The Deliberate #62: Let's do this thing again
Hopping back on that saddle, a download of my past six months, and what has had my attention lately
This is The Deliberate, a personal newsletter written by Sam Spurlin. It’s a motley mix of personal journal, musings on personal development, organizational design, recommendations, and the never-ending challenge of using your attention deliberately in a world increasingly designed for the opposite. It has been six months since my last issue, so no worries if none of this is ringing a bell for you. No hard feelings if you want to unsubscribe (I never check to see who has unsubscribed so I’ll never know if you leave). Let’s dig in, eh?
I’m going to skip the usual preamble that accompanies the first newsletter after a long and mostly unplanned hiatus and just get immediately into the thing, ok?
That being said, I feel like a brief journey of the past few months is probably the best way to clear the decks and prime the pump, to use two metaphors that my white-collar-softened-hands have no direct experience with but still seem vaguely appropriate to what I’m trying to do here.
Since I last sent one of these (early April, if you can believe it):
I went to New Zealand for the first time. It was a trip for work, so didn’t get to do much other than hang out in Auckland and the client’s office, but I saw enough to know I’d love to go back ASAP.
Recorded four more episodes of the podcast I do with my farmer-brother, Max. Every couple weeks we chat about what’s going on in our respective worlds of work while mostly just hanging out the way brothers do. Get up to speed by searching for “Fields of Work” in your podcast player of choice or I suppose you could listen directly on the website.
I completed my second full year of triathlon training and racing. This year’s slate of races included a local Olympic distance (my third) and the main thing I’ve been training for since I started this whole hobby, my first ever half ironman distance triathlon. I competed in the Ironman Michigan 70.3 race in Frankfort, MI and achieved all my goals: “racing” the whole thing (i.e. no stopping) and “finishing with dignity” (crossing the line under my own power, with the semblance of a smile, and with the desire to do another one).
I slotted into the co-host seat for The Ready’s podcast, Brave New Work. We did a mini-series focused on the future of HR and I got to record 11ish episodes with my colleague Rodney all about what we’ve been doing with this new service offering. It was very cool to step into a podcast with a huge body of work and audience already in place. I’ve been podcasting for a long time, but never with this sort of professional infrastructure in place. If you care about how organizations work and you like podcasts with a good vibe between the co-hosts, you should check it out. Search for “Brave New Work” in your podcast player of choice or listen to it directly on the website.
I got COVID, finally. After a relatively mild case in mid-July I’ve been wrestling with a mild but persistent cough ever since then. It’s annoying and frustrating and it feels like I’m just going to be a guy who kinda coughs a lot forever. Luckily, it doesn’t seem to get in the way of triathlon training or living my life in any meaningful way. It mostly just annoys everyone around me, mostly my loving and normally very patient, wife.
I left Twitter for good. For all the reasons I’ve written about before, but also because Elon Musk seems hell bent on a.) destroying it and b.) being an incredibly distasteful human being in the process. If I were a smarter man I probably wouldn’t replace my Twitter usage with anything else, but because I am who I am, you can find me posting on Threads and, weirdly, LinkedIn?
What Has My Attention
Reading
An exhaustive list of everything I’ve read since April would probably be a bad idea, so let’s just hit few of the highest highlights: The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson, Suttree by Cormac McCarthy, and Pax: War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age by Tom Holland all stood out. I’ve been on a major Cormac McCarthy tear since just before his death (RIP) and enjoyed The Passenger and Stella Maris, too.
Watching
Emily and I just saw Flowers of the Killer Moon. She read and loved the book. I knew almost nothing (other than what she told me while reading the book) going into the movie and I really enjoyed that blank slate feeling I rarely get with most movies nowadays. We enjoyed Oppenheimer, too, which sent me on a bit of a Manhattan Project reading adventure (The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes plus some unexpected overlap with The Passenger and some somewhat more expected overlap with The Coming Wave). Barbie was good, too, but didn’t kick off any reading rabbit holes (at least not yet).
Listening
My podcast stable has remained stable, with the usual mix of technology-focused shows (with an Apple flavor), a tiny bit of news, and some Detroit Red Wings fandom. I did finally finish the backlog of Philosophize This!, which felt like an accomplishment.
Playing
Working my way slowly through Final Fantasy XVI which is looking to be the first Final Fantasy I’ve actually finished since… 11? It started super strong and I’m still finding the story mostly compelling. The combat feels extremely good, if somewhat repetitive now that I’m approximately 25 hours into the game. Mostly, I’m just relishing what it’s like to play a much darker Final Fantasy game and hoping they carry aspects of this approach into the future.
Grab Bag
With the decks appropriately cleared and my pump extremely primed, hopefully you’ll see another one of these before another six months elapse!
As always, all replies land directly in my inbox and I’m always eager to read your responses. Comments are good, too, especially if you’d like to have the conversation be public. Finally, if you’re happy to see this newsletter again, maybe share it with a friend, too?
Until (not too) next time!
Congrats on getting back on the saddle! Persistence (as with your triathlon training with a couch) is admirable and certainly something to be proud of.
Love love the triathalon shot! Well done :)