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Welcome back to Thinking Is Cool, the podcast and newsletter here to make your next conversation better than your last. I’m your host Kinsey Grant. If this email was forwarded to you, sign up here.
Good morning, everyone! I’m coming at you live from my girls trip beach getaway, so please forgive me if the vibe of today’s email is a little more “do you think lemonade and tequila would taste like a margarita” than normal.
Keep reading for a retelling of my personal journal. Meet you at the bottom for some important updates.
What I’m thinking about this week
We’re getting into the thick of in-between content. Season 1 is but a day away from being finished, and Season 2 won’t be out for a few weeks. I’m not making any episodes right now, and despite my concerns that I’d immediately go all smooth-brain without a deadline to meet...I feel really good.
Stepping back from the grind of highly produced weekly episodes feels like coming up for air. In giving myself time to think about whatever I want, I’ve unlocked a side of myself that’s been dormant for the last couple of severely entrepreneurial months.
The Slack receipts:
I’m an intellectual again! At least I feel like an intellectual again. So this week, instead of writing about one specific story that’s both 1) occupying some mindshare and 2) tangentially related to an episode of Thinking Is Cool...I’m just going to be honest. I’m going to share a sampling of the random ideas I can’t get out of my head. Ideas that make me feel like an intellectual again. ¡Vamanos!
Thought No. 1: Everything is temporary.
Like we do most nights, my boyfriend (ugh I know cringe) and I were recently sitting on the couch after dinner talking about deep, existential ideas (h/t to the Hinge algorithm for giving me such a talented intellectual sparring partner). We’d been on a bit of a tattoo kick—lately, everything seems like it would be “really cool” as a tattoo. He’s toyed with the thought of getting the words “everything is temporary” inked (yes he’s an earth sign).
Feeling inspired, we started debating the idea of ephemerality. It’s easy to view some things as temporary—pain, difficulty, cardio. But if those things are temporary, what does that mean for the feelings we don’t want to go away—happiness, fulfillment, optimism. Does everything really have to be temporary?
Can we cherrypick what is and isn’t fleeting in our lives? Better yet, should we? It’s a thought experiment I’ve been toying with quite a lot this week, especially given how stupid happy I am with my life right now. What can I do to ensure that this feeling of persistent elatedness lasts as long as possible—what can I do to ensure everything is in fact not temporary?
I’m not sure there’s an answer, and the pragmatist in me realizes that some of the specific elements contributing to my happiness right now are likely impermanent. But I think there’s still a lesson to be learned in asking the question—a lot of life is out of our control, but there are certain things we can do to rig the odds in our favor.
Surround yourself with people who lift you up. Challenge yourself. Try something new. Read more. Write more. Call your parents more. Do your dishes. Sit outside. Daydream.
Thought No. 2: This can’t be good.
I recently got this notification on Twitter:
And my immediate thought was “oh no that can’t be good.” Not because people will get dunked on (as the noti says, dislikes aren’t public), but rather because people will abuse the dislike function. We’re imperfect, yes, but that imperfection is perfectly manifested in our skewed perceptions of what’s “valuable to the conversation.”
Is Tucker Carlson valuable to the conversation? No. Does he regularly get thousands of likes on his Tweets? Yes.
When given the responsibility of serving as the content moderators these platforms themselves refuse to commit to being, can we as users really be trusted?
Do you think dislikes will work on a platform like Twitter? Curious to hear your thoughts. Speaking of thoughts...
Thought No. 3: There’s a lesson in everything.
Since March 15, 2021, I’ve poured my soul into making Season 1 of Thinking Is Cool. I’ve tried things, I’ve failed, I’ve succeeded, I’ve been raging mad and one moment and cool as a cucumber the next, and I’ve most certainly procrastinated. I’ve lost sleep, I’ve celebrated wins, and I’ve grown as a person.
The lessons along the way have been plentiful (lots of fodder for my future memoir) and I’ll write them all down someday. But in the spirit of being an overeager oversharer, here are some quick ‘n’ dirty lessons from starting this whole Thinking Is Cool thing.
Do not put off for tomorrow what you can get done today.
It’s okay to save some things for tomorrow if the sun is finally out after a week of rain in New York City.
It’s just a job.
Effective prioritization is arguably the most important, underrated skill anyone can have.
It’s normal to feel unmotivated and tapped out creatively every now and then. When you feel that way, stop working. Staring at a computer screen has never helped.
Twitter isn’t real life.
Sometimes your haters really are your motivators. But don’t let them be your only motivators.
The number of unread New Yorkers on your coffee table is directly correlated to how much fun you’re having outside your apartment.
Write down everything.
Take more pictures.
That’s all for now. More to come someday, and more podcast-specific lessons are readily available for anyone who thinks they might be the next Dax Shepard. I’d love to share more—just slide into the DMs.
Is this the last Friday blog for the first season of Thinking Is Cool? Yes. Do all good things have to come to an end? No.
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I promised important updates
And the important updates are here. This is the last regular Thinking Is Cool blog post for a bit. I’m going to take some time over the coming weeks to recharge my creative batteries in order to set us all up for a monster Season 2. You might be hearing from me a little less, but I’m not going radio silent…
I just put the finishing touches on my plans for a few fun surprises in between seasons. Keep your podcast apps at the ready, and don’t forget to open emails from me.
I’m finishing out Season 1 strong by going live on Instagram tomorrow at 12pm eastern time. I’ll talk about my most recent episode, make Mark Zuckerberg curse the day I was born, and maybe even bring on a guest to debate the pros and cons of Facebook dot com. Follow me to join the fun.
Finally, I want to say thank you. There are no words to describe how unbelievably lucky I am to have this community. You’ve made this unpredictable season of life one of the best yet, and I’ll forever be grateful to all of you. Here’s to a strong start, here’s to a strong finish, and here’s to the future.
’Til next time,
Kinsey