Painters have this concept of the “ugly stage” of a piece, where a bunch of elements are starting to be there but everything lacks detail and is sketchy and messy and it doesn’t quite look like the painting it’s going to be just yet.

I think that idea applies to a lot more things than just paintings.

Here’s a look at some of the articles and books I’ve been reading lately, or at least, the ones that stuck out to me. Originally, I wanted to do this as a weekly series, inspired by Cory Doctorow’s link posts where he comments on various articles he’s read - but I don’t have that kind of time. Also, I’m really not that great at remembering the various articles I’ve stumbled through online, so you’re going to get these when you get them.

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about how I dress lately, which I think is something that happens to you when you’re in your early twenties and trying to figure out how to be a “professional”. I think dress codes were always sort of a sticking point for many people, but from what I understand, in the pre-covid era there were many workplaces with very strong implicit or explicit dress codes that (I am told) made it very easy, or at the very least, easier to understand how you were supposed to dress.

I feel like I’ve been getting a lot of questions about public speaking recently.

Someone asked me, about two weeks ago, whether I have formal training in public speaking. The answer to that question is no; honestly, I’m not sure what that even means or would entail.

Anyway, here’s my public speaking “advice”:

1. Get good at writing – being able to clearly articulate your ideas in text helps with being able to express yourself in general.
2. I have a policy of not turning down opportunities to talk in front of people unless I have to. You get good at doing it by doing it more. The more terrifying the opportunity, the better, and the more variety in the experiences, the better. Speaking in front of 3 people and speaking in front of 700 people can be very different types of scary when it matters. I’ve done both.
3. You kinda have to believe in the moment that what you are saying is actually worth listening to and that people should care. Another term for this is “confidence”. I think this is the actual hard part, but it’s also the most valuable.

Tl;dr convince yourself that your ideas are important enough that you should be convincing other people to listen. I guess there is a certain level of arrogance involved in this… lol.