Jamie

Great idea! The new Louis Theroux documentary is out but I think that's just going to annoy me. I should take some time out to watch something sweet.

Remember when we used to just "go to the cinema." Just show up and see what's on when you got there. Wild.

I have been so wildly stressed for months now and I haven't yet exploded. I am not sure how. I feel a little like my body is falling apart. Probably a bad sign.

Another funny thing from the session on motivation. The slide deck listed non-monetary motivators as "an ethical and free alternative." Then attendees questioned every suggestion from the instructors on whether they were actually ethical. So awkward. Quite funny.

Why has a CEO being paid millions hired an ex-CEO who owns multiple houses to try and convince me that I don't need to be paid more? How is that not the most pressing question for every single attendee of these sorts of courses? How do the organisers not have an answer to that question ready to go?

If the motivation of pay actually capped out, then pay disparity between exec and mid-level managers would be very minimal. C-Suite would have more "mastery, purpose, and autonomy" but wage would be the same. Why is it that's not the case? When reality does not support theory, the theory is wrong.

To the entire management development/training industry: stop telling middle managers that pay doesn't motivate employees! Those managers are not paid at the level that increased pay won't increase motivation, and their direct reports sure as hell aren't, so they know it's complete bullshit.

The final session was on giving presentations. Basically: be confident, to be confident just know your topic really well. It took absolutely everything in me to not ask them if they think they know behavioural economics and psychology really well, given they couldn't respond to any of my challenges.

Attended a two-day management training course. During a break-out on motivation all groups listed pay in their top 3. Then, after a video on why pay isn't a top motivator, the instructor (ex-CEO, current landlord) couldn't respond to any of my arguments. Everyone stuck to their original list, lol.

Staying at a fancy manor house for a couple days. The people I'm with are talking about how haunted it feels. £9 for a glass of red wine is pretty spooky.

Big fan of setting arbitrary limitations to encourage preferred behaviour. Not a fan of invasive and oppressive state action.

I think it's good for your mind to have things you only do offline (In person hobbies! Topics you only discuss in person, people you only see out and about) but probably not for opsec reasons.

It is probably bad that we live in a world where I assume at least one government is reading all of our texts and WhatsApps and tweets and whatever else.

The only way is if it were hbomberguy.

Banks only requiring 5% deposits, banks lending 6x or 6.5x salary. House prices starting to drop. The AI bubble about to destroy the stock market. Are we not heading towards another negative equity problem? Another wave of mortgage defaults??

Every time I'm waiting for a bus to go one direction, three or four buses go past me in the other direction before my one shows up. It makes no sense.

Kier Starmer is less charismatic than Gavin Newsom, so there's even less excuse. People in the UK miss the 90s, associate that time with New Labour, and so a bunch of politicians are just trying to be Tony Blair.

Ignoring that all of these outcomes are ridiculous. Ignoring that the real outcome will be another dot-com bubble burst. If the below graph was true, why are we making the bet? Is the gamble worth it? Waging the potential extinction of humanity for 0.2% GDP growth?

The barista at the coffee shop this morning reminded me to drink plenty of water today, as I seemed stressed. I'm sure that's a good sign.

Stratford int is not as bad as Euston but it is more confusing. I always end up tapping out and in a bunch of times as I struggle to find the right platform for the right thing. They have done an awful job at separating the tube from the DLR from National Rail. Let alone the Lizzie line.

UK train lines that don't have full contactless payments across their entire network. Why?? Come on! It's 2026!

Feeling slightly better (physically, am less sick) today, but have the funeral tomorrow and then a nonstop week at work. So I still feel preemptively overwhelmed.

I have been sick since Tuesday and having to only eat foods that are easy on your stomach is so maddingly boring. I didn't realise how much of my regular diet is super high fibre.

Day three of being sick and I cannot remember what normal life feels like.

Is it bad that I only really take days off sick when I know I have days coming up that I feel I can't miss.

I do miss being in Japan. Mostly for the infrastructure. I want to wander around a mountain accessible via train, go to a cheap sauna, and eat 7-11 food.

It is incredibly difficult to get across how different the difficulty levels are of different ultras. Someone can run 100 miles in under 16 hours, but after 27 hours of running that same person hasn't covered 20 miles of the Barkley! #BM100.

Also just progressivism in general. Older generations/current conservatives refer to objectively distasteful things as gross, but they also refer to normal behaviours as gross. Language can imply association, so you avoid using the same terminology as those who call gay people disgusting.

I am almost certain this is a result of being more culturally accepting. You can't call behaviours "gross" if they're a result of an unfamiliar culture, so you avoid that terminology just in case. As people grow up in more multicultural societies, language softens.

That is an unthinkable amount. How many days were you in the hospital?