Postcard 30: Show Up
Hey Friends,
So much of life is just about showing up. We don't need to have all the answers.
I need to remind myself of this every once in a while, especially when I don't feel like showing up.
When supporting a friend or family member, just letting them know you are there is enough.
When trying to build a writing habit, sending a newsletter on a regular cadence is enough. Growing on Twitter seems to be just about showing up and tweeting. Even crappy tweets sent regularly (trust me, I've been pushing a lot of those) seem to yield far better results than waiting for the perfect tweets to come. Writing online seems to be the same way.
I could keep going, but you get the idea. Just show up.
Show up for your friends and family, show up for your work, show up for the things you care about; you don't need to be perfect. You just need to be you, and just by showing up, you are doing more than you realize.
Some of the best relationships I've built this year with strangers were just built by showing up. Showing up and commenting on their stuff, saying hi, telling them I'm here if they need help.
It all really is just about showing up, even when you don't feel like it, or it scares you, especially if it scares you.
Amanda has been dropping some amazing knowledge on twitter and this tweet is no exception. Since taking Write of Passage Cohort 6 with her earlier this year, it has been amazing to watch her growth. An example of what showing up will do.
Gergley is right. But the problem with best in class is that it requires a lot of rigor and hard work to build up. Most executives at traditional, non-tech, companies want warm bodies on keyboards. They are usually ok throwing money at the problem, but that's only a small part of the solution to building best-in-class tech teams.
Best-in-class tech teams are primarily built by people that care deeply to build them.
They are built inside cultures that allow them to thrive. These teams thrive in cultures with rigor on hiring and rigor in every aspect of their existence.
I am convinced that this is happening across all of industry right now. It's not just true for engineers. The culprit is work from home. But big companies had a problem with too many meetings even before work from home. But now its far worse. People are constantly forced to meet synchronously, burning away each other's time and willpower.
How you can finish your first game while working full-time | Jason Tu
Jason is a former colleague from Jet, and when I saw his article at the very top of Hacker News (number 1) I was super happy for him. It's a good piece about showing up, of all things!
People have been calling a lot of stuff they couldn't explain "aliens" for a long time. Isn't funny that even with these 12-20 megapixel cameras in our phones, and pockets, all of the alien photos or videos are all incredibly blurry still?
This week's Meme is all about why late night programming is worse for you than coffee:
(Late night writing might be just as bad)
Thanks for reading and as always, my inbox is open; feel free to reply to this email if I can help in any way.
Have a great weekend,
Louie