Productive theology; Professional personalities; Saving the environment
Milk, No Sugar #299
💡Think
I’m reading the book Rework at the moment, which has been sitting on my shelf for well over a year collecting dust.
It’s essentially a collection of 1/2 page essays describing how broken our current approach to business and work is; focussing mainly on overwork, venture funds, our obsession with meeting culture, and how planning far ahead is akin to guesswork.
Despite being written in 2010, it’s still a stinging read now. At the same time it feels empowering, making me want to optimise the way I work to try and be the best employee I can whilst still spending most of my life not in a Zoom call.
📷 Look
📖 Read
❶ The Theology of Productivity
Given the fact that I mention productivity most weeks here and have my calendar on the first screen of my iPhone, it’d be fair to say I’m a productivity theologian. As religious interest has declined for people like us, we’ve seemingly replaced that obsession with work and “getting things done”. Yes, my friend, it looks like you’re joining the same boat as me.
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❷ A profession is not a personality
Gulp. Do you define yourself by your work? Or jump straight to “so what do you do?” when meeting new people. It’s easy, but we need to strive to remember that we’re whole people with interests outside of what we do from 9-6, 5 days a week. This article introduces the concept of “self-objectification”, which is a fancy way of saying you prioritise your career. It’s both great, and not so great.
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❸ When the world solved an environmental crisis
This definitely leans on the nerdy end of articles, but is a great read nonetheless. I’m sure that everyone reading this newsletter is familiar with “the o-zone crisis” that, depending on when you were born, was all over the news or popping up every so often. It is a pretty big deal, and means that the globe was alarmingly close to being overheated (sound familiar?) from radiation, but due to some incredible science, has been saved. Fingers crossed.
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Bonus round
Watch – “Float” a short 3 minute movie shot all on an iPhone
Watch – A wonderful 6 minute video with Stanley Donwood (my favourite artist) and Thom Yorke (of Radiohead fame) talking about their artwork
🎧 Listen
Navigating the “exponential age”
The age where people outsourced their tech or customer support is now starting to show a significant shift in “where the money is”, in that the countries previously working for big tech are now driving it. In particular, China and Indian startups are driving more and more investment and huge revenues. This means that the delta between the rich and the not so rich is increasing “exponential” to the point that the class structures are effectively in different continents. This is a fascinating podcast with someone who’s written a book on the subject, and talks about just how our current age of growth is particularly unique.
Listen to this podcast (60 minutes)
Apple Podcasts – Spotify
🙌 Share
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🙏 Thanks
Have a great week,
Luis Ouriach
@disco_lu
Founding member special shoutouts:
Kevin Fernandez (@kvnfz)
Karl Barker
George Sumpster