Welcome to this edition of Weekly Musings, where each Wednesday I share some thoughts about what's caught my interest in the last seven days.
This time round, something a bit different but something the same. In this edition of the letter, I try to set straight a misconception that some folks have. A misconception I've come across more than a few times when publishing words to paper or online.
With that out of the way, let's get to this week's musing.
On (Software) Alternatives
In the years since I started putting fingers to keyboard, I've published more than a few things here and there. Some of that output has been in the form of articles and blog posts that introduce some alternatives to popular or commonly-used software.
As you might expect, those articles and posts garnered their share of responses from various corners. And, as you might expect, some of those responses took me to task for what I wrote. Why? Not because I had the audacity or temerity to share options other than my correspondents' favourite applications and tools. Well, not always at any rate.
Welcome to this edition of Weekly Musings, where each Wednesday I share some thoughts about what's caught my interest in the last seven days.
One does occasionally get email. A couple or three of those missives are often from complete strangers who've read something I've published online. Sometimes they offer praise. Sometimes they offer constructive (or not-so-constructive) criticism. Sometimes they jump on me with both feet about an idea or opinion I've presented, one which doesn't mesh with their ideas and opinions. A bit of the latter prompted what you're about to read.
With that out of the way, let's get to this week's musing.
On Doing Nothing
For the last I don't know how many years, we seem to have been living in a time in which the cult of productivity is thriving. Driven by what I believe to be a misguided sense of what productivity actually is.
Even though working from home, given rise to by the COVID-19 pandemic, has prompted many of us to reevaluate our relationships with work, there are still more than few folks out there with their shoulders perpetually to wheel. Who embrace the always be grinding ethos. Who fill their waking hours with work and more work, with task after task.
In more than a few cases, they're trying to find meaning from work, an identity in their work, and fulfillment from that work. People who do all that seem to want to be able to simultaneously brag and whine about how many hours they put in yesterday. Are in pursuit of gaining brownie points for striking yet another item off of their overfull to-do lists.
Welcome to this edition of Weekly Musings, where each Wednesday I share some thoughts about what's caught my interest in the last seven days.
This time 'round, another letter which offers a little bit of advice. While that advice revolves around our use of technology, I think we can also apply the advice to other aspects of our lives.
With that out of the way, let's get to this week's musing.
On Change
Change. It's inevitable, especially when it comes to the hardware and software that we use and, in some cases, rely upon. Interfaces morph. Features come, features go. Things get shuffled around.
Often, we're blindsided by those changes. Those of us who view technology as a tool rather than a lifestyle (or even a hobby) don't avidly follow the news in tech press or on social media. We aren't holding our collective breaths waiting for announcements about so-called latest and greatest to hit the market.
People don't like change, regardless of what some folks say. Change can be difficult. It can be painful. Often because we all, to varying degrees, get comfortable. We get complacent. We expect things to continue the way they have been.
Welcome to this edition of Weekly Musings, where each Wednesday I share some thoughts about what's caught my interest in the last seven days.
In this edition of the letter, some thoughts that were sparked by a past side gig and some questions that some friends and family sent my way recently. I'm using this week's letter to share whatever insights and advice I've given folks in the distant and more recent past. Insights and advice I hope you'll find useful or worth sharing.
With that out of the way, let's get to this week's musing.
On Choosing the Personal Technology That's Right for You
In the early- to mid-2010s, I had a side gig as a technology coach. That involved me helping people who were having trouble finding the software and hardware that they needed to do what they needed to do, and coaching them on how to use that software and hardware effectively and efficiently.
When I worked with those clients, I didn't try to push what I used on them. I knew that their needs, their use cases were different from mine. Sometimes very different. Instead, I tried to tailor recommendations to those needs and use cases, being as platform and tool agnostic as I could. For that most part, that worked out well for my clients.
Welcome to this edition of Weekly Musings, where each Wednesday I share some thoughts about what's caught my interest in the last seven days.
This time 'round, I'm once again taking a small step on to another path. While I do have some thoughts around technology that I want to share, I need to shift away from them for a moment or three. Mainly because those thoughts have, thanks to certain groups of people more than the technologies themselves, veered into the realm of the testy rant. And, to be honest, I don't want to reinforce the idea that I'm a testy old guy yelling at clouds.
With that out of the way, let's get to this week's musing.
On the Expectations of Others
Expectations. Some consider them unavoidable. Some consider them a necessary evil in life and in much of what we do. I consider them a curse.
Expectations, especially the expectations that others apply to us, can often be a barrier. A barrier to your success. A barrier to your happiness. A barrier that blocks you from trying to do what you want to do. From following your passion. From being yourself.
