Notes to self, by Geoff Muskett

How to measure wisdom

2026-11-10T12:00:00Z

Score yourself (or ask others to) on these factors:

Prosocial behaviour.

Empathy, compassion, altruism and fairness, with genuine concern for the wellbeing of others.
Emotional regulation.

Managing emotions and impulses effectively, particularly under pressure, stress or difficult circumstances.
Self-reflection.

Understanding your own thoughts, motivations and behaviours, and having the ability to learn from your experiences.
Acceptance of different perspectives.

Openness to different beliefs, values and viewpoints, even when they challenge your own.
Decisiveness.

Having the confidence and ability to make timely, considered and effective decisions, even when faced with uncertainty.
Social decision-making.

Applying life experience, knowledge and sound judgement to understand complex situations and offer constructive advice to others.

—The San Diego Wisdom Scale

Design tells people who belongs

2026-11-09T12:00:00Z

“Design tells people who belongs without anyone saying a word.”

—Anne Jean-Baptiste

Beliefs only count once they’re demonstrated

2026-10-16T08:50:38Z

A stated value is empty until an action backs it up.

In marketing every piece of content should demonstrate a belief.

—David Fragomeni

Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.

2026-10-15T06:51:41Z

—Andy Warhol

Attract. Captivate. Call to action. Return.

2026-10-08T08:32:12Z

A framework for digital product success.

As championed and executed brilliantly by Rob Love.

If you take risks, try hard, but don’t succeed, it is not a failure

2026-09-26T21:02:09Z

—Bear Grylls

Roger Federer lost 48% of points played

2026-09-26T21:01:15Z

Lose small, win big.

Make things as if they’re an offering to others

2026-09-26T21:00:29Z

Then you’ll make the best things.

Most people are easily distracted and mildly interested

2026-09-26T09:51:04Z

Either plan accordingly, or try and change their state (which is much harder).
—Seth Godin

Lead the way

2026-09-18T14:27:28Z

“Do you know how ant culture works? Alright, so an ant finds food and then just farts pheromones.

And almost all the other ants are like, ‘Ooh, that’s food!’ And they go and they follow exactly where that ant is.

They get the food and they get in a line and they go and they go and they go and they eat the food and it’s unsustainable because the food will run out and they die.

So what ants have are a series of random ants.

And the rando ants, they don’t follow the smell. They just go around.

And those are the ones you see in your kitchen that you kill. Those are the ones that get stepped on. Those are the ones that are just all over the place.

Why is that single ant there?

Those are the artists in our culture.

We are the random ants.”

Mo Willems on the necessity of art via Austin Kleon’s newsletter

Should I use questions in titles?

2026-09-15T12:59:31Z

No.

People prefer affirmative statements.

Titles framed as questions vs statements get up to 72% fewer comments and 13% fewer clicks.

(But be mindful of SEO).

—Thomas from Science Says newsletter

4 to 4.5 stars is more effective 5

2026-09-10T12:49:07Z

“When you approach social proof, don’t fall into the trap of making your business appear flawless.

The goal is to make people trust you. This means showing limitations, concerns, and clarifying who the product is not for.”

—Prof. Rebecca Wang, Lehigh University

Humans are the only species smart enough to help the other organisms around them, on mass

2026-07-11T14:06:31Z

—Alexis Nicole Nelson

Waiting for perfect is never as smart as making progress

2026-07-10T11:38:45Z

—Seth Godin

The COM-B model

2026-07-09T22:30:38Z

A behaviour (B) change framework that suggest three necessary parts:

Capability (C)
Can this behaviour be accomplished in principal?

Opportunity (O)
Is there sufficient opportunity for the behaviour to occur?

Motivation (M)
Is there sufficient motivation for the the behaviour to occur?

Prepare your mind

2026-07-09T22:24:26Z

For what’s to come

Then you’ll deal with it better

Can’t believe how strange it is to be anything at all

2026-07-09T22:17:05Z

Nice reminder from Neutral Milk Hotel

Skill chaining

2026-06-30T13:09:08Z

The more skills you learn the more interesting and unique you get

You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.

2026-06-30T13:07:43Z

—Maya Angelou

Getting ideas out of your head makes room for new ideas to take their place

2026-05-22T08:27:24Z

From Cole Schafer’s newsletter about Gucci Mane’s prolific song creation process

“I was overflowing with ideas, which was why I was rapping on these unfinished skeleton beats––to get one batch of ideas out of my system and be able to move on to the next.”
—Gucci

“When I focus on being prolific rather than perfect, my ideas seem to flow at an overwhelming pace.”
—Cole Schafer

Innovate to 20%

2026-05-18T12:34:24Z

The other 80% should be familiar

People don’t want to learn, and will click away

You don’t remember what happened

2026-05-18T12:20:04Z

What you remember becomes what happened

John Green

A feeling about the future is really only a comment on the present

2026-05-18T12:19:33Z

Tommy Tiernan

Good stories have a question that gets answered via a series of yes nos

2026-04-18T15:48:25Z

All life is…

2026-04-18T15:48:00Z

…is an iterative learning process

Brains don’t pay attention to boring things

2026-04-18T15:45:25Z

Don’t be boring

Learn-it-alls are cooler thank know-it-alls

2026-04-18T15:44:26Z

Context matter as much if not more than the product itself

2026-04-18T15:25:17Z

Virgil Abloh, fashion designer:

“If I put this candle in a garage, it looks like a piece of trash. If I put it in an all-white gallery space, it looks like a piece of art…

I often use this analogy in design. I could either design the candle and spend a lot of time telling you about the candle, or I could design the room that it sits in.”

Successful brands and freelancers relentlessly do the work to act more like themselves

2026-01-04T21:37:00Z

—Seth Godin

Lean in to being you

You can’t always change the world

2026-01-04T12:18:22Z

But you can make a corner of it look pretty nice

—Dave Chappelle