Don't Miss Out on What You're Doing, Deleting Second Brains, drop dead [Friday Wrap-Up]

I spent last weekend at my alma mater, the University of Scranton, where I serve on the university's alumni board. It's a board I've served on for the past few years. I really enjoy it because it helps me connect with fellow alumni, but it helps us connect more with the university and with current and future alumni. And community is a really important aspect of my life. And so I'm very, uh, it is a pleasure to be able to connect with

this community, which has been such a big part of my life. Now, our meetings are on Saturdays. On Friday evenings, we usually have some sort of social event. And this time, we spent several hours doing a guided reflection at the university's retreat house on nearby Chapman Lake.

it is one of my favorite places. I've only been there a few times, and it is so serene, so relaxing. It's really the perfect place for an activity like this. Now, the University of Scranton is a Jesuit university, and so this reflection was an Ignatian reflection. But I think that even if you are not Catholic, non-denominational, it's a very good reflection. We looked at where we, came from. We looked at our past and what shaped who we are today. We looked at who we are today,

how we're feeling where we're at, checking in with ourselves, and we looked to the future. What is something that is important to us that will shape where we are going? I really enjoyed this reflection and we were invited to share our thoughts after. And I did share mine and where I came from and where I'd like to be and the hill I'm willing to die on, which is promote more critical thinking. But that's not what this is about. During the

reflection, several of us mentioned the desire to reduce interruptions in our lives. And this was highlighted by the fact that we were listening to a free music playlist on YouTube where the music kept getting interrupted by ads. It really put an exclamation point on this idea that

we are too connected and we are too consumed by distraction. And as you know, if you've been listening for a while, I've been thinking a lot about digital detox and this concept I came up with that is sort of the opposite of FOMO or fear of missing out. I call it moot, M-O-O-W-T, or missing out on what's there, missing out on what you're doing. I was excited to share this concept with my fellow alumni, given everything we had just talked about.

And so I told a story about how we managed a strict no-screen policy at Disney World.

we were there a year ago and I made it very clear that we were not going to bring our iPads to the park I bricked my phone before I left so I can only really access like text messages and the Disney app and a few other things but we didn't use our phone unless we needed to communicate with somebody or check our reservation or whatever in the Disney app contrast this with what I observed at least was families who were constantly on their screens, waiting in line for stuff, sitting just on their

screens at the dinner table. And it really bummed me out because these people were paying a ton of money to do what they could do for free at home. And I get it. The days at Disneyland and Disney World are long. They are tiring. But generations survived without having a screen with them at the parks. And if you are going to pay the money to be at the park, then you should be at the park. And one particularly vivid memory for me is from Beast's Castle, a restaurant and

perfect replica of the castle from the animated film. While my family and I were taking in the sights, enjoying the environment, like the lights would change and it would rain, beast would come in every so often, and there was lots to see and look at an experience. And while we were doing that, there was a family next to us. And they were all on their screens. Mom and dad were on their iPhones and the kids were on iPads. And I looked at my wife and I said, what is the point of being

here? You're paying a premium for food because of the experience and you're not experiencing it. When I was on the focused podcast a few weeks ago, David Sparks, one of the hosts, shared a similar story from Disneyland, where he is an annual passholder and he will go there and he observes the same thing. And it got me thinking that we have such severe foamow for what's online, for what could be, that we're rendering our real life experiences, moot. Now, this concept is still a work in progress.

