#03 March's Favourites
When I sit down to share my writing on Substack, I find myself distracted by other “pressing” priorities and end up deprioritizing it. Writing gives me the space to slow down, reflect, and form more developed ideas and opinions. I'm more of an oral thinker - my most creative ideas and interesting thoughts come about when I'm speaking out loud. Writing is a way for me to refine and expand on those thoughts, but my written voice still has some work to do in capturing the playful and direct tone of my natural speech.
All this to say, March’s favourites is coming when we’re half-way into April because I kept procrastinating it, but in the words of Shallipopi - “Network slow, no mean say Wi-Fi disconnect.”
What I read…
Tribute to Refaat Alareer. My favourite teachers showed me new worlds, they trusted me, and gave my mind an audience. Reefat did that, and much more for his students - the world is losing so much. Refaat was killed in an Israeli airstrike on December 7th, 2023, RIP.
Atomization is the secret to happiness. How do you embrace integrated living when many of your best friends are scattered all over the world? Digital communities will never be enough - I want to drop by Valentine’s house after work for dinner, take daily jogs around the park with Ayomide, fall asleep doing nothing with Aniekan. Everyone is everywhere - i’m grateful for digital connectedness but sometimes, it’s not enough.
What’s going on here? by Graham Duncan. I’ve come back to this a few times recently, it’s about hiring well, but also self-awareness. Everyone is an A-player in something, what’s that for you (or them)? He mentions several assessments at the end that are helpful in getting to know yourself. I don’t agree with the idea of making personality assessments part of a recruiting process, but it’s great for growing your self-awareness.
Good to Great by Jim Collins. My book of the month! The process is the result - that’s my summary of the book. This applies far beyond building a company, greatness is rarely an isolated miracle. The hedgehog concept, focusing on doing one thing exceptionally well by deeply understanding what you’re passionate about, what you can be the best in the world at, and what makes you money cuts across the personal and professional.
Bad Therapy: Why Kids Aren’t Growing Up by Abigail Shrier. I didn’t read the full thing, a tweet I saw intrigued me enough to read the preview. She made some compelling arguments and a few weak ones. In summary, I think increased focus on mental health is overwhelmingly positive for humanity and we need better regulation and safeguards around therapy, especially for kids. I didn’t fully read the full book, so I won’t encourage anyone to buy it, it’s included because it made me think more critically about my personal journey with therapy.
What I watched…
Poor Things on AppleTV. I’ve described this as manic pixie dream girl meets Frankenstein. Emma Stone did a fantastic job as Bella Baxter. Did she win an award for that? If she didn’t, get her one!
Sampha’s second Tiny Desk Concert. He performed Dancing Circles with so much joy this time, I love when an artist is able to bring a different emotion to an old song - you can revisit your past experiences with a new perspective and feeling.
Fred again… Tiny Desk Concert. This is the first time Tiny Desk had an EDM musician cum DJ perform and he did an incredible job. It’s such a gift to be able to bless people with the work of your hands and mind - his music has a way of taking me back to the things that matter.
That’s all folks!