Happy Monday, I hope you're staying well.
I'm back in Dublin after a month in the sun, but looking forward to a week of live music, three gigs in the space of four days, so pray for good weather for me.
Last week, the most clicked link was 'Slow down - it's what your brain has been begging for' - it seemed to resonate with a lot of people, so maybe it's time to take control of your attention.
This week, I have some excellent productivity tips to share, along with Rutherford's first role of productivity.
Thanks for being here on our joint journey of curiosity, and the new subscribers, hey!
Till next Monday...enjoy!
👓 The Big Stuff - do less, but better
I try to keep away from pure 'productivity' on this newsletter, preferring to focus on deep work and improving attention, but occasionally I see a good article with video tips to help improve productivity and it's impossible not to share it.
Really, productivity systems are a combination of tools THAT WORK FOR YOU, but they all boil down to Rutherford's first law of productivity:
Pick the most important thing. Do it. Repeat.
Maybe, we should be working on DOING LESS, but better. Not getting less done.
One way towards this is ruthless prioritisation, a tried and tested technique of ensuring you are working on what is important.
By controlling our energy and attention for what is important, we'll be ready for the inevitable move to a four-day week.
🧠 The Other Stuff
- Can you spot a bad argument? Take this excellent Faulty Reasoning quiz, and learn about the fallacies that catch you out.
- An interesting project - Postal Service for the Dead. A chance to send one last letter to someone you lost. It's a good reminder to say things while you can. Accompanied by an Instagram feed and newsletter of some of the submissions.
- New Journalism: There is a lot of important work being done OUTSIDE mainstream media. This 'kit' is an excellent jump-off point to find out who is really breaking stories from around the world, and more importantly, how.
🌞 The Little Stuff
- YouTube is full of videos of London - can you guess when?
- Go driving with Montblanc - I have no idea what this is selling me.
- Goodnight Phone
- Astonishing stuff - the worst opening lines of books, 2023 winners.
- Finally: Digits - doing for numbers what Wordle did for words.
Matt Rutherford
🎧 Aural Stuff
On the Stuff Speakers this week...
🎧 Sigur Rós are back for the first time in ten years, with their lovely (almost) ambient, album ÁTTA. Recorded with the London Contemporary Orchestra, the 10-track album covers some well-trodden ground, but it is no-less rewarding for it.
Gentle string-laden tracks, vocals in hopelandic and spells of euphoric rises and drops, back to ambient washes of sound. It is a familiar soundscape, but comforting to know that the next ten years of nature documentaries are covered.
Lovely album, recommended.
Matt Rutherford
👂🏼 Stuff Someone Said
“Don’t talk unless you can improve the silence.”
