Smooth Waters Don’t Make Skilled Sailors (But They’re Nice Sometimes)

Cold brew avalanches, viral outrage fatigue, and learning to love rough waters

Alright, alright, alright. Life got away from me, and I didn’t post last week. You can stop hyperventilating into your paper bag now, because here we are. Some (most?) weeks are jam-packed trying to balance family, work, exercise, personal life, and whatever scraps of time are left over to eat, sleep, and poop. As much as I love using this blog as my old-man-rant outlet, priorities shift. I’m sure you get it.

Oh, also, there are only 2 more weeks of summer break for these kids. Admittedly, it's a little bittersweet (maybe more on the sweet side) thinking they're going back to the grind soon. Having to wake up early when they clearly need more sleep. Tests, tests, and more tests because that's how we know they are learning 🤷. Homework, because clearly, more paperwork teaches us all. Obviously, I have opinions.

But then there's seeing them be sweet summer children; soaking in that California sun, skin going dark and hair getting light so they look like weird child lifeguards. The innocence (and envy) makes it hurt a bit to send them back. The fighting, screaming, scheduling, barrage of questions, and telling on each other, and landfill-esque mess strewn across the house is a good counterbalance to all that. Like I said, bittersweet.

Now for a semi-unscheduled paddling update (because clearly that's why you're all here): I’m racing around Alcatraz this weekend. Yes, that Alcatraz. The race website reads a bit like a disaster-preparedness pamphlet: tides, fog, ferries, currents, hypothermia. I know it's meant to prepare us, but damn if it doesn't press the gas on the anxiety engine. Exposure therapy, right?

Don’t Be Both Difficult and Bad at Your Job

Working with people can boil down to four general combos:

• Easy to work with and good at what you do: 🤌

• Easy to work with, not so skilled: 👌(just need some more training).

• Difficult to work with but skilled: 🙄 (at least they get the job done).

• Difficult and not skilled: 🙅🙅🙅.

Don't be a dick and be bad at your job. If you have someone like this on your team, why?

Avalanche Thinking

Ever get an idea or start something simple, and suddenly it's too big to handle? I wanted to make cold brew at home instead of buying it. Easy enough, right? Going down the rabbit hole of perfecting everything (thanks, internet and millennialism), next thing I know, I’m pricing out water filters, grinders, water minerals, special water, and new kitchen scales. Had to have an internal come-to-jesus moment and remember to Keep It Simple, Stupid. Learn the fundamentals and then figure out what works or doesn't work and make it better. Start small and iterate. Or don't iterate and be satisfied without having to perfect every little thing in life.

Get Off the Couch and Get Your Food

Speaking of how our culture is dissolving more and more into mass consumerism... Here's a hot tip: food tastes better when you make it yourself, eat at the restaurant, or god-forbid, pick it up yourself. Takeout sits in the backseat of some dude’s Corolla for 20 minutes, cooling off next to six other orders. And half the time, they forgot to grab the drink or extra sauce that comes with it. Sure, it’s convenient, but you know what also feels good? Walking outside, grabbing fresh food, and not paying a 40% markup for soggy fries.

Internet Bandwagon Fatigue

The news cycle is unbearable. Something goes viral, like that cringey astronomy CEO moment, and suddenly it’s everywhere. I don’t need 400 versions of the same analysis. Yes, they messed up, and their reaction caught on video was comically terrible. It can be fun to laugh at someone else's misery once or twice. I don't need every site and news outlet telling me about it for the next 2 weeks because it's "gone viral". Why should I care about this?

Nostalgia Snapshots

Do you ever have those moments where you look at your kid and get little glimpses of what they might look like in a few years or see all those little traits that stayed with them from when they were a baby? I've been having a lot of nostalgia moments lately, and it's a good reminder for me to back off and remember that they are just kids and should just be kids.

Parental Controls Suck

And now to use that as a segue to rant some more... Please, someone tell me one app that does parental controls well. They’re either so basic they’re pointless or so convoluted you give up. It feels like companies add “parental control” features just to check a marketing box, not actually protect kids or provide parents meaningful information and opportunities to put up some guardrails. Did you know that Spotify has ASMR sex sounds? My 10-year-old does... Don't get me wrong; I'm not going for a complete abstinence mindset with this; kids are going to explore, and the best thing is to have open and honest discussions with them. It'd be nice to time those a bit better, though.

Smooth Waters Don’t Make Skilled Sailors

(Cliche alert!) Growth comes from discomfort, and failure teaches more than success. As parents and leaders, we have to make sure discomfort doesn’t turn into danger and burnout. Create safety nets so people can push themselves without fear of failure, injury, or long-term consequences. Maybe don’t scare them so badly that they never get in the boat in the first place (looking at you, Alcatraz race website).

Tool Rec: Libby

I don't think I've recommended this before, but I'm also too tired to go through my previous posts. If I did, just know it's so good it's worth repeating... Reading is a great escape from the chaos that is our culture and world. Don't like reading? Try out an audiobook. Either route you take, get Libby! It’s a free app that lets you borrow ebooks and audiobooks from your local library. No ads, no algorithmic doomscrolling, no social networking component; just access to actual books, for free. Perfect for getting in some real reading instead of doomscrolling between meetings, waiting at the DMV, sitting on a train, or decompressing at night. Free is a hard price to beat.

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We’re in the last lap of summer. I’m equal parts exhausted and grateful, nervous about this weekend’s race but itching for the challenge and the experience of going around Alcatraz (without actually having visited it). C'mon, parents, we can make it these last couple of weeks.

Party on Wayne,

//Trevor