I discovered this blog, Infatuateur, via Cultural Offering. It’s a curated feast of beauty and style that includes nature & animals, architecture & interiors, food & drink, men’s style and beautiful women.
In the words of its keeper, “I am a man who is bewitched by beauty and smitten with infatuation.”
Worth checking out over an idle hour.
Image: https://infatuateur.tumblr.com/post/802742838748200960
“Just when the gods had ceased to be, and Christ had not yet come, there was a unique moment in history, between Cicero and Marcus Aurelius, when man stood alone.”
Gustave Flaubert, letter to Madame Roger des Genettes, from The Letters 1830-1880
Such an evocative sentence.
Photo by Mindaugas Vitkus on Unsplash
A great reminder from Steve Layman. I was tempted to copy/paste the full post, but here’s a snippet:
We are conditioned to enjoy the benefit today and pay the cost tomorrow.
Achievement reverses the transaction. It requires full payment in advance (and regular payments forever).
An important warning about the decline of deferred gratification. Read the full post, here.
Photo by Alora Griffiths on Unsplash
I may be a little late to recommend this as Christmas Eve reading (hopefully not), but Broken Ground, the inaugural collection of short fiction from Uncertain Stories, is superb.
I’ve only read the first two stories so far and they are original, thought-provoking and definitely “uncertain” – as the website promises: “new short stories with a supernatural or speculative edge”.
Also, and always a bonus, the book comes beautifully wrapped.
Along with the single-sheet, super short story, Mark, you can see above, the volume comes a 16-page Little Uncertainty, “small books that we give away for free to help spread the love of short stories.”
What’s not to love?
Kurt at Cultural Offering updates his list of 25 Blogs Guaranteed to Make You Smarter.
Really not sure I’m worthy, but I am deeply honoured and flattered to be included. Cultural Offering was one of the first blogs I followed and it is a never-ending source of perspective, information and inspiration.
Add it to your list and check out the others.
Thank you, Kurt.
Photo by Ioana Trandafir on Unsplash
Here is the soundest of advice from Hunter Gatherer 21C’s Nicholas Bate:
Only listen to vinyl when working; a break and a walk will be naturally necessary every twenty minutes or so.
This could be the nudge I need to set up my turntable again.
Currently, I have a playlist on Sonos of mostly guitar instrumentals curated from my music collection. It runs for nearly a full day and ensures (after a couple of opening tracks with vocals) that I’m not writing with other people’s words in my head.
It’s not vinyl, but it includes some sublime tracks. Here’s a taster:
Opening vocal tracks:
Loser, The Grateful Dead (“I’ve got no fear of losing this time.”)
Hair of the Dog, Nazareth (“Now you’re messing with a son of a bitch.”)
Hello Hooray, Alice Cooper (“God, I feel so strong.”)
Thereafter, a mix of the sweetest guitar music:
Blue Valley, Thomas Blug
And The Address, Deep Purple
High Nights, Sutherland Brothers & Quiver (an instrumental from Quiver’s Time Renwick, later of Al Stewart and Pink Floyd’s touring band amongst many others)
Cloudy Day, JJ Cale
Weiss Heim, Rainbow
Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers, Jeff Beck
Samba Pa Ti, Santana
Journey of the Sorcerer, Eagles
Little Wing, Stevie Ray Vaughan
Another Place, Jeff Beck
Scandinavia, Van Morrison
Angel (Footsteps), Jeff Beck
Where Were You, Jeff Beck.
And, much, much more. Just so much great music!
Photo by Adrian Korte on Unsplash
Action is the antidote to anxiety.
I found this list via (I think) The Hammock Papers. Apologies if I’ve misattributed. The full list of “20 Sentences I Wish I’d Read Sooner in Life” is here on a blog called Born Too Late.
The most dangerous addiction is the approval of other people.
…
Your habits are the silent architects of your life.
Worth pondering the full list.
I’m very flattered to be mentioned in Execupundit’s list of Uniquely Personal Blogs.
It’s high praise that I’ll attempt to measure up to.
Thanks, Michael.
Photo by Irina Iriser on Unsplash
(I wrote this for my Burning Pine site, but then realised it belongs on here, too.)
When you’re a small business, a micro business or a freelancer, it’s different.
Whatever you do centres on you. That’s not an ego thing. It’s just that clients are buying “you” – the unique blend of experience, skills, understanding and relationship you bring.
Here are a few tips and reminders for those who find they’ve inadvertently become their own brand.
It’s probably not your professional skill. If you are a designer, writer or accountant, your clients are probably not (just) buying pictures, words and numbers. You may be an average financial adviser or marketer who is exceptionally good at listening and empathising. You may be an SEO expert or trainer on the invoice, but your value is in being a sounding-board, informal coach or counsellor. It can be hard, but you need to understand what the client is buying, as well as what you’re selling. That’s not easy to put in a brochure, but it’s what drives loyalty, repeat business and referrals.
That’s your job. Leave your ego at the door and make your client look great to their boss or the board. That’s what pulls you up through their organisation and across the organisations of their career path, building a network of contacts and new clients as you go.
Get up, get dressed, be at your desk. Even though “dressed” is seldom a suit and tie. Even though “desk” isn’t in an office with a PA. Written back when Blackberry was still a thing, there’s a lot of value in Nicholas Bate’s Professionalism 101 (here as a handy download). Nicholas is now at Hunter Gatherer 21C.
What do you think? What have I missed?
Photo by Marcus Neto on Unsplash
“Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.”
Attributed to W. Edwards Deming (but incorrectly, it would seem).
Photo by Arturo Añez on Unsplash
