Iterate Weekly - Issue 10
Welcome to issue 10 of the Iterate weekly newsletter! We made it to double-digits, time to celebrate and…iterate?
To mark the occasion, I’m asking for feedback from readers like you. How can I improve this experience for you? What do you like? What do you hate? What do you want more of?
Everyone who completes the short 5-question survey will be entered into a random drawing for an Amazon Gift Card! Get your responses in by Saturday June 12th. A winner will be announced in next week’s newsletter.
You’ll see that the content here is broken down into 4 categories.
Tech - This will be the main focus of the newsletter. I’m dedicated to helping people improve their relationships with technology.
Learning - I consider myself an autodidact and like to examine the concept of learning how to be a more productive learner.
Health - None of these other topics are important if you’re not healthy enough to enjoy them.
Grab Bag - This could be something personal, something silly, something fun that doesn’t quite fit the other categories.
Finally, we’ll wrap things up with a quote of the week and a piece of content that I recommend you check out.
Tech
Around the world in one hour?
Space travel has been a hot topic in the past year with the emergence of companies like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and Blue Origin. Sure, we’d love to get to Mars within our lifetimes. But in the meantime, can we just get some super-fast flights around planet Earth?
Venus Aerospace is the company that promises to do just that. They claim that they can give passengers the opportunity to travel to any location on the planet in just one hour. Their first planned route is from Los Angeles to Tokyo. Of course, there are plenty of hurdles in the way before this can happen but they claim it will be doable within a decade. They plan to use “hypersonic” technology that will have their aircrafts traveling at up to 9,000 mph!
The world changed so drastically when people gained the ability to connect around the world via the internet. Imagine the possibilities for in-person work if your old 1-hour commute across town in traffic could now get you across the planet instead.
Learning
Multitasking is a Lie
In case you missed it, I recently wrote an article about the myth of multitasking. Feel free to read the entire article if you’re curious. If you’re just looking for some easy takeaways, here are a few:
-People aren’t “better” or “worse” at multitasking. Their brains just become more accustomed to the state of distraction (I wouldn’t say this is a good thing)
-Parkinson’s law tells us that a task will grow to fill the amount of time you’ve allotted for it. If you’re attempting three tasks at once, you will likely spend more time than monotasking each one separately
-Yes, your brain can do some automatic tasks simultaneously (i.e. walking and chewing gum) but this should really be the extent of your multitasking
Hopefully, you are reading this right now and doing nothing else!
Health
Calm is stepping up to help athletes with mental health
As I’ve written in the past, Calm is my meditation app of choice and I can’t recommend it enough if you’re looking for a way to start a meditation practice. In light of the ongoing saga between Naomi Osaka and the officials at The French Open, meditation app Calm is stepping in to help.
Calm has agreed to pay Osaka’s fines and will do the same for any future tennis pro who comes under similar scrutiny. It’s a bold move to shed a light on the mental health of professional athletes. While I understand that professional sports are a business, I’ve always found mandatory interviews to be an odd requirement.
I’m a huge sports fan but I really don’t need to hear athlete’s reactions to every event right after they happen. And if the athlete isn’t comfortable sharing these thoughts (as is the case with Osaka), they should have the right to decline participation. Hopefully, this archaic practice goes away soon, and kudos to Calm for their support.
Grab Bag
Airbnb wants to be your landlord now
Would you want Airbnb to be your landlord? It may sound farfetched but the home-sharing service is looking into the possibility of facilitating more long-term rentals. Yes, this would essentially make it a landlord.
According to CEO Brian Chesky, nearly a quarter of Airbnb bookings right now are for stays of 28 days or longer. This has grown steadily from the early days of short stays primarily during vacations or big events. As more and more people explore nomadic digital lifestyles, they’re looking to Airbnb for places to stay rather than the previous places like Craigslist or Rent.com.
Certainly, there would be pros and cons to paying your rent to Airbnb each month. In theory, they could build out a greater network of places to live all within the same monthly rent range. This would give renters much greater freedom and flexibility. But it could certainly hurt some smaller landlords who aren’t open to renting out through the platform.
Would you rent a long-term place through Airbnb? I’m not sure that I would, and this is coming from a guy who wrote a book about the company.
Quote of the Week
“Love is the bridge between you and everything” - Rumi
Content Recommendation
60 Songs that Explain the 90s
Recently, I’ve returned back to Spotify as my music player of choice. A side benefit to this has been discovering some of Spotify’s original podcasts
Lately, I’ve been loving “60 Songs that explain the 90s”.
If you lived through the decade and have a soft spot for auditory nostalgia, this will be right up your alley. Music critic Rob Harvilla kicks off each episode with what I can only describe as something that’s part personal journal entry, part verbal Wikipedia entry, mixed with a hint of stand-up comedy delivery. It’s quick, it’s witty, it’s informative.
I highly recommend you check it out.
You made it to the end of my newsletter, nicely done! If you enjoyed this and know of someone else who may enjoy it, please share it with them.