Just Enough Predictability
May 15, 2024
3-Item Status
Current location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Reading: The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson
Listening: America In Your 20s by Winnetka Bowling League—
Quick Notes
Book: A big favor if you’ve read my new book, How To Turn 39—please leave a quick review on Amazon, as those first handful of reviews make a huge difference and often take forever to arrive (the HTT39 Amazon page)
LA: I’ll be popping out to Los Angeles to do a pod with The Minimalists and to be a guest at their San Diego event in early June—I’d love to see you there if you’ll be in the area, tickets are free (details)(if you have a moment, reply with your own 3-item status and/or quick notes about what’s happening in your life)
Just Enough Predictability
Predictability is great because it allows us to make plans and investments, and to feel some degree of security.
If we know where we’ll be living for the next handful of years, we can invest in nice furniture and buy plants for our home, confident that both sets of assets will have time to pay dividends.
If we have predictability in our relationships, we’re more able to commit to other people in ways that may feel precarious or fraught, lacking that certainty.
Predictability provides us with experimental baselines, so if we want to try something new—a different workout routine, a novel procession of morning rituals, an unfamiliar jumble of hobbies—we can more easily compare and contrast with our defaults because the vanilla approach to all of these things is steady and stable enough that we can flip between them and revert to that existing standard if we ultimately decide to do so.
Too much predictability, however, can make an otherwise wonderful life seem stale and even suffocating.
Aspects of life that we enjoy, today, might become oppressive if we’re told they’ll be exactly the same ten years from now; familiar comforts and hard-earned conventions can degrade into burdens and hobbles if not periodically reassessed, refreshed, and (if necessary) revised or replaced.
We can invest huge volumes of effort and resources in what seems to be the perfect life, only to wake up one day and realize that if we don’t change something—upend some aspect of that carefully cultivated perfection—we’ll stagnate as people.
The oracle-like foreknowledge we derive from the well-paved paths we deploy for ourselves can diminish our capacity to both experience and benefit from surprise, awe, valuable frictions, and (newly prudent) pivots.
Ideally, we’re able to strike a moderated stance in which we have just enough predictability (and its concomitant sense of stability and security) to feel comfortable investing in ourselves and our lives, but not so much that anything feels fundamentally immovable.
Confidence-inducing sturdiness, yes; possibility-constraining fixedness, no.
As with any balancing act, establishing this posture takes practice, and there will almost certainly be moments in which we over- or under-compensate, boxing ourselves in or failing to provide ourselves with suitable footing.
When we find ourselves tipping too far this way or that, it’s worth asking ourselves how we might loosen things up or tighten too-slack lifestyle components; something that in the moment may feel like uncontrolled wobbling, but which can help us (over time) reestablish a more optimal balance (for that season of our lives, at least) of dependability and potential.
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My new book is about growing older with intention, if you’re interested in reading more about that sort of thing :)
Interesting Links
Recruiters Are Going Analog to Fight the AI Application Overload
“It’s not uncommon for tech roles to now receive hundreds or thousands of applicants. Round after round of layoffs since late 2022 have sent a mass of skilled tech workers job hunting, and the wide adoption of generative AI has also upended the recruitment process, allowing people to bulk apply to roles. All of those eager for work are hitting a wall: overwhelmed recruiters and hiring managers.”
Reverse-Engineering and “Running Windows 95” on a Disposable Vape With a Colour LCD Screen
“Disposable vaping devices have become distressingly common in recent years, and an increasing ecological burden given how many (perfectly reusable!) lithium-ion batteries are discarded into landfills and roadsides alike. Even worse, some of them include flashy colour LCD screens! I’ve been collecting and harvesting disposable vapes from my friends for a few years now, but only recently have I had a chance to take some of these LCD-equipped models apart; while doing so, I figured I could pioneer some reverse-engineering efforts while adding custom theme/skin support along the way.”
Why Is Exercise Good for You? Scientists Are Finding Answers in Our Cells
“In the past decade, researchers have started to build a picture of the vast maze of cellular and molecular processes that are triggered throughout the body during—and even after — a workout. Some of these processes dial down inflammation, whereas others ramp up cellular repair and maintenance. Exercise also prompts cells to release signaling molecules that carry a frenzy of messages between organs and tissues: from muscle cells to the immune and cardiovascular systems, or from the liver to the brain.”
Outro
I’m trying something a little new at the top of this email, adding some brief notes of the sort I would typically focus on down here, as I know a lot of people don’t make it all the way to the bottom of all the newsletters they read and I’ll have more in-person things to share in the coming months.
After that trip to LA, I’ll be heading back up to Seattle to visit family and help with my baby nephew’s physical therapy, so there may be a small bit of project disruption the week of June 10th—I’ll share more about that as we get closer to the date.
How’s your May going so far? What’s been on your mind this month? Let me know, and/or take a moment to introduce yourself—I respond to every message I receive and would love to hear from you :)
Prefer stamps and paper? Send me a letter, postcard, or some other physical communication at: Colin Wright, PO Box 11442, Milwaukee, WI 53211
Or hit me up via the usual methods: Instagram/Threads, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or legendary (and lost) typeface remnants.