Hacks 🗞️ Slow News Day #6

You can’t hack your way to anything meaningful.

It’d be cool if you could. My Twitter feed seems to be awash with the best ways to launch a business, the 5 top things to know about aerospace engineering, or the ultimate takeaways from the 50 best books of all time.

I’d really love to master all those topics in an afternoon.

But these claims aren’t really that true, are they? They don’t reflect what it means (and what it takes) to learn something.

To say there’s a gap between reciting tidbits and having genuine knowledge is an understatement. It’s more like a canyon. Learning anything and understanding it profoundly is the product of experience and application.

Condensing years of trial and error, dead ends, and mix-ups into a satisfying listicle or Twitter thread makes the process seem easy and obvious. But even if the subject is ‘obvious’, it’s only so in retrospect.

Learning the wrinkles and notches of any discipline isn’t done through 280-character osmosis. It’s done through practice, repetition, and experience. The reality of learning doesn’t sell as well, isn’t summarised as succinctly, as a Twitter thread.

The path to mastery of any skill or craft is a slow one.

If you’re feeling unaccomplished or like you’re falling behind, you most certainly are not. We’re all on our slow paths to expertise and progress. It just takes a while to get there. It’s a bit like when a speeding car overtakes you, only to end up waiting at the same traffic lights as you half a mile later. It’s tempting to believe that we can put our foot to the floor and roar our way to where we want to be, but there are forces outside our control that will make a mockery of us every time.

Better to plod along slowly and admire the view.

Slow down guide

Need a little help moving slower?

Ease your way out of Friday afternoon with this newsletter, a nice cup of something, and a little background music. Steal my setup if you aren't sure where to start.

After I press send, I’ll pick up the glass of water next to me and take a sip.

Not the most exciting drink I’ll ever share in this newsletter, but sometimes the simple choice is the best one.

To be honest, it’s almost always the best one.

I’ll get back behind the keyboard, close out my jobs for the day, and start my weekend with zero idea of what it’ll bring. The only thing better than having plans is having none.

What better way to see it in than listening to Soccer Mommy’s Wide Open Spaces, a perfect soundtrack to ponder the possibilities of time unaccounted.

Take it easy,