Little Bites

E252 Susegad Cycle 36 - A bumper issue

Mainly pictures and links. Enjoy!

One of my more cherished comments in this cycle came from Linart Seprioto via a voicemail congratulating me on publishing my 250th edition:

… I don’t read every issue, but part of me really feels like I’m grateful that you are still writing. I feel … your posts will get more valuable as I get older if you know what I mean. … It is so easy to get caught up in pessimistic views. But your perspective .. stretches out, and you are able to see what really matters, how things play out in history - the 30,000’ view.

Thanks, Linart!

• Reflections: Why do I publish in cycles of seven? Little bites. In that explanation lies the cheat code for how I managed to publish 250 editions of my newsletter.

• Review of Cycle 36: Agency. Always Be Learning. Nature. Resilience. Respect.

• And this also happened:

  • My ‘ask’ resulted in the highlight feature getting added to the Substack text editor!

  • Went to support Michelle Hsu ‘s new Toronto Cafe Walks and made new friends. (Click on the link to register for this wonderful in person experience if you are in the GTA). Discovered a new restaurant w Tahsin Khan. Caught up on camera with Linart Seprioto Becky Isjwara Mohammad Khan. Who did I miss? Made new friends via chat conversations while editing essays w Vansh Kumar which led to …

  • … my contribution being included in a collaborative zine published by Ral Joseph

  • Lots of amazing family moments over the July 1 (Canada Day) and July 4 celebrations, as well as the many FIFA cups matches watched together with friends.

  • I’m binge watching The Bear. Already starting season 5. No spoilers please! It is the English version of Japanese show “La Grande Maison Tokyo” which I fully recommend.

Explain the Susegad editions

Susegad is a Goan lifestyle philosophy of intentional living, slowing down to appreciate, reflect and care for others and our planet. It is the perfect name for this 7th edition in each of our publishing cycles because it incorporates an unhurried, balanced ease while playing the long game. Susegad advocates for active recovery, turning knowledge into wisdom and guarding against burnout as we raise our future-ready leaders.

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Rest Susegad theme 36: Little bites

“Again, Mummy!” I spent many hours reading the poem “Melinda Mae” by Shel Silverstein, on repeat, to my children (IYKYK). “Little bites.¹” I think it explains a little of how I have reached 250 weekly editions of this Substack.

I shared this little note to the WhatsApp community of Write of Passage (WoP) alumni recently:

For years and years I failed to maintain a regular publishing rhythm. I'd get going, only to lose it to illness, conferences, school vacations. 
I invested in altMBA, How not to procrastinate by James Clear (before he wrote his book!) and other expensive classes to teach me how to get over this hump. 

But something about the timing and the technology (and sometimes the timing of upgrades in technology) of Write of Passage helped everything come together. I learned to offer myself the grace to miss an edition [“ you can miss one, but never two because two is a new habit” James Clear] … and in the process, I missed none. 

I learned to re-publish  back editions to keep my streak while traveling in June 2022, and not apologize for it. 
I published while recovering from Covid November 2022. 
I leaned into my WoP community and published their essays to my audience when caring for my mother in December 2023. 
I was planning on putting everything on hold when we learned my mother had been given a few short months to live in February 2024, 
but she passed the next Wednesday, and her Eulogy was my next post. 

I do not know how I got to E250. But I am here. And it is a personal achievement and proof of neuroplasticity because at my age it means I was able to develop a new habit and a new persona!! Now so much else becomes possible!

Maybe some of you will be interested in my response to Ishita Singh’s ask:

- There is a season to our lives. Post my Substack regularly fills this season for me.
- Every issue is the equivalent of edition 1. From ideation through edits to the nail-biting "will anyone like this?"
- I never commit to more than 7 issues at a time. Cycles of seven. Repeatable.
- I write for my children and my friends. I moved from trying to sound intelligent, and focused on sharing ideas.  
- Community has been a huge motivating factor, particularly when I am in a dip.

When I was first figuring it out, I shared my system with other WoP emerging writers. You can also read E73 (When the Muse Refuses to Speak to You), E102 (The Pyramids were not built in a Day) or a YouTube shorts playlist if you prefer learning visually.

Now, your turn “}…{`

Did you notice the tip to do the tendency test?

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Recap: Digest of issues 246 - 251

The best part of revisiting our previous conversations here on Tilt the Future is the comments section. Sometimes they deserve their own fan base! I track my OWBR² with anticipation and joy!

What were the most popular editions? Which generated the most interaction? Which found me a new reader?

@ozolinsjanis gifted me this remake of my logo … tilting towards the future

HIGHLIGHTING WHAT OTHERS MAY HAVE NOTICED IN THESE ESSAYS …
[Did you see what I did there?!!]

Category: 21st-CENTURY AND HEIRLOOM SKILLS

The most loved essay in this cycle.

I asked Zach @ Substack for an adjustment “Please give us the ability to highlight”. And it was done the next day!

The speed of the response was my first surprise. My second was that so many other writers wanted this feature, but no one else had thought to ask for it. Hence the tag: Agency.

Chao Lam who writes on a range of tech and tech hacks in Next Small Things noticed this: … the pattern recognition and confidence that this was an implementable feature was spot on, and deciding to make the request was what started the whole process, improving the lives of many. All from 3 lbs of wetware, pretty awesome

And it was wonderful to see David Reynolds who publishes an amazing podcast Lead.Learn.Change. : Once again, you make me think… “When opportunities are needed, make them. The moment might not stay around for very long, so create that door and walk through it confidently. Don’t be afraid to speak your mind! Someone else needs the same door.”

