Change. The Only Certainty

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” ― Heraclitus.

In the last week, several folks on LinkedIn and Facebook have wanted to schedule calls with me for professional advice.  

They've wanted help preparing for interviews, advice on how to take something to market, how to negotiate a raise, and close a contract – the range of requests came as a surprise.  

I figured writing this would be more about exchanging music, some links, and some thoughts, turns out, it was and continues to be about people and change.  

🚞 Destination Extremistan: Get Ready.

In a book my father recommended, Future Shock by Alvin Toffler, Toffler inherently understood that we live in a fast-changing world, where not just change itself but the rate of change speeds up over time.

The release of chatGPT and the speed with which it reached 1 million users is astounding compared to trends like Instagram and Spotify (as shown below).

What's more, and what Taleb articulates more fully, is that not only can that change be faster, but that change in a stochastic, unpredictable world can unsettle trends and result in a world he deems "Extremistan" compared to the relatively "boring", slow-changing world of Mediocristan.

For more on both, I'd recommend Taleb's books (which I will do constantly) but here's a good article on the two.

Whether in our politics, infectious disease, rain in Southern California, hurricanes in Florida, or New York, the size/scope of the impact of extreme, long-tail events is greater and creates more uncertainty.

And so to my friends, looking for advice, know that the world is changing fast, we must grow and read Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder and must hasten the pace at which we evaluate our frameworks and our lives in light of new information, a somewhat more Bayesian approach to life.

📰 Some inspiration

• I loved this portfolio approach from CJ McCollum NBA and his professional career.

📻 Music

Ok, ok, I'm still hooked on some feels, so you'll have to deal with a few oldies, but goodies. There's just something about music that brings you back in time. So much so, you get four tracks this week to the Trading Misbehavior playlist.

Big Wild - Venice Venture - With all the rain we've been getting in Southern California, it reminded me of this intro and some of these bizarre overtures to surf music from the 60s.  

Jojee - Low Key - When it rains, you keep it low key, that's all there is to it. Put on some sweats, listen with your girl (or boy).

Rihanna, Gigamesh - Love On the Brain - Gigamesh Remix - Yeah, I can find music or artists you've never heard of... And I like Rihanna too.  And I like this remix better.  It's got a little 80s, a little disco, and my girl can hit the Star Search notes.

Flamingosis - Finesse (Hey Baby) - Here's to brighter days. Makes me' smile.

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