Work Hard Play Hard, Work Hard Play Hard
Featuring: Terrence Tao + Failure + Productivity + Time.
Yeah, growing up I really loved that song (and Wiz Khalifa generally). And given that today’s first essay is about working hard, I think it makes sense that when I got around to writing this introduction and finding a title for today’s letter, the song popped up immediately. So, here is some Wiz Khalifa for your weekend.
And, here is what I want to share with you this week.
Work Hard
A few lifetimes ago when I was bent on a career in Mathematics, Terrence Tao was one of the people in the field I found really inspiring. I have not gone on to have a career in Mathematics but I still find Terrence inspiring and I recently discovered his blog (best believe I’ll be spending a lot of time there now).
This essay is about hard work and why it is necessary for a great career. Although the post addresses Mathematicians, the principles apply everywhere. Read the essay here.
Terrence strikes me as the Math equivalent of Paul Graham here. Both are advising their respective fields (Math, Startups), but the principles behind each specific piece of advice tend to be wildly applicable.
On Failure And The Creative Life
I like to see multi-talented people experimenting with new ways of using old mediums. Ash’s visual blogs are one of those experiments I'm loving at themoment. In this one, she talks about being a creative and specifically about how processing failure as a creative is such an important part of the process.
Read her visual essay here.
Productivity And Time
Finally, two closely related essays from my favourite writer at the moment. The first one is about productivity. One of my closest friends and I have had a long-running disagreement on the topic of productivity and the YouTube productivity gurus. I think they’re hogwash, she thinks they’re life-changing.
Like the wise woman she is, Naomi doesn’t really come down on one side or the other as such. Instead, she chooses to question the way we have chosen to define productivity and what we might do to improve our understanding of this concept, important as it is.
This is my favourite quote from the essay. And you can read it here.
Being useless is often just a question of perspective. And isn’t it the philosophers who seemingly did nothing but think all day that brought us a wealth of insight into humans?
The second essay is about time. Like the one on productivity, this is a brief meditation on our concept of time and how we choose to experience such a fundamental reality. I’ve been thinking about time a lot lately in trying to work out whether I’m spending my time wisely.
Maybe the better question is to ask how my actions affect my experience of the passing of time, is it all a blur? Or am I savouring each moment? Anyway, read Naomi’s essay on time here.
Thank you for reading, and see you next Saturday.