Mood actually works pretty well. But the sentiment is real. Why don't we have a fear of missing out on what's in front of us? us, whether it's at Disney World or just out to dinner, right? We don't, we don't let the kids leave the house with their iPads unless we are going somewhere where we are spending multiple days. So just an outing, iPad stay at home. If we go out to dinner, we're not on

screens. We're paying to be out to dinner, to be with each other. I have a more extreme stance, I think, I've been told at least, that, like, I will leave my phone in my locker at the gym. And I stream music from my watch. But I also have a digital music player. So if I didn't have my watch, I would stream it there. I want the gym to be in a wasis of nothingness, of some music. But like, I don't want distractions. I am not so important that whatever

can't wait 30 minutes or 60 minutes. And I was at the gym, the gym, morning at 5.30 a.m. and the person next to me was on their phone the whole time and had their iPad in front of them. And and I don't I don't understand. And some people will say, well, this is just how people distract themselves from their workout or if if being on Slack gets them to the gym. No. I argue that if you are so important that you can't let 30 minutes go,

by without something happening. If someone needs to get a hold of you immediately within a 30-minute window, you probably have someone who knows where you are at all times. And so I don't exist when I'm at the gym. And I think it boils down to can we be bored? Can we sit with our thoughts? Can we spend some time reflecting without distractions or interruptions. I think we need more of that. Well, let me know what you think. Streamlinetofeedback.com.

I welcome your thoughts. I'm told my view is too strict. I don't think it is. I think that we should be able to be away from our phone for 30 minutes.

Now, speaking of reflecting. My recommended reading is an article called I Deleted My Second Brain by Joan Westenberg. Now this piece was written about a year ago, and it seems to be making the rounds now. It's resurfaced in some other content circles where I hang out. And I'm really here for it. She basically talks about how she deleted all of her notes, 10,000 notes and her massive reading list. And she felt a sense of relief.

And I am a big proponent of logging your idea so you don't forget them. My Obsidian Research folder, however, is a glut of text snippets that I am never going to read. I wrote about this last year when I said that I was trading highlights for voice notes when I was reading because I'm like a chronic highlighter and I never look back at them. And so this quote from the article in particular resonated with me. In trying to remember everything, I outsourced the act of reflection.

I was mindlessly highlighting things, assuming I'd go back and revisit them, and I do still highlight. But now I immediately reflect on what I read. I will supplement my highlights with my own thoughts, either via paper and pen, or via voice note. If I'm reading in public, I'm not going to do the voice note. I still can't really bring myself to do that. But this is important. And I won't make the argument for Joan.

I strongly recommend you read this article. But just highlighting stuff is nothing. It's aspirational. And it is procrastination. Because you are putting. off processing what you're reading now for some future time. So if you're a digital pack rat like me, I highly recommend this piece. It might give you the permission you need to delete some notes. I certainly am going to right after I record this.

Okay, and recommended media. We're talking about missing out on what's in front of us, deleting brains. And so I think it only makes sense that today's recommended media is Olivia Rodriguez's performance of Drop Dead on S&L. Olivia Rodriguez was the combination host and musical guest on S&L last weekend, and her performance of her new single Drop Dead is fantastic. The set is amazing. The song is a bop.

And I am recommending the live performance specifically because she absolutely crushes the vocals. She is singing this super, cool, somewhat complex song live and she's doing a fan-tastic job. There is a weird nostalgia that I also like to both the song and the official music video. And so once you watch the performance on SNL, I would recommend that you check out the music video. It's like very, looks like it's shot on a handheld video camera. So that is my recommendation for the week.

I've been listening to the song nonstop. It is such a fun song, and I strongly recommend it. So that is it. The three recommendations, my thoughts on missing out on what's in front of us, deleting your second brain, and Olivia Rodriguez's performance of Drop Dead on SNL.

Now, before we wrap up, on a sadder note, Yankee broadcaster, Yankee radio broadcaster, John Sterling died earlier this week. He was 87 years old and lived a very full life. It's easy for fan bases to take shots at him, especially in his later years. But he was the voice of the Yankees for 36 years. Nearly my entire life, certainly, my entire conscious life up until 2024 when he retired. He called over 5,000 consecutive games. He was synonymous with the New York Yankee.

for me. He was a baseball fan through and through. And to say he's anything less than a legend is to show you know nothing of baseball or broadcasting. So before we wrap up, I just want to share John Sterling's legendary call when the Yankees won a game.