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Category: 21st-CENTURY AND HEIRLOOM SKILLS, AI

With AI redefining the the entry ramp into workspace, students (and other job seekers) have to find new ways to stand out and be noticed.

Your interviewer has half an hour to solve for these basic concerns:

Persistence & resilience: Show me that you won’t bug out and leave me to start the recruitment process all over again.

Communication: Can you get on with others? Can you make your own thoughts known?

Teachable: Are you adaptable, teachable, tenacious and curious?

Make yourself memorable. Tell them stories, stories so uniquely you - human and identifiably non-AI — they will remember your energy and emotion when they leave that room and be inspired to advocate for you versus the 5, 20, 100 other applicants who also pitched for this position.

New Tilt member Jacob Taylor who writes Jacob Taylor Rebuilds noted: “The memorable ones with an authentic story” — that applies so far beyond the job market. Most people underestimate how far just being genuinely yourself actually gets you in any room. Really practical and human piece.

So true, Jacob! I replied: I was thinking about your comment above - and it is so true. A story my father told about his childhood in Entebbe, Uganda “I walked on the back of crocodiles” stuck with me. When Brian Tumwesigye wrote a post about sharing a conservation message with local Ugandan children on the ecosytems around Lake Victoria, I connected, and have since supported his efforts. The stories created the magnetism. “applies far beyond the job market” Thanks!

Jacob replied: “I walked on the back of crocodiles” is the kind of line that lodges itself permanently in someone’s memory. The way one sentence from your father connected you to someone working on conservation decades later and a continent away — that’s exactly what you wrote about. Stories really are the magnetism. Thank you for sharing that.

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Category: 21st-CENTURY AND HEIRLOOM SKILLS, FUTURE OF WORK, RAISING FUTURE-READY LEADERS

1. Rutger Bregman’s An Inconvenient Truth About AI (everyone is reading)

2. Scott Barker’s You don’t need a job in the future (my discovery)

3. Misha Glouberman’s How Worried Should You Be About Climate Change? How Worried Should I Be To Talk To You About It? (Oliver Burkeman recommendation)

Chao Lam : It's such a clear-eyed realist view of the optimism and perils of AI. I love his prescription that what we need is a positive vision that we should try to manifest. In fact, I think that's one of the failings of the original Inconvenient Truth too - it was a little too much gloom instead of pivoting to a "let's take this opportunity to create a solarpunk future"

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Category: RAISING FUTURE-READY LEADERS

My Dad taught me my ‘ABC’s - Always Be Curious, Always Be Caring

Margaret O'Brien writes the lush Weather Report: On Beauty: I say that my dad got up every day as did what needed to be done - in our case raising five of us after our mother died. I am so glad he lived to meet his first great-grandchild, our first grandson. Family was everything

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Three panels that hinge together.

Panel I: Earthquakes, Greek Columns and Discovering Paestum (2015)

Panel II: From Cybele to Artemis to Diana - how different civilizations put their stamp on the same small patch of land (2005)

Panel III: Ephesus and Earthquakes - Letters from St. Paul and “his-story” (2005)

How do humans do great things?

I stared up at the white limestone Doric columns, upon these marvels of engineering, these monuments to human ingenuity, and a belief settled into my bones: ‘we’re going to be alright’. We, humans, will transition this latest new civilization on our doorstep, just as we have time and time again.

History never fails to restore my faith in the enduring power of humanity.

Rick Lewis veteran story teller, and story telling coach noted: the 25,000 seat arena is by far the most fascinating of the metrics to me. Like you said, it's incredible to think back and see the through line of the human need and desire to gather and to co-witness story, or I presume that was it's purpose? Orators?

And, of course, the precious voice note from Linart Seprioto !!

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The podcast edition.

Jackie is writing a historical auto-fiction following the lives of family that leave Spain for work in Hawaii, then San Francisco, at the turn of the last century: I marvel at the courage of those who struck out on the ocean, those who chose to fight, those who traveled to unknown territory, those who left all behind to come here for their better life... and to make ours richer still.

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I answered a random prompt on Notes from Ral Joseph, and suddenly my Substack family grew a little bigger:

Thank you for including me in this 63-person zine filled with inspiration, Ral Joseph !!

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Chat?

I’m finally settling into a routine back home. Call me. Let’s catch up!

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Do you like the concept that every 7th edition is a Rest edition? These digests make a great issue to share with others as you invite them to join our Tribe of difference-makers.

Our small and supportive community in Tribe Tilt believes in the best of humanity - connecting people, sharing ideas, and exploring thoughts respectfully. We believe we can make a difference to the people and places that are precious to us. The best idea can come from anyone, anywhere, at any time.

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See you next week! Stay healthy. From there, all else becomes possible.
Karena

Photo credit: Photo by Bunly Hort on Unsplash

1. "Melinda Mae” by Shel Silverstein from the wonderful poetry book Where the Sidewalk Ends

Welcome to edition 252 Little Bites of the Tilt the Future substack, recorded in my garden to the accompaniament of cicadas, birds and planes on a sunny sunday.

Have you heard of tiny Melinda Mae,
Who ate a monstrous whale?
She thought she could,
She said she would,
So she started right at the tail.

And everyone said, “You’re much too small,”
But that didn’t bother Melinda at all.
She took little bites and she chewed very slow,
Just like a good girl should …

… And in eighty-nine years she ate that whale
Because she said she would!

2. OWBR: Open to Write Back Rate. Credit Ann Handley https://annhandley.com/the-one-email-metric-to-track/