Hi friend!

Welcome to Considerations, a thoughtfully curated monthly newsletter highlighting observations, insights, recommends and curiosities around topics I love.

(I know, I already said that in the intro email, but I thought I’d repeat it in case you skipped it.)

Here are some interesting things I’ve been considering recently:

1. On Being a Multi-Hyphenate

Ryan Holiday: The Case for Being a Multi-Hyphenate

I’ve been slowly stewing (like a nice soup) on Ryan’s work for a while now.

Ever since Trust me I’m Lying and The Obstacle is the Way, Ryan has subtlety become one of my favorite authors without me noticing. The Case for Being a Multi-Hyphenate is a great article for any multidisciplinaries out there.

Topics: Mastery, Learning, Polymaths

2. Learning Synth

Ableton’s Learning Synth

Ableton created a fantastic introduction to how synth music works. If you are a beginner (like me), looking for a refresher or just a curious type, definitely play around with this. It will work on your phone or computer. Sidenote: The design and development of this tutorial they’ve put together is very impressive to boot.

Topics: Music, Science

3. Books make us better:

Penguin Random House: Books make us better

I don’t remember how I found this but boy I’m glad I did. If you love books, Penguin house and London Studio Anyways have created a fun interactive experience to exploring new books to buy or give as gifts. Another excellently crafted website too. And the animations are killer! 😱If you are curious about the work behind the scenes, follow it up with an article on the studio that created it.

Topics: Books, Design, Coding, Animation

4. Figma’s Design Lessons

Learn Design with Figma

Figma is one of the first pieces of software that I flipping LOVE. Like — is it possible to married to an inanimate-browser-based-application — kind of love. Every conversation I have I’ve found a way to annoying mention Figma. Anyway, they’ve created a nice introduction to design pilot that’s worth checking out. Even if you already are a master of design, it’s a great overview and hands-on of the fundamentals.

Topics: Design, Coding, Storytelling, Entertainment

5. The Man Who Made Adidas Cool Again

Buzz Feed News: The Man Who Made Adidas Cool Again

Business Insider: Adidas Unusual Approach to Designing Products is Paying Off

Have you noticed how stylish Adidas shoes (and clothing) looks lately? They are oozing classy and modern. That got me wondering about who was behind their resurgence. So I went to the ol’ google box and found these two interesting articles about Paul Gaudio.

Topics: Entrepreneurship, Fashion/Style, Product Design

6. The Drive: A Podcast I Can’t Stop Listening To

PeterAttiaMD.com | The Drive on Overcast | The Drive on Apple Podcasts | The Drive on Spotify

I love The Drive more than I like my podcast. 🙈 I listen to quite a few podcasts, but not so much lately. It’s because all of my podcast listening time has been sucked up by Peter Attia’s Drive. Peter and his guests are super sharp and most of the time what they are talking about is waaaaay over my head, but I kinda love it for that. Even if you aren’t into medicine or health & wellness, I’d recommend listening to The Drive just to surround yourself with great thinking.

Topics: Podcasts, Health, Medicine, Longevity

7. Sauna Deep Dive:

Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s Research on the Benefits of Saunas

This is an action-packed article (to put it mildly) on the benefits and research around saunas. I’ve been going to the sauna every week for the past two years now. My interest stems from my chronic neck/nerve pain issue. Although it hasn’t healed me, sauna’s have been a lifesaver for reducing pain (aka it takes the edge off).

Topics: Health + Wellness, Research, Pain

Quote:

“You’ve gotta find a way to get out of your own way, so you can progress in life.”

— Steve Carlton, American professional baseball player

Album I’m Digging: Love, Death & Dancing

Jack Garratt: Love, Death & Dancing: Spotify | Apple Music | Youtube

Jack Garratt has such a unique sound. Love, Death & Dancing (Vol. 1) is technically a single — which used to mean ah song, but nowadays singles can be multiple songs. Mara and Time are my favorite. This album has electronic raw gospel singer-songwriter vibes. Follow it up with Weathered from his Phase Album.

The full album will be out sometime by the end of May 2020.

Artist I’m Cry-Laughing to: Hannah Hillam

Insta: @hannahhillam

Hannah’s comics hit my funny bone almost every time. I’m not a cat person (because I’m allergic to them) but her cat humor is exactly how I imagine it is living with cats.

Shameless Plugs:

The Renaissance Life Podcast: Interview with Justin Butts (@Mute0n)

I recently had a great conversation with Justin Butts (over mics). We talked about Art, Running, Books (always) and what it means to be a working artist. Listen to it here.

And if you have a moment, leave a review for the Renaissance Life on Apple Podcasts, it’s a great free way you can support the show and what I do.

