Sunday Links: crazy at work, ditch the news, and Soviet posters
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Hi there!
Shit happened. I might have just sent you a raw draft of the following edition with the title “Whatever it doesn’t take.” If you received one, delete it. I have no idea how it happened, as I was only testing Substack, and for some reason, it sent the draft to all readers. I’m sorry for that. Now, let’s get back to the email.
Long time no see. I had a very intense start of the year. That’s the reason I kept silent for over a month. I’ll tell you about the reason of my absence in the following edition.
Today I’ve brought you some good stuff to read. So let’s get to it!
Findings I’ve enjoyed this week
“It Doesn't Have To Be Crazy At Work” by Basecamp founders. The first book I read this year, and it was good. Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson managed to balance the brevity and depth of their thoughts and keep their vision clear.
Instead of bringing new ideology or another corporate bullshit standard, they offer common sense as a universal tool—like a Swiss knife—to make decisions and handle chaos in any situation.
Their book is an easy-to-digest and ready-to-go manual for those who finally want to make a change at work and feel good about it rather than stressed, anxious, and humiliated.
Here are ten takeaways from the book on my blog →
Posters educating readers in the USSR. The first years of Soviet power were Russia's renaissance of art, design, and architecture. The artists of that period, such as Kazimir Malevich, El Lissitzky, Vladimir Tatlin, Alexander Rodchenko, and others, were way ahead of their time.
Since then till now, there has been no more powerful and influential cultural phenomenon in Russian visual culture than the Russian avant-garde. One hundred years later, it inspires young designers worldwide and creates incentives to get back to its ideas and review them today.
Besides famous works such as “Black Square” by Malevich or “Books (Please)! In All Branches of Knowledge” poster by Rodchenko with Lilya Brick on it, hundreds of other amazing pieces were created back than. Many of them were exceptionally practical and utilitarian.
For example, these agitation posters designed in the middle of Likbez program, aiming to educate readers of a newly arisen Soviet society. Most of them were illiterate workers and peasants. According to the Tsarist statistics, by 1917 only 38% of the male population above seven years old and only 12.5% of the female population was literate.
The first Soviet government made literacy one of the most crucial KPIs. By 1939, male literacy increased to 90%, and female literacy increased to 72,5%. During the 1950s, the Soviet Union had become a country of nearly 100% literacy.
Why you should stop reading news. Before reading this piece of writing by Shane Parrish, I had a small experiment on how news influence my mind, mood, and efficiency at work. For a month I didn’t read news, and here’s what happened. Instead of scrolling my phone after I rub my eyes in the morning, I rebuilt my daily routine:
Wake up at 7 am
Yoga for 20 minutes
Shower
Light breakfast
Reading a book for 30 minutes
Writing for two hours with the internet off
Having the whole morning to myself is the key to my efficacy. Thanks to that I start my working day only at 12 pm. If I have meetings this day, I schedule the first one before 4 pm. At that time I usually take a walk to hold most of my meetings on the go, away from the keyboard.
After a one-month break from news, I returned them to my life. In just two days, my routine that I’d been building for a month was tossed into a trash bin. I became more irritated, more anxious, and way less efficient. It affected my writing and decision-making so badly I couldn’t squeeze a single idea out of me.
Shane Parrish gives news a great definition and explains why they have such a bad influence. News is noise, while what we crave is a signal:
News is, by definition, something that doesn’t last. It exists for only a moment before it changes. As news has become easier to distribute and cheaper to produce, the quality has decreased, and the quantity has increased, making it nearly impossible to find the signal in the noise.
The worst part is that reading news harmed my work and also relations with my family and teammates. I started to stay up working late. Due to that, I was sleepy and crunchy in the mornings. I was short and abrupt with my colleagues. No one likes a person who’s irritated right from the morning without a significant reason.
Therefore I’ve decided to remove news from my life completely and also deleted Instagram and Twitter apps from my phone. It made a huge change in my behavior. Now when I’m bored, I have to go out to the real world instead of doom-scrolling the phone.
Afterword
Hope you’ve found this email thought-provoking. If you have, share it with your friends and people who may like it. I’ll appreciate your support and feedback.
Take care!
Evgeny
Baku, 28 January 2023
Ask me anything via email: evgeny@lepekhin.me
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I make some time for news from sources that are more or less trustworthy, but don't let it consume my life. Good on you for making those positive changes!