Getting Simple

Getting Simple

By Nono Martínez AlonsoSociety & CultureEducationArtsSelf-ImprovementDesign
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Getting Simple episodes

  • #44: Mini-Retirements

    Techniques, challenges, and reasons to live as if you were retired.


    Chapters
    • 0:00 · Intro
    • 0:28 · Marc's question
    • 1:12 · What are mini-retirements?
    • 3:56 · Challenges
    • 7:04 · Vacation slack
    • 8:38 · How much money do you need?
    • 10:17 · Financial independence
    • 11:42 · Creating your own products
    • 12:54 · Passive income, freelance, and full-time
    • 14:02 · Money is time
    • 16:08 · Safety
    • 17:39 · Enjoy every day
    • 19:09 · Pause
    • 20:30 · Living as if you were retired
    • 21:31 · Do you need a mini-retirement?
    • 22:13 · I'd love to hear from you

      • I'd love to hear from you.

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      Show notes, transcripts, and past episodes at gettingsimple.com/podcast.


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      23 min
    • #43: James Melouney and Selene Urban — Overcoming The Fear of Meditation, Practices, Authenticity, Connecting With Your Audience, and More

      James Melouney & Selene Urban on how to get started with meditation, self-discovery, building trust and connection with your audience through a humane and authentic message, and key learnings from their entrepreneurial journey.


      James Melouney is an eclectic mix of mathematics, finance, strategy, marketing, meditation and self-discovery. He graduated with a University Medal in Mathematics & Finance before becoming a management consultant. Though since then, James chose to follow his calling in life and authored two books: The Art of Success and Simple Living (March 30, 2021 release). James dedicates himself to living honestly and authentically. To rise above fear so that he can live out his life purpose. He believes our ultimate aim is to become the unique expression of who we truly are.

      Selene Urban always felt naturally pulled to connecting to her inner world. From her name meaning “Moon Goddess,” to deeply experiencing what she is and how we journey through life & relationships, to exploring her physical body through dance and yoga. Acknowledging how precious life truly is, she facilitates yoga trainings, retreats and holds space for women and men ready to meet themselves with grace, intimacy and realness.


      Favorite quotes
      • "Even if I'm really excited about a project. I need to just let it sit for a little bit, maybe a day or two. And then I decide if I want to go into it. And that's an example of slowing down. You can do far less, but you're doing the right things. So the outcomes are there, you've got more time, you've got less stress. I think it's beautiful." —James Melouney
      • "Whatever you're going through right now, it truly has a reason for a bigger mission that you have in this life. And no matter how hard it is, keep trusting in that calling that is right in your heart center." —Selene Urban
        • Books
        • Simple Living: Love Your Life by James Melouney
        • The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
        • A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles by Marianne Williamson
        • Deepest Acceptance: Radical Awakening in Ordinary Life by Jeff Foster
        • The Wonder of Being: Awakening to an Intimacy Beyond Words by Jeff Foster
          Meditation and yoga
          • Vipassana meditation uses sati (mindfulness) and Samatha (calm)
          • Ayurveda is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent
          • Pranayama is the practice of breath control in yoga
          • Sankrist is a classical language of South Asia
          • A yogi is a practitioner of yoga
          • Yoga
          • Enlightenment is the "full comprehension of a situation"
          • Sama vritti (equal breathing) is a yoga technique proven to help lower stress and increase calm
            Marketing and automation
            • Zapier
            • Buffer
            • Hootsuite
            • MailChimp
            • AWeber
            • ClickFunnels
            • Namecheap
            • WordPress
            • Divi WordPress theme
            • Thinkific
              People mentioned
              • Peter Burkhardt
              • Eckhart Tolle
              • Marianne Williamson
              • Jeff Foster
                Chapters
                • 0:00 · Intro
                • 4:26 · How James and Selene crossed paths
                • 13:06 · Meditation and Spirituality
                • 15:10 · Meditation workshops
                • 18:24 · Why do people meditate?
                • 19:17 · Steps to meditation
                • 19:57 · Am I doing it right?
                • 22:36 · What is vipassana?
                • 23:08 · The vipassana practice
                • 25:50 · Practice vs. Spirituality
                • 28:27 · Enlightenment
                • 34:13 · The fear of meditation
                • 36:48 · How to get started with meditation
                • 38:36 · How can you meditate when you're by yourself?
                • 39:20 · Same-length breath meditation: Sama Vritti
                • 40:18 · How is it to have learned this and communicate it to others?
                • 41:21 · How do people find you? Connection, marketing, and advertising.
                • 44:39 · How to make a message more humane and personal?
                • 46:30 · Connecting to your audience
                • 47:50 · On building a mailing list and authenticity
                • 52:07 · Struggles of having your own business
                • 55:36 · Techniques, products, and services
                • 58:19 · Would you like to continue doing this your whole life?
                • 59:31 · What would you do differently with a 10-20 people team?
                • 1:00:53 · What's the format of your gatherings?
                • 1:03:17 · How do you build trust?
                • 1:04:49 · Routines and habits
                • 1:07:33 · Is your life simple?
                • 1:09:37 · When do you meditate?
                • 1:10:41 · Do you exercise?
                • 1:12:26 · Non-work activities
                • 1:13:03 · What media do you consume?
                • 1:13:26 · Social media
                • 1:14:22 · Learning from other people's ads
                • 1:15:09 · Automation tools
                • 1:16:10 · Distractions
                • 1:16:55 · When do you get your best ideas?
                • 1:17:22 · How do you disconnect?
                • 1:18:20 · How do you deal with boredom?
                • 1:19:15 · How would you define success?
                • 1:19:39 · Is there anything you say to yourself in the morning?
                • 1:20:29 · Who comes to mind when you think of a successful person?
                • 1:22:06 · How do you handle seeing other people succeed ahead of you?
                • 1:23:53 · A message to the world
                • 1:24:39 · What would you tell your 20-year-old-self?
                • 1:25:20 · Are you paranoid about anything?
                • 1:26:37 · Who do you like to follow?
                • 1:28:23 · What's the other book about?
                • 1:29:04 · What do you think of slowing down in life?
                • 1:30:23 · What's next for you?
                • 1:30:59 · Is there something you want to ask me?
                • 1:31:26 · Where are you simplifying and slowing down in your life?
                • 1:34:27 · What have been the most challenging and most fulfilling experiences with making Getting Simple?
                • 1:36:22 · Thanks
                • 1:36:51 · Outro
                • 1:37:42 · Bonus: Simple Breathing with Selene

