How things change. A few years ago we paid $200 or $300 for a 500MB external hard drive. It was huge and had an external AC power plug. Today, a tiny 1TB drive that fits in the palm of my hand that’s entirely USB powered costs $100.
And I still remember when USB sticks and 10packs of blank CDs cost a bomb.
That’s my thought for the weekend.
This week’s links
I LOVE THIS. 10 things to miss about New Zealand
Travel is more than the seeing of sights, says Nickel by Nickel
At Yes and Yes, a beauty editor in Malaysia shares her morning routine (in another life that could’ve been me!)
Get Rich Slowly on the habits of financially successful people
My Pretty Pennies ponders the benefits of working for someone else
Athena explains how she fits travel into her budget
Adored Manda’s post paying tribute to her body and its amazing strength
Grumpy rumblings on small changes and individual power
I’m not gonna lie, divorce would feel like a personal failure to me. This post on certainty vs security gave me a lot to think about
10 questions to ask if you’re interviewing for a startup job
A huge factor that makes it hard to break the poverty cycle - social ties, aka downward mobility
I’m working on a freelance feature about renting vs buying in NZ and in my research stumbled across this thread. Aside from the fact that most rentals these days are managed by agents, it still rings true. Renting in NZ SUCKS.
Finally, there is so much goodness in this interview with Austin Kleon. You should definitely unpack it for yourself, but here are some of my favorite snippets:
“Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.”
“I have a couple problems with the “do what you love” ideology. The first issue I have is that it is impossible for everyone to do what they love. As a society, we cannot function without people doing the dirty work: someone has to take out the garbage; someone has to make sure the plumbing is running; someone has to make sure the electric is on for all the startups (laughing). The fact is that a lot of people aren’t going to be able to make money doing what they love, so it starts to make people feel bad. That pressure can make someone with a good, stable, bread-winning job feel like he or she has to toss it out because it’s not what they genuinely want to be doing.
“The second issue I have with doing what you love—and I’m sure you two are finding this out—is the pressure to overwork. People are led to believe that if they’re doing what they love, then they should be working long hours, or even all day.”
“In all creative work, there is a balance between what you want to give the world and what the world needs: if you’re lucky, your work is in the middle. Because of that, I believe that every job has a service element to it. If you want to make creativity your job, you have to think about what your creativity is in service of. Think less about how you can be a genius and more about the scenius. What can you contribute?”
“Instead of thinking, “What do I have to give to the world?” you ask, “What does the world need from me?” Sometimes that’s an easier way to get started. Usually, when we talk about creativity, it’s about self-expression, which is great, but for work to be art or design, there has to be someone on the other end.”
