Choreographing your life (Ricky Weekly #60)
This is where I share 3 things every week with my friends and anyone else interested.
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A picture from my life:
This is me trying to get lactase from my backpack before the black sesame taiyaki ice cream melts.
A thing on my mind:
There are a few companies working on helping event organizers produce virtual events. Before the pandemic, good event producers program the content so that there are highs and lows in the collective conscience of the attendees. But after we transitioned online, we just get video boxes, and there are way fewer opportunities to create a sense of anticipation, elation, rejuvenation, breakaways, etc. I think the companies working on introducing this level of choreography to virtual events can help unlock much more interesting online experiences in the future, and they’ll probably need help from game designers. Here’s a screenshot from a startup called Welcome. Their tagline is “create jaw-dropping virtual events,” which feels contradictory. The bar charts are supposed to indicate the ups and downs of an event, which you can now measured more closely online.
At Flow Club, we’re think about this choreography as well because that’s why it works. Our hosts executes the choreography with an opening ritual to prime everyone into focus and the time-boxed nature of our sessions allows for deliberate breaks from that intensity.
I really like this idea of choreographing meetings and work sessions, and I’d like to bring that to my everyday life. It feels like a more holistic frame than just talking about routines and rituals. Thinking about choreographing my days make me want to find the equivalent of a hyped up MC to help me begin my day. It makes me want very high-intensity work blocks and schedule in deliberate breaks. Makes me think about how I’d want to close out my day so I look forward to the next day with anticipation and excitement.
A piece of content I recommend:
The 7 Hardest Conversations I’ve Ever Had On This Show - Death, Sex & Money with Anna Sale
I loved this episode because it’s rare to hear journalists talk about regrets from their interviews. The relationship between journalists and their subjects has always been tricky. Journalists are good at getting people to share secrets, but that often happens by taking advantage of the more vulnerable parts of the human psyche, intentionally or unintentionally. For example, Anna Sale interviewed a mom who works as a sex worker but hides her job from her other mom friends. She wrote to Anna Sale to talk about it because she felt like she had no one to talk to, but getting her story published created a whole slew of problems in her life. It’s not Anna Sale’s fault especially because her subject is the one who initiated the story idea, but still, the thoughts that went through her head when she broached the topic, and the kind of relief that she expected, etc. It’s all very messy.
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As always, you can find out what I’m thinking in more real-time on Twitter and my essays are on my website. My primary focus (and where I focus) is on Flow Club.