The Friday Thing #875

Hello 2025.?

The Friday Thing 875 is not a set of New Year's resolutions - I've never really gone in for making a list of things and precisely sticking to them (or failing), but I do go into the year with a sense of things I'd like to change. I aim to read more books this year and likely will given 8080 Books?has more on the horizon. I aim to ride more miles this year and hopefully will be through being more planful about when I will be unable to ride. Those are two things but in the spirit of "lists" to begin the year, I'll offer a few things that have been inspiring me over the last few weeks as I planned ahead for 2025.?

1. Misc: a gem of a book from the team behind Delayed Gratification. It's given me some ideas for a new project that lies ahead. I also learned that the typewriter debuted in Philadelphia in 1876.?
2. On the topic of slow, I began reading Cal Newport's Slow Productivity?recently and already love it and three it offers: (1) Do Fewer Things; (2) Work at a Natural Pace; (3) Obsess Over Quality. I took my time over this edition of The Friday Thing.?
3. A list within a list. 101 ways to get healthier and happier?– in just five minutes. It's a good read from The Guardian. And now I know about Hardle.?
4. Supercommunicators is a book by Charles Duhigg that I finished last week. He explores and explains why some people are able to make themselves heard — and to hear others — so clearly. I listened to Charles read the book on Audible and learned some stuff about the CIA.?
5. I bought a poem from David Gate. He's right. More joy, less division.?

I was going to make a list of ten things, but I took Cal's advice. Fewer.?

Here's to a great 2025. Oh, and music for this week is the beautiful new song from Sade - her first in six years. Young Lion is dedicated to her son Izaak who identifies as a transgender man?and appears on the Transa compilation from Red Hot.?

Happy New Year. Here's to a great 2025.?

-Steve