                  • I'd love to hear from you.

                  Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

                  Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

                  If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

                  Show notes, transcripts, and past episodes at gettingsimple.com/podcast.


                  Follow Nono

                  Twitter.com/nonoesp

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                  Facebook.com/nonomartinezalonso

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                  1 hr 43 min
                • #42: Mike Gabour — Falling in Love With the Ocean, Dark Showers, Attention, The Sensorium, and The Contents of his Backpack

                  Strategist, investor, community builder, and NGO founder Mike Gabour on mindfulness and attention, meditation and dark showers, the multiplier effect, minimizing time in front of the screen, the contents of his backpack, and falling in love with the ocean.


                  Mike Gabour is a first generation immigrant, born on the Mediterranean ocean in Alexandria, Egypt.

                  He is Co-founder and Managing Director for Koinonia, a micro-lending organization which empowers marginalized entrepreneurs in Egypt. Leadership Workshop Facilitator for The Littlest Lamb, an orphanage in Cairo which nurtures underprivileged children. Co-founder of Pequod, an app built with blind sailors for all sailors. Supporting blind sailors ability to autonomously navigate the water, and help the rest of us keep their eyes on the water, and ears on Pequod! Co-founder of the WAVE (Wider Access Virtual Expeditions) project, partnering with Harvard Deep-sea ocean exploration dept. and the Nautilus, a deep sea submarine. Co-inventor of Nezso, a fully immersive ambisonics music pod.

                  Mike is an avid sailor, free-diver, and oceanographic explorer.


