⚛️✨The Nexialist #0054
⚛️✨The Nexialist #0054
Atomic Habits | Innovation Cycles | Third Era of Social | The Future 100: 2022 | Content Curation Approaches | Caprisongs Review | Navigating The Algorithmic Soundscape | Machina | Remota Batucada
Welcome to another unexpected path of content that I love to make for you, weekly, The Nexialist!
This is the image of neurons making new connections. It showed up in my Reddit feed this week and I thought it was quite mesmerizing. I decided to bring them in a celebratory mood for the MRI scan results from last week: nothing too serious other than the inflammation we already knew. Also, slowly there is a (very little) bit of movement around my eyes and lips. So my recovery is slow and it’s ok. Thank you all for sending the recovery messages and energies.
This week I decided to bring you some self-help (the kind that I like), articles, trends and music. Hopefully, something sparks in your brain too. Enjoy!
⚛️Atomic Habits
Yes, someone (thank you, B.C Marx) took the time to make a super elaborate summary of Atomic Habits by James Clear and I am here for it. I think the biggest insight I took from this video is about understanding how your system works and how you can improve it, instead of focusing on the numbers of your goal.
I know, for instance, that if the first thing I do in the morning is to check my phone, most likely I’ll start my day on the wrong foot, so I avoid that (not always successful though). If you don’t have time to watch this now, put it on your watchlist for the weekend. It’s worth it.
"Atomic Habits can help you improve every day, no matter what your goals are. As one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, James Clear reveals practical strategies that will help you form good habits, break bad ones, and master tiny behaviors that lead to big changes.
If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. Instead, the issue is with your system. There is a reason bad habits repeat themselves over and over again, it's not that you are not willing to change, but that you have the wrong system for changing.
“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems” - James Clear
🛰Innovation Cycles
Sometimes I think: what if someone from two or three centuries ago time-traveled to this moment, how would they react to the technology we have available today? Mainly I think they would be flabbergasted at how we use our phones and computers, at times like an extension of ourselves. Then I also think about whether I’ll be able to keep up with technology that is already coming in the next 25 years.
This infographic puts into perspective the great technological acceleration we’ve had over the past few centuries using Joseph Schumpeter’s theory of innovation cycles. I hope clean tech takes over quicker than 25 years, though.
Read more: Long Waves: The History of Innovation Cycles
📱Third Era of Social and Random Reinforcement
Talking about eras of innovation, this article by Joe Lazauskas from Contently recently appeared to me, showing the Three Eras of Social. The News Feed Era (led by Facebook), The Stories Era (led by Snapchat’s success and then Instagram’s tantrum), and finally The Video Feed Era (led by TikTok’s success and again Instagram’s tantrum to stay relevant).
TikTok’s genius came from being:
The best tool we’ve ever had for creating and editing short-form video on your phone.
The most addictive way to consume video on your phone.
TikTok’s success has often been attributed to its algorithm, which is very good at predicting the type of video you’ll like. But TikTok is also so successful because it plays on the same part of our brain that makes gambling so addictive. You won’t love every video, but you’ll like a lot of them. When that happens, your brain gets a sweet hit of dopamine and wants to keep scrolling.
“In psychological terms [it’s] called random reinforcement,” Dr. Julia Albright told Forbes. “It means sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. And that’s how these platforms are designed … they’re exactly like a slot machine.”
I just need to add something here, because it did feel weird reading that. I don’t know about you, but as I’m not so much on social media these days, specifically in these channels, I guess I feel a bit of an outsider. But it did feel like reading an article about how an industry is adding more sugar to its products (or other ingredients that are not so good when eaten in excess), or creating a type of tobacco that is more addictive. Are we normalizing that?
Read: The 3rd Era of Social Is Coming. Are You Ready?
📔The Future 100: 2022
It’s here! One of my favorite yearly reports, The Future 100: 2022 from Wunderman Thompson Intelligence. It’s one of those reports that I take some time to read. I have not read the whole thing yet, so, instead of telling you about it, I’ll tell you how I usually read it (and most other reports).
1- Read the introduction to understand the whole thing;
2- Glossary: seeing some things you already know, some things you want to read about.
3- Skim through: I start with the chapters related to what I like and with any client that I have. Then I read each trend. The title, the intro and the last “why it’s important” paragraph.
4- Focus: If it’s a trend that interests me, I read the whole thing. I also tend to read the whole chapters of trends that are more relevant to my work.
Maybe this is old news for you, but I heard friends and colleagues saying they end up not reading those reports because they forget or don’t have time. I have done a lot of that and found that this actually pushes me at least to have a general idea of what they’re talking about.
🧠Content Curation Approaches
I was saving this to read later and finally made the time to take a look. Working with content weekly here on The Nexialist, I started wondering which other ways I could bring content to you and to my work. Still, I’ll keep up what I’m doing, but it’s great to see in a mindmap and different ways in which we can curate content.
While you may be accustomed to think of content curation as a catalog of resources or commented links on a specific topic, there are many more ways that content can be curated to create value for others.
Annotated directories, anthologies, news-radars, compilations, playlists, reading guides, courses and textbooks are all different types of curated content formats.
Each format has its own key peculiarities, characterizing traits, specific areas of application and key strengths. What they have in common is their purpose: finding and organizing existing content artifacts to create new insight and shared value.
Read more: Content Curation Approaches: Types and Formats - Robin Good
🎧Navigating The Algorithmic Soundscape
My friend Fabiano Carvalho sent me this post “How to Discover New Music in 2021 (The Right Way) + Navigating The Algorithmic Soundscape” and I just have to share it with you. I love how Scott Delamare points out the positive and negative sides of each approach, if on one hand algorithms can show you new things, they might tend to push you towards more of the same.
In a nutshell, his tips are: Utilize Multiple Streaming Platforms, Dive into Artist Playlists, Spotify Radio or Soundcloud Stations, Shazam! and (my personal favorite and the one that I use the most) Share Music with Friends. That’s why I like to share music here and I love getting music links from friends.
🐐Caprisongs Review
FKA twigs released a new album mixtape last week, Caprisongs. If you have been following me, you know I’m a big fan of hers. So on top of recommending her album, I decided to bring Anthony Fantano’s review. There’s something about him finding words to translate art, music and the feelings that it evokes, that I just really enjoy.
🤖Machina
Now, my algorithm was such a good boy with this find. I had never heard of Boy Harsher, this American synth-pop duo, and I am in love with their sound and aesthetics. This song is part of the horror movie they just directed and made the soundtrack to, The Runner. Of course, it’s extra fun with the lyrics in Spanish,
🪘Remota Batucada
My friend Andre Fau sent this to me last year and I was so impressed to have found it. It felt like opening a time capsule. Maybe I already shared it here, but it really reminded me of Boy Harsher, except they’re more than 40 years apart.
❤️If anything made your brain tingle, click like and don't hesitate to share it with the world. It helps The Nexialist to reach more curious minds. See you next week!🦦
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🤙Call me…
If you like what you see here and your project, brand or business needs some ideas or inspiration from outside your bubble, maybe you need a Nexialist to help you out 🙋🏻♂️ I can participate in brainstorms and workshops, guide inspiration sessions, or provide you with creative research. You can always send me an e-mail to figure something out together.