As many times as it takes

Mastery often means doing something as many times as it takes to get it right.

Whenever possible I give people the opportunity to revise their work as many times as they want. Only the final outcome or product matters. It was the learning and the hard work that I want to reward, not getting it right the first time. One of the most important lessons is that the only thing you can control is how you react. When challenges arise what do you do? When you don’t have an answer? When your skills aren’t up to the task?

When you allow people to make their own decisions, they start to feel more engaged, confident and empowered. And once that happens, there’s no limit to what they can achieve.

The GigRig | G3 Software Updates v.512

The GigRig G3 Software Updates:

Link to Software version 512 (iOS). Also, the focus I set on my iPhone while updating.
Featuring:

  • FLIP/FLOP STOMP:  Group several StompBox mode presets together and flip/flop between them
  • SUBTRACTIVE STOMP:  StompBox mode presets now subtract as well as add
  • UP TO 20 MIDI MESSAGES:  We’ve increased the amount of MIDI messages available pre preset from 15 to 20
  • MIDI SEND ON PRESET OFF: When you turn a preset off in StompBox mode you can send a separate MIDI message
  • MIDI SEQUENCER:  Send a string of MIDI commands in sequence
  • BANK DOWN BUTTON:  Assign a button to act as ‘Bank Down’
  • G3 REMOTE/STAGE MIDI CODE:  Link 2 units together and remote access presets between them
  • NAME SONG TITLES WITHIN G3:  You can now name songs within G3 without need for the app

[I don’t know why I don’t find these easy to find, but it won’t hurt to spread them around. 🤷🏼‍♂️ Some of the features in this update are quite helpful. I dig stombox mode, and like the notion of “subtractive”, but I don’t like the notion of it being “different” from regular stomp. It should “toggle” the loop.]

The Perks of a High-Documentation, Low-Meeting Work Culture

The Perks of a High-Documentation, Low-Meeting Work Culture:

This is a culturally influential decision considering that we’re a remote-first company. We don’t see each other in passing in the office, and we don’t have lunch together. 

It may seem counterintuitive to cut down on face time if you rarely see your colleagues as it is. But it’s working for us, and there’s a few reasons why. 

Practicing meeting mindfulness allows us to free up time for other stuff that matters more. This isn’t to say that all meetings are useless — it’s just that the meetings we do have at Tremendous are meetings for a reason.

[ If you’re feeling a theme, I’m getting this right.]

Approaching hard work – by David Hoang

Approaching hard work – by David Hoang:

Purpose and ambition in life looks different for everyone, and it’s important for you to define what that means. Long hours do not equate to success. Grace Walker recently gave a talk, Small on purpose, about the life of a solopreneur and what success, looks like. Success looks different for everyone, and only you can define it.

I’ve seen many contemporaries leave the industry to never return—retired on a farm or finding a new profession. For many, it’s by choice, and for others, it’s the spark burning out. With nearly two decades in the tech industry, I need to be healthy and present enough to endure the next few. If you have ambitious goals, you’ll need to work hard but don’t let them destroy you. Play the long game and make every hour count and it invokes positive energy.

[Lots to consider, but this stuff has always guided me… despite my own “a child of refugees, and a Capricorn, hard work is in my DNA and personality” traits.]

Recovery Options on Apple Silicon Macs

Michael Tsai – Blog – Recovery Options on Apple Silicon Macs:

When pressed briefly, it starts the Mac up in normal macOS mode; when pressed and held until the Mac reports that it’s loading Recovery Options, it engages Recovery mode, where you navigate startup and other options using buttons and menus. These invariably work fully with Apple’s wireless keyboards and mice/trackpads, so there’s no need to connect them with their charging leads.

[Lots more links and info, but I’m sure I’ll be looking this stuff up if needed.]

Don’t Look Away | NextDraft

Don’t Look Away | NextDraft:

The recent acts of public antisemitism and antidemocratic leanings are examples of how this stuff spreads and movements go from the edges to the mainstream. For a great review, watch Ken Burns latest series, America and the Holocaust. Parts of it will feel remarkably familiar. And here’s a take from Michelle Goldberg in the NYT (Gift Article): Antisemitism’s March Into the Mainstream. “For most of my adult life, antisemites — with exceptions like Pat Buchanan and Mel Gibson — have lacked status in America. The most virulent antisemites tended to hate Jews from below, blaming them for their own failures and disappointments. Now, however, anti-Jewish bigotry, or at least tacit approval of anti-Jewish bigotry, is coming from people with serious power: the leader of a major political party, a famous pop star, and the world’s richest man.”

[Thee are not simple times. More than don’t look away. Be an advocate for love, tolerance, and peace.]

How Antisemitism Gained a Foothold in the GOP

How Antisemitism Gained a Foothold in the GOP:

If antisemites were too marginal to pose any danger, it would be easy enough for the party to cut them off. (If you want to know what it looks like when Republicans decide to really throw somebody out of their party, look at their treatment of Liz Cheney.) Instead, they vacillate. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy declined to comment on Gosar’s attendance at white nationalist Nick Fuentes’s conference. McCarthy has likewise promised to restore Greene’s committee privileges if Republicans regain the majority.

[It is infuriating that “win at all cost” is the only abiding theme for the GOP. They really do not care about anything else. Certainly not my life. Pffft.]

The Incentivized Waste of Free Returns and the Gutting of Alexa

The Incentivized Waste of Free Returns — Pixel Envy:

The supposedly efficient marketplace has produced a system where the cost of production has decreased so much — through deliberately seeking the lowest-wage factory workers and taking a hands-off approach to their safety — that it is trivial for some retailers to discard huge amounts of merchandise from returns and overstock. The incentives are all backwards.

Also:

Amazon Is Gutting Alexa:

It seems none of these predictions has fully panned out. There are many people who will continue ordering groceries with curb-side pickup, buy everything online with the understanding anything unwanted can simply be sent back, and maybe some people will yell at their speaker to send them a new box of Dutch Blitz after a particularly aggressive board game night. Most people probably will not. We will mostly continue to click “Add to Cart” and shop in stores near where we live. We should make cities more accessible and less car-centric because that helps our communities far more than pressing a button near your laundry machine to have more detergent shipped to you.

[It can be hard to tell when something isn’t working and when the tech isn’t good enough, and when new horrifying habits are enabled. But I feel like part of that difficulty is momentum.]