Books, Sports, Rhymes & Life
Each month, I send a newsletter reviewing every book I read that month as well as some random thoughts and scribblings on a variety of subjects. It’s free and it goes right to your inbox!
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The idea behind all this work is not only that it makes you valuable, but that it makes you irreplaceable. Only, that’s not true. No amount of work, no number of hours will make you indispensable. No one is indispensable. If the founder of a company can be fired, then anyone can. CEOs get removed. Dictators get overthrown. Workaholics lose their jobs just like everyone else.
Everything is temporary, particularly in the gig economy.
The best thing about the digital revolution is that there are almost no rules. Like independent films in the early ’90s, creators are using available technology to push boundaries and reinvent the way things are done. Thus, the rise of the e-book and the availability of self-publishing now allows a superfan to create their own digital scrapbook of their favorite writer/director/podcaster/author.
Continue reading “A Colorful Career Retrospective: “A Kevin Smith Scrapbook” Reviewed”
The same day I bought and discarded a new lock because I couldn’t recall the combination, I found my old lock and, after giving it some time, remembered that combination.
There’s a metaphor for life in there somewhere.
Eminem is one of the all-time greats, a surefire future hall of famer. He’s one of the most commercially successful musicians ever, the second highest-selling singles artist of all time with over 220 million records sold worldwide and nine consecutive number one albums (including his greatest hits collection). Six of his (thus far) seven eligible major label releases have won the Grammy for Best Rap Album (he has fifteen in total).
There’s no need for a preamble. Let’s just say it: Scottie Pippen was fucking great. Not good. Not really good. Not very good. Great. Great great.
Since I’ve pretty much abandoned Twitter, the only place to get my incredibly insightful and well-researched thoughts on a variety of topics is through my newsletter. Subscribe and be fulfilled!
Continue reading “The Pierznik Monthly Newsletter Volume 47 (August 2018)”
As Ryan Holiday writes in Ego Is the Enemy, John Boyd is “one of the most influential strategists and practitioners in modern warfare,” yet he’s “someone most people have never heard of.”
The fact that Boyd is unknown is fitting, because his lasting legacy is a speech he gave to scores of young officers that has come to be known as the “To Do or To Be” speech:
Let’s talk about money.
Most of us have some sort of financial concern. Some estimates show that nearly 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and 61% can’t cover a $1,000 emergency. Wages have stagnated, but the cost of everything else has continued to rise meaning that purchasing power hasn’t really moved in four decades.
It takes an annual income of one-third of a million dollars to buy a home in San Francisco, which is fascinating considering the median household income there is about $83,000. It’s not just the coasts, either. Real median household income in New York City is just under $51,000 but in the entire country it’s $59,000. Considering how expensive everything — housing, food, transportation — is, that’s not very much.
Have you ever felt like if you had just a little bit more money it would make an enormous difference? The problem with that thought — one that I’ve had many times — is that the goalposts continue to move.
Dear iPod Classic,
You’re lying next to me as I type this, but it’s easier for me to write what I feel than it is to say it to you.
I just wanted to let you know that I value and appreciate you. You have now been by my side for a decade and although we’ve had a few rough patches (remember those dark times you said “iPod sync is complete” but there were actually no songs?), we’ve stayed together and I think our bond is stronger than ever.
I’ve recently revamped my monthly newsletter to be a collection of all my random thoughts on things as well as the book reviews. It’s the eighth-best thing you can get in your inbox! Subscribe!
Continue reading “The Pierznik Monthly Newsletter Volume 46 (July 2018)”
