 4
• Omission.

I listened to Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang and I quite enjoyed it. Its clear you need to rest for success.

Some key takeaways: rest, take regular vacations (maybe coupled with a think week), have focused mornings (when the alarm goes off, don’t read social media or your email; have a plan for what you want to achieve before being interrupted – consider this your leader time), allow your mind to wander, and exercise regularly.

Some quick notes:

• Rest is not the adversary of work. Rest is the partner of work. They complement and complete each other.
• A stoic would say, no good life without good work. One provided means to live, while one gave meaning to life.
• If you want rest you have to take it
• Learn to breathe (I think this is something the Apple Watch helps with as well; it reminds you from time to time to take a breather for a minute, and then it quantifies it for you as well).
• Rest in ways that are challenging or rewarding
• Long creative lives tend to be lives rich in work and rest. Don’t worry about age
• Don’t say labor rather than contemplation is what gives you success – this is why you have workaholics
• Do you have convergent or divergent thinking? Wikipedia has some good reading on this: Convergent thinking, Divergent thinking.
• Brief periods of mind wandering boosts creativity
• Associative thinking – maybe this is why people like working in cafes
• Deliberate practice
• Have focused mornings
• Inspiration must find you working
• Awake and aware or asleep and cleaning up – our brain can only do one not the other (our brains don’t multitask)
• There’s a link between lack of sleep and dementia as well as sleep disturbance and dementia
• Vacations are like sleep. Take them regularly.
• Build rest into your schedule
• Use recovery activities to help with creativity (why exercise is useful)
• Exercise regularly. Otherwise strenuous exercise will tire you out!
• Finishing an entire book is close to manual labor according to Murakami (quote from: Haruki Murakami: Writing Novels Is an Endurance Sport)
• Exercise in your mid life (40–50s) will really help you later in life
• To stay ahead, it’s necessary sometimes to step back
• Bill Gates think week – he spent a week away from everyone including family to read and figure out new things. Very interesting concept, WSJ In Secret Hideaway, Bill Gates Ponders Microsoft’s Future reports its a twice yearly ritual for him.
• The Samsung Electronics sabbatical plan is quite interesting; you go around the world, immerse in local culture, and it helps the company overall. Read Why Samsung pays its stars to goof off.
• Depth of experience abroad is important. More important than breadth, i.e. just travel abroad. Working in 2 countries a year is good but 8 will be too much (I personally like this idea tremendously; it also makes for diverse networks).
• Detachment is important during a sabbatical
• Annie Dillard: “who would call a day reading a good day? But a life spent reading, that is a good life” (full quote)
• From a book in 1895, titled The Use of Life by John Lubbock, he makes a distinction between idleness and leisure: “Leisure is one of the grandest blessings, idleness one of the greatest curses. One is the source of happiness, the other of misery.” People sometimes mistake rest for idleness but this is obviously a mistake.