“The trouble with people is that they’re busy fixing things they don’t even understand. We’re always fixing things, aren’t we? It never strikes us that things don’t need to be fixed. This is a great illumination. They need to be understood. If you understood them, they’d change.” - Anthony de Mello
Rule to live by #24: Wake UP
Waking up means facing a truth you have avoided or did not know was there. It’s a paradox: we hate waking up, but when we do, we are transformed for the better.
rulestolive.substack.com/p/rule-24-wa...
Are you a fan of my work? I need your help to shape my future. After 9 books and 20 years I'm coming up with a new plan!
Your input will shape my future - you can tell me about what I've done that you value and what you'd like to see in the future. Thanks!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Are you a fan of my work? I need your help to shape my future. After 9 books and 20 years I'm coming up with a new plan!
Your input will shape my future - you can tell me about what I've done that you value and what you'd like to see in the future. Thanks!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
The AI Novelty Cycle is the realization that what you are using is far less useful than you believed and in order to actually do your job or make progress on important work you will need to do it in a more conventional way.
biblioracle.substack.com/p/the-ai-nov...
We all need to notice the sky now and then.
Preach @berkun.bsky.social -
"Our culture rewards us with status for never having time for things. We admire busy... When we see a silly video on social media, we often judge the creator by saying, “Well, that’s someone with too much time on their hands.”
This is just Puritanical bullshit;
feeling compelled to post this new yorker reject from years ago, for some reason
Hallucinations compound:
1) A worker uses an LLM to generate a report.
2) A manager uses an LLM to extract insights from the report.
3) An exec uses an LLM to turn the insights into a memo.
4) Another manager uses an LLM to summarize the memo.
Each person human-washes the text for the next person.
What rules do you live by? I want to know.
This is research for my next book. You get a chance to win $500 worth of prizes and signed books.
𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝? 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬. And the questions may be help you. Thanks.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
I want YOUR life philosophy. Will you share it with me?
This is research for my next book. You get a chance to win $500 worth of prizes and signed books.
𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝? 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬. And the questions may be useful to you. Thanks.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
#rulestolive
I want YOUR life philosophy. Will you share it with me?
This is research for my next book. You get a chance to win $500 worth of prizes and signed books.
𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝? 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬. And the questions may be useful to you. Thanks.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
#rulestolive
If you're free in 4 hours, join me live to talk about how to live well and why most books on this subject don't help much.
A fun one I've heard is: "I use the golden rule, until someone doesn't do it to me. Then all best are off." LOL
It's a lot more honest? But doesn't sound as wholesome.
So what rule do you live by?
I'm writing a book about these questions and your answers can help. Thanks.
We all break them - but we don't think about this as much. Saying a nice sounding rule is easy. But being honest about how we live up to it is much scarier.
We break our rules all the time and it's those exceptions that may define us more than the rules themselves.
What rules do you live by?
I've asked dozens of people this question and most of the answers are the same. People quickly say "be kind". "Follow the golden rule." Nice, but obvious.
It gets trickier when I ask a tougher question: when do you break your rules?
Scott Berkun's Rules To Live by book project - live event
I just finished the first draft of my 10th book and I'll be on Zoom talking about it - you should come 🙂
Tentatively titled Rules To Live By, it's a better way to think about self-help and philosophy.
It will be fun & as interactive as you like. Hope to see you.
us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Scott Berkun on unlearning the false design beliefs that are holding you back. https://ow.ly/zcwZ50XGlNr
Scott Berkun on avoiding the five habits of the worst designers. https://ow.ly/56fK50XtxYK
“It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work, and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.”
–Wendell Berry
“People will come to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think”
― Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985)
There are activities in life where the goal is to be perfect. And there are activities where the goal is to express who you are and your personal experience in being you. These are rarely the same activities.
Denver had 22 turnovers (on 16 steals) to OKC's 9. Stat of the game IMO.
What is the best creative work you have done in your career?
Here is a test you can take about great work and what it really means.
whydesignishard.substack.com/p/the-greatn...
Incredible productivity hack that will save you way more time than integrating AI into your workflow
Here @berkun.bsky.social does a great job of collecting thoughtful questions proposed by Neil Postman that every designer needs to consider before launching a new project: scottberkun.com/2016/the-7-questions-for...
For those in the South Seattle area I'm coming your way tomorrow.
It is never too late to dream
