Matthew Lang

Suddenly, everything was dark, and I realized that I was in bed and it was time to face another day in my fledgling business where I had way too much to do and way too many people expecting me to deliver work.

— What you need to build your ideal week by Curtis McHale

My week feels a lot like this at the moment. 16 hour days with no room for anything but the occasional refuelling session and a few minutes with the kids before they go to bed. Hardly the life I had in mind when I started freelancing. Things need to start changing.

I haven't backed anything on Kickstarter yet. I missed the Baron Fig notebook and the Bullet Journal. I'm not going to miss the Squire pen.

During times like this I tend to reserve commenting on social media. As NB puts it, "some days there were no words".

In its final version, the basic income would replace other benefits people currently receive, and would therefore be rather high, as indicated by Kela’s Research Department Director Olli Kangas. It is considered that all Finnish citizens would be paid an untaxed benefit sum free of charge by the government, 800 euros a month in the final version, 550 euros monthly in the model’s pilot phase.

— Basic income: how Finland plans to implement the first nation-wide project in the EU by Finland Politics

It will be very interesting to follow if this is a success.

via FGGT

There are too many easy choices.

I've noticed that retail stores and their vast volume of products seem to be on the rise. Every shopping trip turns into a "who buys all this?" while looking at the mountains of stock available. This isn't just about the products we can easily buy though. It seems now that we're even spoiled for choice in the experiences that we can have in life.

On Sunday I read a story about a silent fireworks display that was intended for babies and toddlers. After the show was finished parents complained that the fireworks were too loud. Hardly surprising given that fireworks by nature are loud.

The bugbear for me isn't the flawed logic of silent fireworks show, it's the availability of choice. We tend to do these things simply because we have the choice too. I'm sure most of us would consider taking our youngest children to a fireworks display but is there any benefit other than the fact that you can?

We're spoiled for choice and the element of resistance in that choice is being eroded away. Just because the decision to do something is easy, it doesn't mean that we should.

A little present from Nicholas Bate in the post last week. Just getting round to looking at them now.

Thanks Nicholas!

I wanted to make a product and sell it directly to people who’d care about its quality. There’s an incredible connection possible when you align your financial motivations with the service of your users. It’s an entirely different category of work than if you’re simply trying to capture eyeballs and sell their attention, privacy, and dignity in bulk to the highest bidder.

I’m going to pull out another trite saying here: It feels like honest work. Simple, honest work. I make a good product, you pay me good money for it. We don’t even need big words like monetization strategy to describe that transaction because it is so plain and simple even my three year-old son can understand it.

— RECONSIDER by David Heinemeier Hansson

A nice reminder that honest work and a good product can be a way to succeed.