It’s the April newsletter…which means it must be April 1st…which means it is April Fools Day! I’m here to assure you right at the top, reader, that there will be NO JOKES in today’s post (or at least, NO JOKES simply because April Fools Day, for there will be jokes, reader, but the jokes would be the same jokes were it March or May or even September 1st).
I know making such a declaration puts you on high alert, sensitive reader, of possible jokes, but that’s a risk I’m willing to deal with here. Let’s agree that all jokes today will be on me, reader, so have no fear...and put your money away, silly reader…
Why no jokes? Why not get in the holiday spirit? Well, as I’m sure longtime readers will understand, this entire blog is basically an April Fools Joke. No need to always cover repeat ground, you know?
Thanks for reading.
Tim
A quick thought from The Business Bro…
Many readers will be aware of my recent decision to come out of retirement (early retirement? Retirement v1? The First Retirement?). It’s been about a month or so since I’ve started so I put together a quick update for my loyal readers.
One of my concerns going into the new job was that obedience, uniformity, and a willingness to accept the occasional organizational fiction would be the most highly valued assets in my new (large) company. I’ve never been the land of the free or the home of the brave in terms of those qualities – as a longtime friend put it when I described this concern, obedience is ‘not one of your strong suits’ (I didn’t bother asking him about the other two ‘assets’) – so I went into my first week with a little trepidation.
After a month or so, the returns have been mixed. My job is consistently the best case scenario for a negative outcome. Framing this thought in the context of those above ‘assets’:
1. I understand how outright disobedience would be a bad idea (but no one ever seems to give actual orders)
2. I’ve noticed a strange uniformity of dress among my colleagues (but no one seems to care at all that I’m dressed completely differently from the others)
3. I’ve silently disagreed about the permanence of a number of things my colleagues feel cannot be changed (but have yet to run into anyone with the required ‘BS filter’ to sniff out my true convictions)Overall, I’m very optimistic about my future. To summarize with a trademark analogy - it's been a lot like watching a favorite TV show in standard definition. Or...maybe like having a really nice meal with people who look at their phones the whole time.
One thing I almost forgot about my old job – which I liked a great deal – was that almost everything I liked about it resulted from programs, process, or standards that I put together. The challenges I’ve encountered so far in my new role are all problems I’ve solved in the past as a ‘player’ or ‘coach’. The sooner I figure out how to apply the lessons from those days to my new role, the sooner I’ll be able to come here and cite specific lessons for my standard ‘BB’ posts.
Breaking news: other items intended for this newsletter ran long…
I tried to quickly summarize how my new role with ******* (editor’s note: trust me…) has impacted my various routines. Shockingly, it all ran long. I’ll post those extended thoughts in a group of posts sometime soon.
For now, here are some main ideas pulled from those longer thoughts:
i) I’ll soon be waking at 5 AM each morning
Tactically, I’m doing this by waking up fifteen minutes earlier each week. I woke up at 6 AM on Day One (February 19) and, once I account for the lost hour from Daylight Savings, should be on track for my first 5 AM wake up on Patriot’s Day.
ii) What starts well ends well…
My plan is to use those first three hours of each day to write. I think this is one of my better ideas in a long time. I’ve noticed that when I write in the morning I’m almost impossible to bring down. No matter how bad the rest of the day goes, I always know that I got some writing done already – and any day when I get some writing done is a good day.
iii) A paycheck…?
I’ve only noticed a minor change in my spending habits – it seems like I’ll spend around $100 or so per month more than I used to. I also feel more open to one-off spending but have yet to make any actual purchases at the time of writing.
iv) Gut check
Getting back to work has added urgency to some of my minor health issues. To make the point bluntly – you can’t just belch, burp, or fart indiscriminately at work, you know?
I’ve dealt with my digestive concerns by focusing on using my diet to increase the healthy bacteria in my gut. My current plan is to eat a cup of yogurt each morning for breakfast. I also tried to eat one packet of natto (fermented soybeans) every day. Apparently, these foods are a great way to maintain healthy bacteria in the gut.
So far, I must say – I’ve been surprised by how much better I’ve felt since I made these changes to my diet.
April links
The thoughts I referenced above about assets within a large organization come from a throwaway line in this essay by longtime TOA favorite Paul Graham.
I thought this photo essay sent via The Football Ramble newsletter was tremendous – a series of snapshots from (I think) a (the?) Serbian Sunday league. For those unfamiliar with the concept of a ‘Sunday league’ – it’s the equivalent of a recreational adult sports league that typically is played on Sundays.
Finally, I really enjoyed the last few minutes of this More Or Less episode about how rich Jane Austen's Mr. Darcy would be in today's terms.
The TOA Books of the Year – nominees
OK reader – time to start whittling down my field of nominees for the 2018 TOA Book of the Year Award – or, as it is otherwise known, 'The Most Irrelevant Prize in World Literature'.
Eliminated this month…
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
I promise to eliminate more books next month but, for now, we bid adieu to Asimov’s famous intergalactic universe.
Still in contention…
January - First and Last Notebooks by Simone Weil
January - Small Is Beautiful by Ernst F. Schumacher
February - Tenth of December by George Saunders
February - Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
May - Epitaph of a Small Winner by Machado de Assis
June - The Mother of All Questions by Rebecca Solnit
June - The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes
June - The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz
July - Essays in Idleness by Yoshida Kenko
August - Animal Farm by George Orwell
August - The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
August - Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
September - Impro by Keith Johnstone
October - Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy by Tim Harford
November - Broken Vessels by Andre Dubus
November - Threads by Kate Evans
December - Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
December - M Train by Patti Smith
Just one book out? Lazy.
It’ll be a bloodbath next month, I promise – I’ll cull at least two nominees.
So no jokes…really?
OK – maybe there was just one.
Where?
Up to you to find it…
Whatever…
Hint – I actually made the joke last month.
Did you leave the apartment at all?
I have a job now, man. I even went in during the blizzard! And before you ask, it was no big deal, it was easy, actually, since I’m so close to the ‘T’ that getting to the Red Line takes about thirty seconds. And my office is attached to the ‘T’ so I don’t have to really go outside at all to get from my…wait a minute…let me get back to you on this one.
Anything else?
The last job related thing to update you on is this little blurb I recently added to the footer of the TOA main page:
‘The views expressed on this website/blog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.’Those who are firmly entrenched in the world of email subscription may not have noticed this addition. I put it in place after my company’s orientation program suggested doing so. I think it is a good idea in general to make such a distinction.
But…
Does anyone who reads this nonsense really think the views I express here could reflect those of my employer? Or, even more specifically – of any employer?
See you in April…
In the next month of…True On Average…
1. The Beatles!
2. We learn what my favorite analogy of 2017 was.
3. My employer claims credit for my views on fortune cookies.
