what is the feeling of this piece?
I struggled a lot with deciding what I wanted to write about this week. Without revealing too much, the three themes I’m torn between are clarity, empathy, and alignment. This week I decided to go with clarity!
some comments from human I love (hil):
hil: “How do you do all this stuff? If it weren’t you, I wouldn’t believe you. But it is you and you’re insane.” -my sistah
abi: An unhealthy mix of hyper fixation and sleep deprivation works wonders in your 20s. Frankly, reflecting on my year is a consistent and unbelievable what the fuck moment.
hil: “What’re your hacks?”
abi: I’ll let the screenshot speak for itself. Endless thanks to my former boss Justin and current boss Rob for believing in and supporting me. Special shoutout to my former and current coworker Javaneh. I would happily run with any of you for the rest of my career.
break ice ⚒
Maybe I should stop unearthing these. The polar bears need homes.
icebreaker: “What’re two things you’re excited about next month?”
abi: Adding the constraints of timeframe and amount of things takes the pressure off. Full transparency this was stolen from a friend. He in turn stole it from an instagram post on how to talk to girls.
words 🗣️
“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”
abi: Life becomes a lot happier when you remember everyone is stupid sometimes.
read 📖
abi: If you’re a tech nerd like me, you know Naval. If you aren’t, he’s a smart dude who is held within high regard Silicon Valley. The reason I shared this is because it’s a reminder to me: there’s always someone who might be bigger and better. Accumulate what matters to you and be thoughtful about how you share it.
abi: Okay. I was really reluctant to share this one. David “Dave” Chang was raised near me, went to a college that was a second home to me, and supported the little guy. Outside of his self-admitted asshole tendencies I enjoyed watching him build his podcast. The chili crisp thing, not okay.
In an attempt to separate the artist from their art, here’s one of the episodes that got me into his podcast. It features a man who continues to create thoughtful TV that I love and rewatch. (If you didn’t think it was The Bad Place from Episode 1, you’re actually the st00pid one)
write 🖋
peanut butter jelly time
Did your dad, or other guardianship figure, ever run you through the peanut butter and jelly problem? The problem is as follows: write out a set of instructions to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Sounds easy, right? HA.
I wrote out the instructions. I cannot imagine the internal giggles that my dad must have had prior to trolling his cocky son. He proceeded to show me every misinterpretation of my instructions possible. One of the results:
Generated by Dall-E
In my current job, one of my key responsibilities is writing out requirements and instructions for software developers. Sometimes I underestimate the context and level of instruction needed. Other times I step into their territory and overprescribe the solution.
When this happens, I remind myself to take a mental visit to my childhood kitchen. A quick look at the leaning peanut butter and jelly tower gives me perspective. Some lessons you have to learn over and over again.
Thank you dad, sometimes we bicker, but I attribute a lot of my success to the lessons you taught and modeled for me. Just so you know I was listening, here are some of my favorites in my own words:
“A job isn’t finished, until you’ve cleaned up after yourself.”
“Even if they meant to hurt you, it’s easier to forgive them.”
“Life already sucks enough. Choose to be happy.”
“Options trading and Cathie Wood are great choices.” (Had to throw in a little jab to send you off, love you pops.)
with a baseball bat,
