J.D. Moyer

sci-fi author, beatmaker

Category: Creative Work/Career Page 20 of 23

Penelope Trunk Makes Me Think Hard About What I’m Doing and Why

By

On October 4

In Creative Work/Career, Metablog, Personal Updates

Brazen Careerist’s Penelope Trunk

I’ve been reading Penelope Trunk’s mindfuck of a blog, and learning a few things in the process.  Listening to this podcast, in which Penelope gives brutally blunt career advice to hapless blogger Steve, was sort of a wake-up call.  Penelope asks Steve some hard questions about why he is blogging, and what his goals for his blog are.  When he’s evasive, she rips him a new one.  It’s not pretty, but it’s honest, and to Steve’s credit he posts the whole thing unedited.

Penelope can be thought of as kind of an anti-Tim Ferriss.  Where Tim looks for simplicity and optimization, Penelope looks for conflict and doubt.  Tim polishes his image and generally presents his best side, while Penelope shares her angst, personal failings, and relationship problems.  Tim offers advice about how to minimize work and maximize play, while Penelope takes as a given that adults need to put in 8 hours of daily work, and focuses on the question of “Whose working life do you want?”

So, who do I want to take advice from?  A borderline-narcissistic tango-spin record holder, or a neurotic Jew with Asperger’s syndrome?  Well, both actually, but I’ll focus on Penelope’s advice in this post since I talked about Tim Ferriss last week.

Read More

Reaction to Tim Ferriss’s Talk on Accelerated Learning (and Thoughts on his Rapid Rise to Fame)

By

On September 24

In Creative Work/Career, Culture Rants/Shares, Metaprogramming

Ferriss dispensing some armchair wisdom.

I recently attended Tim Ferriss’s talk “Accelerated Learning in Accelerated Times,” as presented as part of the Long Now Foundation’s Seminar series.  Jason W. from Proton Radio invited me — thanks Jason!

You can listen to the whole presentation here.  And here’s the Long Now blog post summarizing the talk.

I sensed the audience had a mixed reaction to Tim’s talk.  It was the first time he had given this particular presentation and it felt both rough and rushed.  Also, I think Ferriss’s rapid rise to celebrity status rubs some people the wrong way.  He can come off as arrogant sometimes.

Read More

Pour Gasoline On Your Life Spark — Part II

By

On July 10

In Creative Work/Career, Metaprogramming

"Following your sparks" is providing positive feedback loops for your brain ... recklessly throwing fuel on your interests and ideas ... the risks of not growing your brain outweigh the extreme measures you might need to take.

Last week I wrote about the idea that nurturing your life spark — whatever activity or subject dominates your interest at any given time — may be an effective way to encourage adult neurogenesis (one of the ultimate markers of brain health and mental health).  I also defined life spark as being more focused, specific, and malleable than the term life passion (the latter annoys me because it implies a monolithic singular interest that never changes throughout a person’s life).

The post was getting too long, so I broke it up into two parts.  Here’s Part II …

Read More

Pour Gasoline On Your Life Spark — Part I

By

On July 5

In Creative Work/Career, Metaprogramming

The gasoline fight from Zoolander — not what I’m talking about.

In Japanese the word is ikigai, in French raison d’être, and in English life passion.  While there are cultural differences in meaning, the concepts are similar.

Life passion is the most frustrating and least useful concept of the three.  The phrase strongly implies both singularity and permanence.  A person has only one true life passion, and it doesn’t change.

I think life rarely works that way.  Even looking at the most inspired and productive individuals in history, many of them were all over the place.  Thomas Jefferson, in addition to his service as a founding father and POTUS #3, was also a voracious reader, an accomplished architect, an inventor of mechanical devices, and a polyglot.  Issac Newton is famous as a physicist and mathematician, but was equally consumed by both alchemy and theology.  Buckminster Fuller contributed to humanity as an inventor, philosopher, writer, and speaker.  Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize in both chemistry and physics.

Read More

Are You Excluding Yourself From Top-Tier Success in Your Field? Why Exactly?

By

On June 13

In Creative Work/Career, Life Purpose & Goals, Metaprogramming, Music Business

Claude VonStroke (aka Barclay Crenshaw) -- founder of the dirtybird label and a guy who has done a few things right.

Becoming massively successful in your field is never as easy as just doing x, y, and z.  There are no fail-safe formulas for success.  Luck, timing, connections, and things outside of our control play a big role.

However …

1) A good part of luck, timing, and connections actually aren’t outside of our control.  They’re just outside of our comfort zone.

2) If we notice that all the top players in our field are doing x, y, and z, and we’re not doing those things, we may be excluding ourselves from top-tier success by choice.

Read More

Page 20 of 23

Previous

Next

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén