Greetings from Mexico City!
I'd like to share a few updates:
CDMX Writer's Group. I joined a writer's group (thanks
for the invite). Every Friday evening, we meet at a cafe and write for two pomodoro sessions. If you're in the area and would like to participate, send me a message and I will send you the link.Spanish Round 2. I'd like fluency in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese. The first three for practical reasons; the last because I have a fanatical love for Tokyo. While I'm in Mexico, I will study Spanish. Last week, I signed up for 3hr group classes, but found them too long to concentrate on. Instead, I'm trying a few other techniques, borrowed from Tim Ferriss. The first is reverse-learning, to learn English from Spanish speakers. The advantage of this method is the accuracy of how Spanish phrases are really used. The second is to read / watch what you would naturally consume in your native language. For example, 80% of Tim's Spanish input came from Judo manuals, through which he acquired better grammar than students who studied grammar textbooks.
Urban Design. Through my travels, I realized that every city has a different feel. In Medellín, I'd get yelled at for holding my phone out in public, while in Sydney nobody would bat an eye. What makes a city safe? What makes a city convenient? What makes a city European? I'll start with Devon Zuegel's podcast with urban economists Alain & Marie-Agnes Bertaud and then read Order Without Design. I'll focus on the question: How does the location in which we live affect our health, productivity, safety, mobility, and lifestyle? How can we design urban spaces that improve these factors?
Here are some things I want to share:
Structured Procrastination. Robert Benchley is an Academy Award winning film director who wrote 600+ essays for The New Yorker. The secret to his productivity? In 1949, he wrote an essay called "How to Get Things Done". He takes advantage of our procrastination tendency: "anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment". In 1995, University of Stanford professor of philosophy John Perry wrote a follow-up essay called Structured Procrastination.
Aesthetic Coffee Shops. The spaces you're in can affect your mood, energy, and outlook. Being in a room with bright light and vaulted ceilings can stimulate creativity, whereas being in a smaller, constricted room can improve focus. I have a theory. Raskolnikov, the protagonist in Crime and Punishment, murdered that poor ol' woman because he lived in a tiny, dimly-lit, claustrophobic attic full of squalor. I've began to collect a list of coffee shops that make you feel good. Please feel free to add or contribute! View the list.
Ghost Kitchens. After watching James Stephen Donaldson blow up a few million dollars worth of cars, I was craving a MrBeast burger. I was shocked to learn that MrBeast Burgers do not exist... Unlike McDonalds or Burger King, there are no physical stores. Instead, kitchens can elect to cook MrBeast Burgers. They are provided with recipes, packaging, and training. In return, they earn a percentage of sales. Orders are fulfilled by delivery apps.
This concept is called a Ghost Kitchen. Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC) is one of the biggest players. Just like Shopify allows independent business owners to sell products online, VDC allows influencers to create food brands with global distribution.
25 minutes later, a DiDi motorcyclist handed me a colorful box. Yum! (Actually, it wasn't so good. 2.7/10)
Going forward, I will send postcard updates on a bi-monthly basis, on the 15th and 30th of each month.
Have a great week!
Leo
back in CDMX!
❤️ your aesthetic coffee shop list! Hoping to see a few SF Bay Area ones soon