Most Enjoyed Daily Blogs this month on Renaissance Life:

• Loneliness and Solitude

• Leaky Work (aka Self-Sabotage)

• Convincing Others to Change

• Expectations Met

• Is it possible to be a multidisciplinary in today’s age?

• Faking It

• Beginner’s Sandbox

• Negativity Attracts Negativity

Well, that’s all she wrote folks! I hope you enjoyed the first issue of Considerations.

If you’ve got 5 minutes, I’ve created a 5 question survey so I can learn more about you and what you’re interested in. It’s short and sweet.

Have you discovered any interesting articles, books, music or what-have-yous recently? Email me at josh [at] renaissancelife [dot com] and I might feature it (and give props to you of course) in next month’s issue.

If you are into books as much as I am, I’m also creating a monthly newsletter about what I’m reading each month called bookaholics.

Lastly, each month Considerations will have a sister publication called Practices. Where Considerations is about creative inputs, Practices is about creative output.

Considerations is the gasoline. Practices is the match.

Considerations will always be free. But if you are interested in Practices, for only $5 a month or $30 a year, you can receive a thoughtful resource to help improve and change your life.

Sign up for here for your first month free.

Also if you convince a friend to sign up too, I’ll give you 50% off. Share Considerations with a friend (and ) and if they sign up, send me an email and I’ll send you a discount code.

Thanks for your time.

Keep creating. Keep challenging yourself.

— Josh Waggoner,

Renaissance Life

Hi friend!

If you are reading this, I’ve either bribed, cajoled, mandated, or otherwise serenaded you with sweet nothings into joining my newsletter.

(This is an intro email, so if you are busy feel free to print it out 🖨, set it on fire 🔥and then go about your day. 👩‍💻)

Intro:

Considerations is a thoughtfully curated monthly newsletter highlighting observations, insights from life, recommendations, resources and interesting books and articles around topics I love. It’s for creatives, entrepreneurs and multi-disciplinaries.

Let me take a moment to unpack that overly stuffed luggage of a sentence with an unnecessary acronym I’ve made up for just such an occasion: M.E.R.I.T.

Monthly: Many moons ago, I had a similar weekly newsletter (call it version 1.0) were I also recommended things. It was a tiny email list, but I had fun doing it. However life got in the way, and I would find myself trying to squeeze out something good as quickly as possible. This time around, I want each email to be well thought out and refined. Thus the name Considerations. More is easy. Less is difficult and time-consuming. That’s why I’m going to start with one high-quality email a month. (Okay, okay… possibly two — more on that in a moment.)

Experiences: Life is full of lessons and inspiration, the problem is we rarely slow down and take the time to see them, let alone absorb them. My hope is to see Considerations become a small opportunity for us to do so and live more intently.

Resources: I want it to be packed with useful and fun information, but also be as brief and tight as possible. Part self-help. Part silly. Part interesting. More bang, less time.

Interests: Music, Design, Entrepreneurship, Writing, Health, Wealth, Travel, Movies, Coding, Tech, Books, Marketing and anything that can help us live a more meaningful and creative life. My aim is to provide at least one interesting thing you’ll take away and spark your curiosity in other things you’ve haven’t explored.

Thoughtful: Everything (well, except my horrible grammar) in each month’s email will be personally vetted and considered. The last thing I want to do is add another spammy email in your inbox.

One last thought:

As I was thinking about starting a newsletter, one idea I was tossing around was to make it a premium subscription service. It takes a lot of time and energy to create and curate content, why not ask people to pay for it?

What if it was a stupidly small amount of money? What if I did two emails a month and the first was free?

Although an interesting idea, I’d rather make Considerations completely free and reach more people. However, one friend (hey you) suggested making the second email premium, but instead of just more stuff, provide practical tips, challenges, and recommendations on how to apply and use the resources from the first email.

So, each month Considerations will have a sister publication called Practices. Where considerations will be about the What and Why — Practices will provide action steps and guidance on How and Where to apply them to our lives.

Considerations is the gasoline. Practices is the match.

Where Considerations is about creative inputs, Practices is about creative output.

Considerations will always be free. But if you are interested in Practices, for only $5 a month or $30 a year, you can receive a thoughtful resource to help improve and change your life.

Sign up for here for your first month free.

Also if you convince a friend to sign up too, I’ll give you 50% off. Share Considerations with a friend (and bookaholics if they are into books 😉) and if they sign up, send me an email josh [at]renaissancelife.com and I’ll put you on the list.

Thank you for signing up for Considerations. It means a lot.

If you’ve got 5 minutes, I’ve created a 5 question survey so I can learn more about you and what you’re interested in. It’s short and sweet.

Also, you have any ideas or suggestions you’d like to see, feel free to email me or reply to this.

Thanks for your time,

— Josh Waggoner

RenaissanceLife.com

“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

— George Bernard Shaw

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