johnmaconline

You might want to be a VIP. You might envy or resent the VIPs. 

There are two kinds of VIPs in our world:

• People who are important.
• People who have the title.

People who are important are contributors. They give. They care. They assert. They make change happen. They participate. They help. 

The VIP title is a status system built by them. For them. Not you. It’s not about you. If you spend enough, you can become a titled VIP. If you hang around the right people, you can become a titled VIP. If you play by their rules, you can become a titled VIP.

Just remember, casinos don’t give the VIP title to the winners. Only the losers. 

If you want to be an important person, worry about what you’re contributing. Not the title. 

Your opportunity is coming up. A Stradavarius violin — the Joachim-Ma Stradavarius — is going up for auction soon. 

You’ll probably need somewhere between $12 and $18 million.

Here are some facts about Stradavarius and his violins:

• He lived from 1644 to 1737 in Cremona, Italy.
• This time period (late 17th to early 18th century) is considered the golden period of violin craftsmanship.
• He created 960 violins.
• Approximately 650 might still exist today, but 282 are known to exist. 
• 44 have their own Wikipedia pages. 
• The current record price paid for one of his violins is $15.9 million for the Lady Blunt Stradavarius in 2011.

What makes a Stradavarius so special?

(Capital “S”) Status.

Yes, one can discuss sound quality, craftsmanship, materials, artistic beauty, investment value, and historical significance. These may be true, but they’re in the eye of the beholder.

You’ll pay $12-18 million for a Stradavarius because of the way it will make you feel in relation to other humans. Only a certain subset of the population could even think about the purchase of a Strad. If you’re part of that sub-culture, a Strad helps make sense of how you see yourself and your place in the world.

“People like me own (do/say/care about) things like this.”

That’s a good lesson for anybody out there trying to make change in the world. We all care about status. 

Even those who don’t care about Status.  

Someone will win the Powerball (although not each time it’s drawn). Someone will (eventually) hit the progressive jackpot on the slot machines. Someone will win $50k on a scratch-off.

But it won’t be me, even if I play. It won’t be you, even if you play.

Someone’s gotta win is fine for entertainment purposes. A fine way to dream a little and play the “what if” game with yourself. A fine way to imagine winning without any work.

But it’s a terrible strategy.

Strategy is about making assertions and doing the work to prove or disprove them. “I think we can win if we go this way,” and then walking down that path. You’re better off spending your “what if” cycles on those paths.

Someone’s gotta win, but you’re better off not thinking about winning and, instead, doing the work.

I’ve been disqualified from many of the professional paths I tried to pursue.

Here’s a few: Disqualified from both Air Force and Navy flight school. Disqualified from being an astronaut. Disqualified from an expat assignment in the UK. Disqualified from a company-funded master’s program at the University of Colorado.

Disqualification comes from the external. It’s them deciding about you. It’s the opposite of being chosen (or maybe, it’s a negative choice). It’s a form of victimhood. You are a victim of somebody else’s choice.

Although you can work to meet the qualifications, look good on paper, and build the relationships that may lead to being chosen, ultimately, you don’t have control. They do. That’s not on you.

But you can still pursue.

When you pursue in earnest, you learn stuff. You learn stuff about yourself, about systems, and about people.

And you learn that maybe what you want to pursue is something where you can choose yourself.

Doing hard things is how you win.

I know this because motivational posters tell me so. Hustle-jock-SEAL-gym bros yell it at me. Fake-it-till-you-make-it solopreneurs cram my social media feeds with this message.

Dig in. Grunt louder. Work longer. Hate the enemy more intensely.

Others won’t do the hard things, so you will have to. That’s how you win.

OK, but what do you mean by hard?

Doing the wrong hard things is a way to give in to Resistance. The way you win isn’t just about doing the hard things. It’s about doing the right things. Some of those things will be hard for you (and easy for others).

Maybe the hard work you need to do is to figure out the right things you need to do.

Do the right hard things.

I’m a Bible guy. 

