"Life is a fractal," I tell my brother. He's the world traveler who has observed Emperor Penguins waddling in Antarctica and been inside musty old tombs in the Pyramids of Egypt.
love the concept that you know you're at the right level when you're in flow. Also a good way to know if you're competing at the right level in the metagame.
This is a lovely piece of writing, Chao. I particularly enjoyed the loop back to “life is a fractal” at the end, and how that idea resonates throughout the piece.
Such a cool topic you're digging into here Chao, makes me want to tune more into the present and see where I need to do more zooming in or out. So awesome to see the evolution of this piece - I think I'm going to find myself dropping "life is a fractal" in conversation sometime soon.
Thanks, Michelle. It would be so cool to one day hear that a big name creator say "life is a fractal", and I have zero doubt you are on your way to becoming one (whether you like it or not 🤣)
haha, my old skool brain was thinking photoshop zoom levels, but google maps is definitely a more apt metaphor. Maps are definitely more fractal-like and incredibly interesting at every level
So proud of you for getting this one out!! I love how the seed of this idea you expressed has bloomed into this piece. There is a lot that resonates here, especially about the flow state and procrastination.
I might have to come back to this and reread it for the reminder to switch between the zooming in and out more.
Wow, thanks Sandra - this is making me giddy in the head 🥰 Everything seemed to have clicked into place after our wonderful zoom session, I knew I just needed a fun hook after that
Haha, I do the opposite - as an engineer I tend to see patterns and abstractions in everything and gloss over the details: that's why POP writing is so hard for me, I don't recall anything much to my wife’s frustration 🙈
Then I realize my natural self is to go abstract in my word use.
Which relaxed me
Josh waitzkin has an analogy of a rocker trying to learn classical
He said that rocker should not try to learn from a classical but from a fellow rocker who fell in love with classical because the fellow rocker would have the same temperament as the learner
Similarly, I’m trying to figure out POP not from a natural in POP but as a natural in abstraction
love the concept that you know you're at the right level when you're in flow. Also a good way to know if you're competing at the right level in the metagame.
This is a lovely piece of writing, Chao. I particularly enjoyed the loop back to “life is a fractal” at the end, and how that idea resonates throughout the piece.
Thanks, Nic! Michelle Varghoose gave me the idea to circle back to my brother and I really liked it
Such a cool topic you're digging into here Chao, makes me want to tune more into the present and see where I need to do more zooming in or out. So awesome to see the evolution of this piece - I think I'm going to find myself dropping "life is a fractal" in conversation sometime soon.
Thanks, Michelle. It would be so cool to one day hear that a big name creator say "life is a fractal", and I have zero doubt you are on your way to becoming one (whether you like it or not 🤣)
Yes I too use the metaphor of the zoom in google maps as a way to get unstuck
From anything as routine as problem solving in day jobs which are for well defined problems to poorly defined problems such as how to live a good life
haha, my old skool brain was thinking photoshop zoom levels, but google maps is definitely a more apt metaphor. Maps are definitely more fractal-like and incredibly interesting at every level
Damn, Chao.
So proud of you for getting this one out!! I love how the seed of this idea you expressed has bloomed into this piece. There is a lot that resonates here, especially about the flow state and procrastination.
I might have to come back to this and reread it for the reminder to switch between the zooming in and out more.
Wow, thanks Sandra - this is making me giddy in the head 🥰 Everything seemed to have clicked into place after our wonderful zoom session, I knew I just needed a fun hook after that
Haha awww Chao!! These things take time. Keep up the great work!! Looking forward to reading more of your essays.
Such wonderful advice! I tend to zoom too much in and need to practice zooming out...
Haha, I do the opposite - as an engineer I tend to see patterns and abstractions in everything and gloss over the details: that's why POP writing is so hard for me, I don't recall anything much to my wife’s frustration 🙈
> as an engineer I tend to see patterns and abstractions in everything and gloss over the details:
Same here
What makes things bad is I implicitly assumed it’s a problem
It’s only recently when I came across this diagram by Keirsey https://sentino.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/image-1.png
Then I realize my natural self is to go abstract in my word use.
Which relaxed me
Josh waitzkin has an analogy of a rocker trying to learn classical
He said that rocker should not try to learn from a classical but from a fellow rocker who fell in love with classical because the fellow rocker would have the same temperament as the learner
Similarly, I’m trying to figure out POP not from a natural in POP but as a natural in abstraction
Haven’t quite figured that out yet