And, yes, I'm speaking from experience. While I've managed to deflect the expectations that others had of me with some success, I did let my guard down once. That was a mistake. A big mistake, as it turned out.
Welcome to this edition of Weekly Musings, where each Wednesday I share some thoughts about what's caught my interest in the last seven days.
What you're about to read probably comes across to some as a cranky old guy ranting about the younger generation. Well, maybe just a bit ...
Mainly, though, this musing is a set of thinking point that encapsulate the thoughts of a cranky old guy ranting about attitudes towards technology and attitudes towards supposed generational shifts when new technology comes into play.
With that out of the way, let's get to this week's musing.
On Digital Natives
A week or so before put fingers to keyboard to write this edition of letter, I had a long conversation with a friend who is more than a few years younger than me. At one point, he launched into what I can only describe as a barely-restrained rhapsody about the technical savvy of so-called digital natives
If you're unfamiliar with the term, a digital native is someone born in 1980s and after who, if they didn't come out of womb clutching a piece of technology, they're exceedingly comfortable with modern tech.
I spent more than a few minutes bursting my friend's bubble, in a effort to explain that comfort and facility with technology doesn't necessarily equal tech savviness.
Welcome to this edition of Weekly Musings, where each Wednesday I share some thoughts about what's caught my interest in the last seven days.
As sometimes happens in this space, what you're about to read wasn't what I had planned for this week's letter. While writing Musing 173, a portion of that edition of the letter got some gears grinding in my brain. Which, when mixed with some thoughts I've been having lately, sparked an idea that took over my attention and focus. Which finds us here.
With that out of the way, let's get to this week's musing.
On Travelling Light
Travel's been on my mind for quite few months now. It's been over a year since my last trip — that one was within New Zealand, and it was relatively short. On top of that, it's been almost three years since I last ventured outside the borders of the island on which live. I probably won't take my next trip until sometime in 2023, and it might be another year or three after that before I summon up the pluck to venture overseas.
Welcome to this edition of Weekly Musings, where each Wednesday I share some thoughts about what's caught my interest in the last seven days.
Don't you just love it when something you're reading lights the fuse of an idea in your mind? That happened to me recently, when my eyes focused on a section of book called Essayism by novelist Brian Dillon. It's a short volume, but one densely packed with ideas and opinions about the titular form of writing, including including some passages that helped expand upon what you're about to read.
With that out of the way, let's get to this week's musing.
On Lists
Sometime in 1978, a thick trade paperback appeared on a coffee table at home. I think one of my parents picked it up at a chain bookstore — might have been at a Coles or a WHSmith at a local mall. The book was titled The Book of Lists. And I quickly became fascinated with it.
Looking back, I'm not entirely sure why the book fascinated me. I mean, was just a book filled with various lists of varying lengths. Lists about movies, crimes, sports, and many, many other subjects. Including a few subjects that an 11 year old probably shouldn't have known about ...
Welcome to this edition of Weekly Musings, where each Wednesday I share some thoughts about what's caught my interest in the last seven days.
Another week, another edition of the letter grumbling about technology ... Yet again, something fairly innocuous helped push thoughts about this subject to the front of my overworked brain, providing the catalyst for what you're about to read.
With that out of the way, let's get to this week's musing.
On Not Embracing New Technology
About a month or so before I started tapping out this musing, a curious email landed in my inbox at The Day JobTM. The email was from the HR team, announcing an employee partner program with Samsung. A program that offered various perks, including a very generous percentage shaved off the retail price of items in the program's catalogue.
Even though I wasn't (and am still not) looking to buy one of Samsung's wares, I signed up. Just for the heck of it. Each day or two since then, a new deal or announcement lands in the work inbox. One that caught my interest was an offer for a several hundred dollars' discount on Samsung's latest folding and flip smartphones.
Welcome to this edition of Weekly Musings, where each Wednesday I share some thoughts about what's caught my interest in the last seven days.
This time around, a continuation of Musing 166. A continuation that includes a number of thoughts and ideas that I didn't or couldn't put into that edition of the letter, mainly because those thoughts and ideas were still taking shape in my brain. But thanks to an unexpected shove, those thoughts and ideas have coalesced into a form I'm ready to share.
With that out of the way, let's get to this week's musing.
On PKM, Redux
A couple of weeks before I started working on this musing, an email landed in my inbox. It was from an acquaintance from whom I haven't heard in a while. He was commenting on post in my public notebook about my personal knowledge management (PKM for short) setup.
That acquaintance is a librarian and, by extension, an archivist. He's also surveyed, to some degree, the PKM landscape. He mentioned that even though he's a librarian, he doesn't understand why some PKM adherents collect everything they do. And some of them collect everything.