                  Favorite quotes
                  • "Attention is love."
                  • "It's impossible not to fall in love with someone after you've heard their story."
                  • "Always be prepared."
                  • "You have your normal, I have mine."
                  • "Traveling for me is more about understanding and experiencing other cultures than my own personal enjoyment."
                  • "Do everything I tell you while we're on the water, but ignore everything I say when we are inland."
                  • "¿Por qué no los dos?"
                    • Links
                    • WAVE (Wider Access Virtual Expeditions)
                    • Pequod
                    • The Littlest Lamb orphanage started by Mira Riad, run by Mira + Marina Rina
                    • Koinonia Ventures, micro-lending NGO
                    • Planet Earth
                    • Wave Collaborative
                    • Accenture
                    • Mindfulness
                    • The Sensorium
                    • A Physical Paradigm for Bidirectional Brain-Computer
                      Interfaces, Sam Hincks' dissertation on brain-computer interfaces
                    • The multiplier effect
                    • Girguis labs, Harvard
                    • Maglev (magnetic levitation)
                      Books
                      • The Tao of Pooh
                      • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
                      • Get Real, Get Gone: How to Become a Modern Sea Gypsy and Sail Away Forever by Rick Page
                      • Principles by Ray Dalio
                      • The Four-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss
                      • The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science for Greater Mindfulness by John Yates, Matthew Immergut & Jeremy Graves
                      • Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
                      • Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness by Dr. Qing Li
                      • Life of Pi by Yann Martel
                        Contents of Mike's backpack
                        • Portable battery
                        • Liquid Bandaid
                        • Kaufman Layer (a concept invented by the great Jonathan Kaufman, a final layer of clothing that is not meant to be worn, having it is knowing you can be warmer)
                        • Merino Wool Buff
                        • Leatherman - multi-tool with a screwdriver, scissors, wire cutters, etc.
                        • Headlamp (with redlight)
                        • Grave Before Shave "Gentlemen's Blend" Beard Oil
                        • Backpack waterproof cover
                        • Flask
                        • Collapsible metal cup
                        • Car and wall phone charger
                        • Vibes Hi-Fi earplugs
                        • Inflatable camping pillow
                        • Mindfold mask
                        • Card deck
                        • Snacks and granola bars
                        • Home-made hand sanitizer with boiled water, tea tree oil, and peppermint and citrus scent
                        • Dude flushable wipes
                        • Tea tree oil toothpicks
                        • Pair of sunglasses
                        • Water bottle
                        • Moleskine A6 dot-style notebook
                        • MUJI pen 0.5
                        • Tile locator device
                          Podcasts
                          • RadioLab
                          • This American Life
                          • Surprisingly Awesome
                          • Where Should We Begin? by Esther Perel
                            People mentioned
                            • Peter R. Girguis
                            • David Bangsberg
                            • Naomi Hashimoto
                            • Mr Rogers
                            • Sam Hincks (Samulus)
                            • Jeff Koons
                            • Andy Wharhol
                            • Bill Gates
                            • Arianna Huffington
                            • Ray Dalio
                            • Jacques Cousteau
                            • Bob Ballard
                            • Neil deGrasse Tyson
                            • Steve Jobs
                            • Walt Disney
                            • Oprah Winfrey
                            • Neil deGrasse Tyson
                            • Esther Perel
                              Special thanks

                              Couldn't have done any of this without these wonderful people.

                              • Joe Bynoe
                              • Anup Mankar
                              • Grace Olsen
                              • Pauline Dowell
                              • Mike McManus
                              • David Bangsberg
                              • Jon Payne
                                • Chapters
                                • 0:00 · Intro
                                • 2:28 · Mike Gabour
                                • 3:57 · Your most exciting projects
                                • 5:19 · Koinonia
                                • 13:07 · Falling in love with the ocean
                                • 15:41 · Freediving
                                • 17:50 · Sailing
                                • 19:41 · Sailing challenges
                                • 22:06 · Scary moments on the ocean
                                • 24:38 · Travel
                                • 25:36 · Traveling with purpose
                                • 26:11 · Mindfulness and disconnection
                                • 28:54 · Meditation and attention
                                • 30:22 · The meditation hammock
                                • 30:57 · Dark showers
                                • 33:47 · The contents of Mike's backpack
                                • 40:51 · Mike's notebook
                                • 44:29 · The Sensorium
                                • 50:31 · The multiplier effect
                                • 53:19 · Getting Simple
                                • 53:28 · How does your day-to-day look like?
                                • 53:53 · What things make your day more complex?
                                • 54:23 · Daily habits
                                • 55:03 · Commute
                                • 55:14 · Exercise
                                • 55:42 · Media you consume
                                • 56:15 · Email
                                • 56:38 · Planning and focus
                                • 57:14 · Time, attention, and social media
                                • 57:59 · When do you get your best ideas?
                                • 58:20 · Disconnection
                                • 58:38 · Boredom
                                • 59:09 · Minimizing time in front of a screen
                                • 1:00:12 · Success
                                • 1:00:33 · What do you say to yourself in the morning?
                                • 1:00:38 · A successful person
                                • 1:01:15 · A message to the world
                                • 1:01:24 · What will you tell your 20 or 30 year-old self?
                                • 1:01:45 · How can people connect with you?
                                • 1:02:04 · Book recommendations
                                • 1:02:10 · The Tao of Pooh
                                • 1:02:38 · The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy by Douglas Adams
                                • 1:03:00 · Get Real, Get Gone
                                • 1:03:08 · The Four-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss
                                • 1:04:38 · The Life of Pi
                                • 1:04:48 · Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
                                • 1:04:58 · Forest Bathing
                                • 1:05:15 · Principles by Ray Dalio
                                • 1:05:31 · Podcast recommendations
                                • 1:05:58 · Where Should We Begin? by Esther Perel
                                • 1:06:26 · The Mind Illuminated
                                • 1:06:40 · Pequod
                                • 1:07:22 · Blindfolding: Teaching People How to Sail
                                • 1:11:33 · Outro

                                  • I'd love to hear from you.

