Intention
Something that I’ve been noticing a lot recently is the lack of intentionality in work. If you look at a lot of problems that the world is facing, then you can look at a lack of intention as a cause for their existence.
For example, for a countless number of years, food companies were able to manufacture extremely sugary and unhealthy foods because they were optimizing for creating tastiest possible foods, without necessarily paying attention to the nutritional content of what they were making. This strategy, combined with enormous amounts of advertising, helped make sugary and unhealthy foods as ubiquitous and cheap, contributing significantly to the obesity epidemic. As these foods grew in popularity, they became more profitable for not only the companies but for the economy as a whole. To buttress this growth, the government began subsidizing farmers that grew important materials for these foods, like grain and corn, driving down the cost and raising the profit margins for these companies. In addition, it became far less profitable for farmers to produce anything that wasn’t grains, making other important forms of produce even less accessible. This situation makes it really easy to get cheap grains but makes fruits and vegetables less worthwhile for a poor family pinching pennies for food.
In another industry, lack of intentionality has led many companies to make software that kept people from leaving their products. They had the intention of having people stay, but not the intention of creating something that helped people or created a positive outcome. A completely capitalist focus prevented an intention to create something useful, instead leading to something that hurts us.
I believe in the power of serendipity to create amazing new things, but I think that people need to be more mindful of what the side effects of their actions can be. We can’t possibly know all of the consequences of our actions before we take them but paying attention to each aspect of our lives and doing some research can prevent a lot of issues. For example, being intentional about your diet can prevent illness later. Being intentional about your workout routine can make sure you don’t develop muscle imbalances. Being intentional about your clothing can keep you from having to replace your shoes every few months. There’s room for more intentionality in all that we do.
Drops of the Week
where I *drop* recommendations of cool things this week
Playlist
happy :~) dude - silly name for a playlist I made in order to get more happy hip hop into my life, because I tend to listen to a lot of downtempo, sad music.
Longread
“The Story of ‘Ella and Louis,’ 60 Years Later” by Tom Maxwell - interesting story of the collaboration between some of the most incredible musicians of the 20th century.
Short Film
“Canción del Campo” - pretty short film about a man’s life growing up on a farm.
Thanks so much for reading! If you have any comments/concerns or fan/hate mail for me, you know how to reach me (links below). Feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends too! :~)
Love,
Nikhil