Ode to slow; 4 day weeks; Productivity hacks
💡Think
I learned about a cool phrase called Schelling Point this week. It’s where two people, businesses, or entities converge at a similar point without even communicating.
As an example, have you noticed how most streaming platforms charge around about the same price? Well, this isn’t down to some underground conspiracy but most likely due to an industry Schelling Point to meet at the same place without ever communicating it.
In the end, we’re not all that unique and, despite our best intentions, will probably all do the same thing anyway if we’re in this right here tech bubble together experiencing the same media and career progressions.
📷 Look
📖 Read
❶ An ode to slowness, and ditching the hustle
It’s true, the world and industries we operate in fetishise speed as a way of proving that you’re both excellent and achieving. The reality is that if we continuously speed up, diving head first into a burnout scenario. So, maybe we should slow down. It turns out there are many benefits to doing so, as outlined in this here article.
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❷ Kill the 5 day work week
This is timely, because I asked in the company #ama this week whether we’d consider a 4 day week. There has been so much “evidence” appearing over the past few years that suggests we’d see no significant negative implications of doing so. This article jumps into it, with examples from tech company Buffer to the Spanish government.
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❸ The soothing, sinister world of productivity hacks
Apparently, Gen Z is drafted to be the most educated generation in history, but there aren’t actually the jobs available for them to fill. What this means is that people are turning their drive to be the best into productivity hacks that get millions of views on TikTok, sell tonnes of products, but actually don’t help you at all. I’ve probably got 5 notebooks on my desk and have maybe written in one of them once; maybe I’m the perfect target market, if not a little too old.
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Bonus round
I’m celebrating a decade as a designer, I’ve written a Twitter thread and 9 minute read article about my learnings
Cover your eyes, there’s now a report telling you how bad your Netflix addiction is for the planet
Episode #2 of my new podcast is live with Aurora Pleguezuelo, design systems at Github: Spotify, Apple, YouTube
🎧 Listen
Waymo and the automated car revolution
I haven’t driven a car since I passed my test a decade ago, and I’ve been telling myself I’ll wait until the car drives itself. It turns out we’re not too far away, and this podcast from (surprisingly) Malcolm Gladwell takes a look at the Waymo project in Phoenix, Arizona to see just how effective and safe these cars are – incredibly, it turns out.
Listen to this podcast (36 minutes)
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🙏 Thanks
Have a great week,
Luis Ouriach
@disco_lu
Founding member special shoutouts:
Kevin Fernandez (@kvnfz) Karl Barker