Worthwhile: Beatle Productivity + Life Revisions + Timeblocking

Worth Reading

Tom Whitwell with 10 lessons on productivity and brainstorming from The Beatles [via]:

Paul is a patient, if reluctant, facilitator. He helps the band reverse out of dead ends: “You know, we’ve just gone round, like, for an hour with nothing in our heads. We’ve been through a lot of permutations. But let’s move… sort of move on now.” And he knows when to stop, ending the painful grind of recording Let It Be when he realises the band aren’t feeling it.

If you haven't yet watched the Peter Jackson documentary, it's exceptional.

Perry Bacon Jr., writing in the Post on the new democracy beat.

First, many outlets are now defining “democracy” as a core coverage area and devoting more space and prominence to the issue. The Atlantic says it is “training its editorial focus on the crisis facing democracy in America and across the globe”; democracy has been the subject of the magazine’s past two cover stories. FiveThirtyEight, mostly known for analyzing polling and election results, has made election administration — voting access, redistricting, etc. — and democracy two of its major areas of focus. In cable news, MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan and CNN’s Brian Stelter are among the hosts on those networks who have made democracy a central part of their programs.

More of this, please.

Derek Sivers with a short, poignant story about speed limits to learning:

The pace was intense, and I loved it. Finally, someone was challenging me — keeping me in over my head — encouraging and expecting me to pull myself up quickly. I was learning so fast, it felt like the adrenaline rush you get while playing a video game. He tossed every fact at me and made me prove that I got it.

In our three-hour lesson that morning, he taught me a full semester of Berklee’s harmony courses. In our next four lessons, he taught me the next four semesters of harmony and arranging classes.

Via Ben Kuhn, who is very much worth following.

Worth Hearing

'Black writers discussing Black voices' doesn't often make it into my podcast feed, alas, which is why I wanted to hear this episode of the Ezra Klein Show. (Ezra was on leave, and for the better.)

I’m so glad I did. Come for the snappy prose excerpts and notes on revision from Kiese Laymon and Tressie McMillan Cottom. Stay for an important perspective on what it’s like to be a Black creative in the modern economy.

Worth Trying

I’ll have more to say about this after additional testing, but if you use Fantastical to manage your calendars (and you should!) you can also use it to process tasks like a timeblocking ninja.

I’ve been using this system for the past week and it is fantastic, indeed.