An AI bro tried to recruit me and I did not react well
I am somewhat of a hot commodity in the world of content marketing in spite of my best efforts. Which means startup CEOs occasionally email me asking if I’ll work for them.
My experience in the tech industry mostly involved feeling depressed, so my current plan is to stay in media until I retire or decide to take up bartending. This puts me in the unique position of being able to tell such people how I actually feel. I have, to put it scientifically, run out of fucks to give.
So when the founder of a Y-Combinator-backed company that uses artificial intelligence to make marketing copy asked me if I’d be willing to take a “15 minutes call” to talk about working for him, I was ready. Here’s my actual response:
I believe, deeply, that I should try to leave the internet a better place than I found it. I don’t think I can work for you and live by that ethos.
Your entire homepage is about enabling marketers to generate low-effort, low-quality SEO-oriented gibberish that would, if successful, somehow make search results even less useful than they currently are. The only thing I like about this is that the sheer amount of soulless garbage will make it easier for people like me to stand out, but that’s a small consolation.
So I guess I’d say that there’s not really any chance I’d work for you, and that I’d encourage you to re-think what you’re doing with your life. You seem smart! There must be something constructive you could be doing. If you still want a 15 minute call after that, well, I’m fascinated. If not, I totally understand, and I wish you the best.
Sincerely, Justin Pot (oh hey you should sign up for my newsletter probably)
It’s been a month and he hasn’t written back or subscribed. Oh well.
Stuff I Wrote
- What Will Wearables, Bikes and Coffee Gear Look Like in 2023? The Wall Street Journal I asked some of the coolest people I could think of three questions about the future, and they answered them.
- Where to find the hidden transcription tool in Microsoft Word PopSci This is the best feature Microsoft’s added to Word in ages and most people don’t even know it’s there.
- Obsidian Review PC Mag I’m writing this newsletter in Obsidian. I write everything in Obsidian. It’s basically my brain now, and it could be yours too.
- It’s surprisingly easy to connect your favorite video game controllers to your Mac PopSci I figured this out but still haven’t beaten Celeste. Someday…
- 5 tasks you can easily automate using MacOS Shortcuts app PopSci I can’t believe I haven’t dug into Shortcuts until now! It’s pretty great.
- Apple iCloud Drive Review PCMag It’s…fine.
On Burnout
I recently read an advanced copy of How to Calm Your Mind by Chris Bailey, which comes out December 27. I enjoyed the book, which is in many ways a necessary after-note to Bailey’s previous work. Those books, including Hyperfocus, were very focused on getting as much work done as humanly possible. How to Calm Your Mind, written by Bailey after he suffered a nervous breakdown, is rightly much more concerned with well-being. I highly recommend this book if your desire to get things done has ever interfered with your ability to enjoy life.
In it Bailey mentions the “Maslach Burnout Inventory”, developed by Dr Christina Maslach at the University of California at Berkeley. To greatly over-summarize, there are five components of burnout in a work context.
- Control. The less control you have the worse you’ll feel.
- Reward. Not feeling like hard work is rewarded will leave you feeling bad.
- Community. Feeling disconnected with, or alienated from, your co-workers, negatively affects your well-being.
- Fairness. Living in a system you think is unfair is going to feel bad.
- Values. If the work you’re doing contradicts your value system, you are going to feel bad about it.
Most jobs are going to involve at least a few of these factors being less than ideal. Burnout happens when the sum total of how bad these factors are push past our personal thresholds.
Seeing this list was revelatory. In the past I have been in job environments with fantastic community where I had a lot of control over my work, but the end results were out of sync with my values. I was exhausted constantly. I think everyone can look at this list and think of similar examples.
I’m going to try to review how I’m feeling about these five factors—Control, Reward, Community, Fairness, and Values—every month or so. It seems like a good way to notice burnout before it takes over.
Stuff I’ve Been Doing
- My parents visited, and we brewed a clone of Old Slug, a light English porter we’ve enjoyed brewing in the past. It was a lot of fun hanging out together outside on a cold day. I’m hoping to keg and tap that after I finish this newsletter.
- I visited a train graveyard.
- Mira has been helping me write by gazing into my eyes and letting me know I can do better.
- You can do better too. I believe in you. See you next time.