Category: Mindsets

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Games Mindsets People

Jocks playing Dungeons and Dragons

Hand holding Dungeons and Dragons polyhedral dice
Photo by Alex Chambers on Unsplash

When you think about the types of people who play the game, you probably don’t think of jocks playing Dungeons and Dragons, but they do.

The stereotypical DnD player is probably a pimply teenager in their basement, or something, but this doesn’t give you an accurate picture of who is playing the game these days at all.

I’ve started getting back into Dungeons and Dragons in the last few weeks, and I really like how the game has evolved, and is very much going strong.

The people who are championing the game are diverse, and passionate about it.

I’ve just started watching some streamed DnD games, and really enjoyed this streamed game featuring Jocks Machina from June 2018:

There’s a great background interview for this game here, too:

I love this paradigm shift where people like these burly actors and sports professionals, who you wouldn’t expected to be into DnD, are super passionate about it.

unsplash-logoFeatured image by Alex Chambers
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Events and Life Mindsets

The challenge of sending kids to school when you work remotely

Working on the couch
Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

This tweet basically encapsulates the challenge of trying to persuade kids to go to school when you work remotely (and from home):

8 yr old this am: I don’t want to go back to school. Me: Everyone would rather stay home in their pajamas, kiddo. Me too. Him: But you do stay home all day in your pajamas. Plus they pay you. Me: ... Here comes the bus!

In discussions like these, you just need to resort to your authority as the parent … 😂

unsplash-logoNeONBRAND
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Mindsets

“… you fail, only if you don’t learn from failure.”

Failure is very much a part of our daily life experience. How we approach failure is important. Om Mailk published a terrific post about failure, titled “Failure is part of learning“. It’s well worth reading.

The morning also reminded me of a vital life lesson: you fail only if you don’t learn. A lesson successfully learn cannot be called a failure.

Om Malik

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Events and Life Mindsets

Bad days happen to everyone

moody clouds
Winter has returned to Israel.

We all have bad days, and I had a particularly rough day yesterday. I made some mistakes in how I handled a situation, and created a bit of a mess for a colleague (thankfully not a customer, though).

I felt pretty lousy afterwards, and my confidence took a knock. Objectively, it probably wasn’t that big a deal, but it felt pretty crappy nevertheless.

This morning I started work still feeling the after effects of that, and not feeling particularly confident. Still, I was determined to just put one foot in front of the other, and try learn from my mistakes.

Ken Gagne, one of my colleagues shared a post about Carroll Spinney on his site that caught my attention during a break between shifts, and this line stood out for me:

Big Bird once said, “Bad days happen to everyone, but when one happens to you, just keep doing your best and never let a bad day make you feel bad about yourself.”

Ken Gagne

I think I needed this today.

I still feel like I’m climbing back up out of the hole I dug for myself, but it’s sunny today.

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Mindsets

How YOU want to show up today

Photo looking through glasses by Saketh Garuda on Unsplash
Photo by Saketh Garuda on Unsplash

One of my colleagues shared a terrific question she asks herself in the mornings if she’s not in an ideal mood when that alarm goes off.

It really appeals to me, and I thought I’d share it:

“How do you want to show up to the world today?”

I think this works pretty well for a variety of circumstances. Thanks Brezo!

Categories
Events and Life Mindsets Policy issues Politics and government Social Web

The greatest propaganda machine in history

Man speaking to a crowd
Photo by Miguel Henriques on Unsplash

Sacha Baron Cohen recently spoke about how social media services have become the “greatest propaganda machine in history”.

Much of the media’s focus, when reporting on his remarks, was on his attack on Facebook. While he certainly targeted Facebook, he also spoke about how Google, YouTube, and Twitter shape online discourse, and how they help spread lies, bigotry, and attacks on fact-based discussions.

Think about it.  Facebook, YouTube and Google, Twitter and others—they reach billions of people.  The algorithms these platforms depend on deliberately amplify the type of content that keeps users engaged—stories that appeal to our baser instincts and that trigger outrage and fear.  It’s why YouTube recommended videos by the conspiracist Alex Jones billions of times.  It’s why fake news outperforms real news, because studies show that lies spread faster than truth.  And it’s no surprise that the greatest propaganda machine in history has spread the oldest conspiracy theory in history—the lie that Jews are somehow dangerous.  As one headline put it, “Just Think What Goebbels Could Have Done with Facebook.”

Sacha Baron Cohen

As much as we embrace free expression, we find it difficult to draw a line when liars and bigots abuse their right to free expression because doing that feels like hypocrisy.

Free expression isn’t unlimited, though. And pushing back against channels that help propagate misinformation, abuse, and false statements that impact substantial segments of the population is becoming more important.

At the very least, it’s worth watching Cohen’s talk, or reading his remarks:

We should also think carefully about how much trust we place in services that profit from the social chaos we see around us.

Featured image by Miguel Henriques
Categories
Mindsets Spirituality

Sitting with difficult emotions

A serene evening view at St Kilda in Melbourne

I noticed this quote on Tumblr. I’ve noticed on the few occasions I’m able to just sit with difficult emotions in a meditation, they tend not to be as monolithic as they otherwise seemed beforehand.

https://zenwords.tumblr.com/post/188147050745/being-with-the-body-and-sitting-with-what-arises

On a related note, it’s been a while since I read anything by Jack Kornfield. I really enjoyed his book “A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life” when I read it in 2006 during our honeymoon in the Drakensberg mountains.

In fact, I read the book here:

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Business and work Events and Life Mindsets Writing

In person kudos at the Automattic Grand Meetup

Appreciating our colleagues

We have an amazing culture at Automattic that includes giving each other kudos as one form of recognition for great work, whether that’s delivering happiness to a customer, or to each other.

Typically we use a Slack bot to share kudos, and that’s posted to an internal WordPress site dedicated to showcasing internal kudos.

At the Grand Meetup (which we attended in mid-September – I’ll probably share more from that soon), we also have the option of giving handwritten kudos to each other. I like the ease of giving digital kudos, and at the same time I really like being able to write a note to my colleagues to express my appreciation for their efforts.

Automattic kudos card
Kudos IRL

This year I was fortunate to receive a few cards from my colleagues, and really appreciate each of them.

I decided against sharing details of all of the cards I received as the messages can be pretty personal. At the same time, I’m grateful for each card.