Boundless #27: The Return Of Leisure
What happened?
#1 Have we screwed up leisure?
In a short article I wrote for Quartz I reflect on the fact that our relationship with Leisure has been corrupted. For most of my adulthood, I conceived of leisure as a break from work. I have found that people throughout most of history had a different relationship with leisure. It was often an active pursuit in the service of something that brings you alive or one of contemplation, conversation or meditation. Leisure in the service of work, or a "break" from work was simply not in the collective imagination.
This was also my first experience getting something published and I'd have to say it’s an interesting process. I am continuously changing my mind on issues and find that publishing on my own site and having control lets me update my thinking. When publishing on another site and being edited by an editor (albeit a much better writer than myself), makes me a bit nervous that my point gets taken out of context. Nonetheless, it is probably a welcome shift that the editor was able to shrink down my 3,000 word piece into only 800 words.
Check Out The Article
#2 Remote Work As A Hack For Living A Good Life
Web • YouTube • Apple Podcasts • Stitcher • Google Podcasts
Overcast • Spotify • PlayerFM
The idea for Zapier emerged from some work Wade was doing with his friend Brian to connect different apps on the internet. They brought the idea to Startup Weekend in Missouri and ended up building a prototype of what would later form the foundation of Zapier. By Monday morning, they were committed to spending time on it and seeing where it would go.
Seven years later, Wade is the CEO of that company and he is leading it as a remote company. Wade shares reflections on building a remote company and the fact that you have to default to trust and be very intentional about building a connection between people. In traditional companies, he notes that “The default for most companies is that they don’t trust you.”
For his company, the default is:
“We trust you. We think you’re smart, we think you’re talented, we want you to come work here. We’re going to treat you like an adult. Just come do good work, thats all we ask.”
#3 Quotes
A third way of attaining union lies in creative activity, be it that of the artist, or of the artisan. In any kind of creative work the creating person unites himself with his material, which represents the world outside of himself. Whether a carpenter makes a table, or a goldsmith a piece of jewelry, whether the peasant grows his corn, or the painter paints a picture, in all types of creative work the worker and his object become one, man unites himself with the world in the process of creation.
- Erich Fromm, The Art Of Loving
#4 Reads
Five #goodreads This Week: Weekly Reads #96
Past Reads: The e-mail that got me started on this journey from 2015
Podcast: This TED Radio Hour podcast titled "Quiet" about introversion, solitude and a man who didn't speak for 17 years was fascinating
#5 Views From The World
Tea in Maokong Taipei, overlooking Taipei 101