First of all, this was new to me, which piqued my curiosity. I also liked that it suggested the house deserved its own website, which was more interesting. If I were a mildly interested buyer, I’d prefer the chance to browse at my own leisure, not necessarily need to talk to a real estate agent (and risk getting spammed).

It reminds me of Rory Sutherland’s phrase, which I’ve mentioned before, “It’s the simple argument that the main value of self-promotion is not in achieving narrow, predefined strategic goals…. but simply because it increases the surface area of your exposure to future good fortune, often in ways which are impossible to predict in advance.”
In a business where, as Rohan Rajiv puts it, “All it takes is for one to work out,” a simple domain name and website for a listing seems like a good idea.

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My policy is more like this: If you didn’t put yourself into it, I don’t want to read it.

I know a few friends who write with AI. I am still glad to read—or at least skim!—their work, because I’m curious to see what topics are on their minds. Their life experiences, relationships, and expertise have a way of finding their ways in there. To me, I’m glad the AI prompted them to put themselves into the work.

As a reader, I’d probably prefer a wholly written post. But in the real world, people are busy, and I’m still glad I can get a sense of what they wanted to write as opposed to nothing.

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A year later, it reopened as Kingyo Fisherman’s Market. The main floor was now a shared space between the restaurant and a market which sells sashimi grade sushi, sauces, and air-sealed frozen ramen bowls from other local ramen restaurants. You can browse the market while you wait for a seat, or order a small donburi for lunch and microwave it instead. The basement is closed off, perhaps as storage space for the market’s inventory.

Everything, including this restaurant, has to evolve at some point. In this case, diversifying the dining space into a market felt inspired and smart.

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Amarant wrote, “Whenever I have something a little extra in my fridge, most often Italian prosciutto, I refrain from eating it, instead saving it for a “special occasion” even though it is, like, my favourite thing in the whole world. Eventually I have to throw the mouldy prosciutto away because I was too frugal to eat it.” That has happened to me as well, and I have also needed to learn to “eat the prosciutto.” Learning to defer gratification has made delaying it too rewarding, so I have had to hasten it.

And, similarly, when I played Pokemon, I also was too stingy to use the items I found (and I never spent any in-game currency). The money meant nothing; it was fictional game currency! I was a child! It’s curious to consider this psychology at work.

There was a very interesting thread about debt being part of American culture. It reminded me of a disconcerting stat from 2016, how nearly half of Americans would struggle $400 to pay for an emergency.

Havoc suggested, “Any sort of morality like framing around it is likely to lead to issues.” That resonates with me. 

wenc shared an interesting article by entrepreneur Ricky Yean on mindset inequality. One particularly resonant passage: 

A poor founder tends to be less confident. My mom, who didn’t go to college, used to say this to me, and it bothered me a lot. She’d say, “We’re not meant to be successful, so what you’ve achieved is good enough!” Compare that level of confidence to a kid with successful parents who’d say something along the lines of “If you can believe it, you can achieve it!” Now imagine walking into a VC office having to compete with that kid. He’s so convinced that he’s going to change the world, and that’s going to show in his pitch. You can’t just muster up that confidence on the spot.

It was surprising to me how universal the experience was. I’m glad we all had a moment to talk about it.

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Spoiler alert: At the end of season four, after she achieves her dream of being the first woman to host late night TV, she must decide to either fire her head writer (and best friend) Ava Daniels, or the executives will fire Deborah from her own show. When she decides to stand up for Ava, Deborah not only has her show taken away; the contracts prevent her from performing for the next year and a half. 

After a mild depression, Deborah decides she needs a new goal to aim for. At first, she hopes to find immortality by achieving an EGOT; she already has won a couple of awards, she just needs to clinch the other two. But of course, as she hacks her way into a surefire Grammy—appearing on a famous artist’s song in the Latin category—she and Ava realize it feels empty.

The drive to be remembered is understandable; it’s core to Deborah’s character. Exploiting technicalities and finding loopholes is, too, until it comes to her craft. The EGOT didn’t matter because it wasn’t related to Deborah’s craft, comedy. She’d just be another name on a list. 

Or, could she find a new goal, more tied into the world of comedy? Something that might even eclipse hosting your own late night TV show? In that perspective, she would be a contributor to her community. That contribution was the point; as a byproduct, her name would appear on a list that actually matters to her. But that’s just the icing on top.

What entails is the start of an adventure. Hacks has been the best show on TV since its debut, and will remain so, and only Ted Lasso comes close.

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“For a while, he even makes you believe that his power has become yours. Irresistible power… that makes every desire’s fufilment seem inevitable.”

When I heard this line from Rings of Power, it reminded me of this:

Sometimes, business partners want to make you rely on them in order to gain leverage on you—as if you had no other choice. The dynamic between record labels and recording artists comes to mind. 

It’s important to remember their capabilities—distribution, reputation, etc.—aren’t yours; you’re borrowing them. It would be wise to develop some of your own. Invest in creating another option, and building up leverage for negotiating in the future.

If you don’t borrow in the first place, then they won’t have anything they can take away.

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At some point, you may feel like your back is against the wall, and they’re closing in. Everything is falling apart.

That’s a sure sign your next adventure is about to start.

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Their enthusiasm for making new things with AI was contagious. They told me they wished they’d started with Claude Code six months earlier, when their friends were nudging them about it. “This is your nudge,” they told me. 

What they gave me was a prompt; a call to action. I felt grateful for it. Just last week, I booted up Claude Cowork again—I tried it when it was in beta—and wow, it completed an important, laborious, task in minutes. (That task would’ve taken a person like me hours… not to mention all of the dread before the task.) 

I felt grateful for my friend’s nudge.

Just the other day, another friend prompted me to sign up for a car sharing service that they had a good experience with. And a few years ago, yet another friend prompted me to have a second look at one of my subscription bills and get rid of services I wasn’t using. I actually did that one live, and every month I save that money now.

While the term “prompt engineering” is mostly geared towards getting AI to take action, your friends can benefit from your prompting as well, and you can benefit from theirs. (My book, Creative Doing, is full of prompts for the creative process.)

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For example, during the two years between 2020 and 2022, the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted all of our lives. In my own efforts to avoid getting COVID-19, I paused many routines I’d taken for granted, including working out at the gym and hugging family and friends. 

Even though it’s been a few years since, and life has largely gone back to normal, I find it challenging to resume some—many—of the good habits I had built before. 

When a good practice or habit is interrupted, the wise thing to do is to keep the interruption brief, bias for continuity, and put effort into resuming.

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The call often ends on a note of appreciation. My conversation partner, now reacquainted, says, “Thanks for reaching out.”

It’s surprising to me how willing even busy people are to catch up. In the services business, it’s good to reach out to at least a couple of people per week. Staying top of mind is as much a part of the job as doing good work.

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