What I learned last week (161): details

Side of building with uneven pipes and wall

A weekly selection of what I was reading, drawing, writing, and doing.


Last week I got really stressed out about our house project, kind of wrote about that, and then by the end of the week, it had (mostly) passed. Phew!

Completely related to the house project is the idea of being interested and enthusiastic about what you are doing and how much that can help with everything else, even if your whole house has been torn down.

Ok ok, last thing on the house project that is dominating all thought. There was a book excerpt that I shared last week that was much longer than the following quote, but this sums up the idea very neatly:

Correct what you can. Learn from what you can’t.

Toni Morrison

Now on to something fun, or not fun? I recently introduced my daughter to chess but haven’t introduced Monopoly (yet). I confess that I love the “idea” of playing Monopoly and always trick myself into thinking it will be fun. I came across this video of an AI discovering the best strategy for Monopoly and have to agree that the bots didn’t appear to enjoy themselves.

Want to start something new? A good reminder that taking action even if it looks messy is better than no action because it is isn’t perfect (also, here is the blog mentioned in that article).

We don’t get to decide what other people love us for.

“Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.” (Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist)

Finally, who knew that the detail required to build a set of stairs is a perfect metaphor for how much detail we take for granted in what we do.

“Seek detail you would not normally notice about the world.”


Last but not least, check out what I’m up to now.

Comments welcome!

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