The Memory of Our Failures
One would hope that on the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz, and a week before the start of Black History Month meant to honor the legacy of a people who built a nation under chains and whips; that we would have learned from history.
Event Driven Design
Just applying technology to a problem is not a Silver Bullet towards a solution. Complexity is bound to arise. Essential Complexity is a requirement that, without it, the complete picture cannot be seen. Accidental Complexity happens when we introduce concepts that do not serve the overall design. Therefore, it is imperative to justify the complexity, by demonstrating where it fits into the big picture and how it helps accomplish the larger vision.
Finding Time for Hobbies
Defining a plan for the day, sets the chess board and allows you to see all the moves you can make to maximize your day. Being rested gives you the energy you need to get through the low periods. Isolating tasks gives you the concentration you need to get challenging tasks done.
Detroit - Come Back City
Over two cumulative months of time in the Motor City exploring all of its nooks and crannies. I can assure you, it truly is a comeback city. A model of my idealist vision of the redemptive power of American ingenuity and determination.
How I Work
This post is inspired by and modeled after the Lifehacker Series by the same name. I thought to create a similar post after a flurry of mentoring meetings with Colleagues and Graduate & Undergraduate Students. Many of the questions asking about my working approach reminding me of the Lifehacker posts. So, through the sincerest flattery, I will summarize here, my approach to productivity and work.
The Stoic Benefits of Minimalism
It coincides that Stoicism is a great practice for developing such skills and Minimalism is a jump start towards being a Stoic. Minimalism removes distractions and focuses us on what matters. Especially, in how we manage our emotions towards people and things. Emotions on their own can be neither useful or useless, but they can be informative. Stoicism and Minimalism as a practice can help us move past the immediate reactions from a feeling and look at the deeper lesson within them. They act like car brakes, stopping us before we let our highs get too high or are lows too low.
Voting Rights are the End Game
Conservatives will circle the wagons when it comes to guns, taxes and abortion; whether it works against their own self-interest or highlights some glaring nuances in their ideology. I think it's time for non-conservatives to rally around a single goal that is likely to be the political end game. Voting Rights. We should shelve identity politics, social reforms, environmental debates, and all other feel good topics until we achieve a system of fully enforced and uniform voting rights. What does that mean?
Vietnam - A Travel Guide
This trip was long overdue and kickstarted by a Destination Wedding for my brother-in-law and a long time wish to see my wife's home country. She had not been back in over 20 years and I have never been to Asia. From the moment we landed, our simple expectations for what we were getting into were blown away. At the time of writing this, Vietnam is now the most rewarding trip I have ever been on. Everyone needs to visit it and Asia in general.
My Design Obsession
Great design can be applied to yourself as well. Every decision factors into how we design the experience of our lives. Whether we create or just consume. What are commute will be, or how our weekends will flow, or what our morning routine will be. We can sketch out truly meaningful and interesting lives when we apply careful reflection on past experiences and emotions and an eye on the bigger picture.