Recap: July 2024
From reclaiming joy in the creator economy to how to think about change, transcending the rat race, soul-making productivity, apprenticeships, and why doing nothing is more important than ever
Hi everyone!
Another month is coming to an end.
As always, below is a quick recap of all the posts I sent out in July, plus a small update about the next steps for the newsletter:
Deep Dives 👁️
Reclaiming Joy in the Creator Economy
Let me start off with an honest confession: I’m quite burned out by the constant pressure to put out content, make this content as valuable as possible, “grab” the attention of new people, stand out in an ocean of information overwhelm, see the content/art/ideas/theories I worked so hard on be used to train AI, frame and thereby “sell” my passion in a way that will generate money, and compete with those doing the same thing when I actually want to befriend....
How To Think About Change
I thought it might be valuable to dig a bit deeper into some unconventional or thought-provoking ways of thinking about real change aaaaaaand, through some quotes and visuals, explain to you why...real change must feel weird; real change requires accepting uncertainty; we change through friendships, true change requires real pain, pain is the trigger of change, but it’s love that builds a new world, and why change comes from a new way of attending to the world...
Rabbit Holes 🕳️
THIS WEEK ↓
🕳️ Rabbit Holes: From Escaping To Transcending The Rat Race
🤯 Reframings: Utilitarian Arts // Willing To Be Seen // UBI As A Catalyst // Good At Optimizing
🎨 Creations: All-ESC Keyboard // Pasta Grannies // RemovedTHIS WEEK ↓
🕳️ Rabbit Holes: All Hail The Cloud // Death Of The Follower? // Soul-Making Productivity
🤯 Reframings: Remembering Love // Life-Centric Biology // From Expert To Explorer
🎨 Creations: CopenPay // Atlas Movement // Bioregional FinancingTHIS WEEK ↓
🕳️ Rabbit Holes: Populism & Time // Apprenticeships // Boy Culture
🤯 Reframings: Life Hacks // Objects of Desire // Free Humans
🎨 Creations: Climate Obstruction Studies // Nudge Community BuildersTHIS WEEK ↓
🕳️ Rabbit Holes: Group Chats // Sustainable Shit // Doing Nothing
🤯 Reframings: Extraordinary News // Reading The World // Unproductive Love // Mediocrity Trap
🎨 Creations: Onboarding Nature // Oreo Kintsugi // I Came By Train
Newsletter Updates
Just wanted to inform you about three minor updates:
1 🐌 SLOWING DOWN
Quite a few subscribers recently sent me feedback that went something like this: “I really love your stuff, Thomas, but it lands in my inbox so fast, I can barely keep up.” I can completely understand and relate to that, which is why, from now on, the Friday Deep Dive e-mail will only go out every other week instead of weekly, and will be more concise.
Related: During August and September, I might skip 1-2 weeks of sending out newsletters, a sort of summer break or summer slowdown, as I will be on the road in Italy during those two months.
2 🍪 CRISPY & USEFUL
This newsletter has, so far, explored a wide variety of topics using various formats. The value proposition is discernible but not entirely clear yet, and that’s why this is my current focus: making this newsletter as crispy and useful as possible. The aforementioned slowing down will hopefully help me get the energy and mind space to work on that. So, expect to see some – I believe, extremely clarifying – changes post-summer. 😉
3 🔮 METHODOLOGY
Both how I do research and how I get to the deeper reframings that I present in my deep dives follow a methodology but, to date, it’s a very tacit, intangible method that can only (or mostly) be found in my crazy head 🤪. So, tangentially related to the topic of usefulness, I am also working on a simple, step-by-step reframing methodology which I want to share with you soon.
That’s it for this recap!
If you want to further support this newsletter and help me reach the impossible 10k subscribers mark by the end of this year, then please share your favorite July post with your colleagues and friends or on social media!
Thank you so much for supporting my work. I'll see you next week!
Thomas