Not a thumper, but definitely a follower and believer (some would dispute that). Of course, the Bible isn’t a book. It’s a compilation of several texts written by over 40 authors spanning approximately 1500 years from about 1400 BC to 100 AD. 

• The original texts were written in a combination of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek based on the geography and community of the authors. 
• What we currently know as “The Bible” was compiled by various groups over a series of councils/gatherings starting in about 100 BC until the mid-1500’s.
• The core of the Hebrew Bible, also what we currently call the Old Testament, was largely established by about 400 BC. 
• The Council of Carthage (397 AD) and then the Council of Trent (1546 AD) are generally considered the solidifying moments of the current biblical canon for the Catholic Church, which is 73 books.
• The protestant reformation began in 1517, and the protestant Church of England outlined the current protestant biblical canon as 66 books in its Thirty-Nine Articles in 1563. 

Although well-established for a long time now, it’s been a bit of a moving target over the years. Even discrepancies. 

Today and certainly in the future, we’re generating more written words than at any time in history. AI is exponentially ramping that up. This trend will continue.

But the thing about this ancient text is that it has survived. One can read words written 3500 years ago by humans. Whatthey saw. What they feel. What they think.

And why is that?

Because it speaks to us. It includes fundamental wisdom about humans and humanity. 

Although everything about culture and the way we live has changed, maybe nothing has changed about us at our core as humans.

The thing about ancient texts is that they’ve survived for a reason. When we’re flailing around — Confused, questioning — maybe we should remember the ancient texts.

Sometimes you feel stuck (OK, sometimes I feel stuck).

First, that’s OK because if you feel stuck, that might be Resistance. Which means you’re on the right track. 

The key is movement. Physical and mental. 

Get up and walk around. Go outside. Look at it from over here. Then go look at it from over there. Watch others. Talk to others. Write some stuff down. Delete it and write it again. Watch the birds on the feeder. Do today’s Wordle or Bongo.  

Just don’t stand still.  

Stuckiness is a Universe thing. 

Keep moving. 

At 4TLAS, we build a platform that helps software developers build and test their code quickly and at scale.

The reason why quickly matters is the closer to the creation of a bug that you find it, the faster and easier it is to fix it. The reason why at scale matters is because running tests on a single device is good, but running those tests across many devices and over and over again is better.

The platform notifies our users of many things, especially problems.

You know the story of the little boy and the wolf. Of how he notified the town citizens one too many times about nothing in particular. And then, when there was a real problem, nobody cared, nobody came, nobody helped.

Our notifications are our currency, and we’re cautious and deliberate with them. We talk about it a lot. We experiment. We debate. We argue. We try new things.

Because when we spot someone crying wolf, we tend to ignore them.

How much thought do you give to underwater cables?

• There are currently over 350 undersea cables around the world
• The first was laid in 1854, connecting Newfoundland and Ireland across the Atlantic
• 17 underwater cables connect the east coast of the US to Europe
• The “Far North Fiber” cable spans 8700 miles from Japan to Europe via the Arctic
• 2 cut through Lake Michigan
• Modern cables can transmit about 400 terabits per second, compared to about 260 gigabits per second with satellites. 

Over 95% of global internet traffic runs through these cables. They are the backbone of global communication. 

Yet most of us barely think about them. The global internet “just works” because people thought of, financed, designed, installed, and now maintain this vast network of infrastructure. 

What are the other undersea cables in your life?

My boys and I like to play the games Catan and Risk.

Now that they’re adults and we’re together less frequently, the game becomes central when we do get together. Epic battles that frequently cross calendar boundaries.

Both games require strategy. What’s your plan? What are you trying to do? Where are you trying to go?

Both games require tactics. How will you allocate the resources you just received? Who will you attack? What will you defend?

Both games include the luck of the dice.

Sometimes, you’ve made all the right strategic and tactical decisions, but luck thwarts your plan. How will you adjust?

Sometimes, you’ve made strategic and tactical mistakes, yet luck shines on you. How will you adjust?

Life. How will you adjust?