                                  Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

                                  Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

                                  If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

                                  Show notes, transcripts, and past episodes at gettingsimple.com/podcast.


                                  Follow Nono

                                  Twitter.com/nonoesp

                                  Instagram.com/nonoesp

                                  Facebook.com/nonomartinezalonso

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                                  1 hr 13 min
                                • #41: ALGO — Lessons from Teaching, Live Streaming, Publishing, and 3 Years of Podcasting

                                  Harvard's Jose Luis García del Castillo and host Nono Martínez Alonso on teaching, live streaming, the guilt of postponing things, the difficulties of delegating tasks and micro-management, the fear of shipping creative work, and lessons learned after forty podcast episodes.


                                  This episode opens the ALGO series—conversations between Jose Luis García del Castillo y López and myself on teaching, machine learning, coding, and creativity.

                                  It's been three years since I last interviewed Jose Luis, and I enjoyed learning how his life changed when he became a Doctor of Design, began teaching at Harvard, and started live-streaming his lectures online. We also discuss the guilt of postponing things, the difficulties of delegating tasks and micro-management, the fear of shipping creative work, and lessons learned after forty podcast episodes.

                                  Jose Luis García del Castillo y López is an architect, educator, and Doctor of Design in Technology by the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he teaches Computational Design. He runs a weekly Computational Design Live Stream at ParametricCamp.


                                  Links
                                  • ParametricCamp live streams and tutorials on YouTube and Instagram
                                  • Introduction to Computational Design course
                                  • Introduction to Computational Design student projects
                                  • Machina.NET - A real-time robotics control open-source framework
                                  • Nono's YouTube channel and Live Stream playlist
                                  • Jose Luis Garcia del Castillo y López — Will Robots Simplify Your Life? (Episode 3)
                                  • Nono Martínez Alonso — The Origins of Getting Simple (Episode 25)
                                  • Open Broadcaster Software (OBS)
                                  • The Coding Train by Daniel Shiffman
                                    Books
                                    • A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
                                    • Cien Años de Soledad by Gabriel García Márquez
                                    • Originals by Adam Grant
                                    • Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson
                                    • The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda
                                      People mentioned
                                      • Ben Fry
                                      • Panagiotis Michalatos
                                      • Daniel Shiffman
                                      • Steven Johnson
                                      • Kevin Kelly
                                      • Philip Glass
                                      • Ray Kurzweil
                                      • Seth Godin
                                      • John Maeda
                                        Chapters
                                        • 0:00 · Intro
                                        • 1:38 · How's your life changed after submitting your thesis?
                                        • 6:26 · Live streaming a Harvard course
                                        • 10:39 · How did you start live streaming?
                                        • 11:38 · ParametricCamp is back
                                        • 13:54 · The ParametricCamp community
                                        • 14:49 · Why do you teach?
                                        • 16:40 · What's the process you follow to prepare your lectures?
                                        • 17:35 · Running away from too much abstraction
                                        • 18:50 · How does it feel to be a YouTuber, Jose Luis?
                                        • 19:53 · Tools that make teaching easier
                                        • 21:39 · What would you like to do if you had the time?
                                        • 23:04 · Would you be able to do what you're doing in the US in Spain?
                                        • 26:12 · What has Nono been up to?
                                        • 29:58 · 'This is who we are'
                                        • 31:42 · After publishing, the piece is not yours anymore
                                        • 33:03 · Publishing fear
                                        • 33:45 · I-don't-care-what-you-think gene
                                        • 35:14 · What will people judge you for?
                                        • 36:11 · Lessons learned from 3 years of podcasting
                                        • 38:41 · Forty humans that love what they do
                                        • 40:11 · The things we never get around doing
                                        • 42:25 · Eliminating the word 'should'
                                        • 45:02 · Avoiding micro-management
                                        • 46:40 · How does it feel to be a YouTuber, Nono?
                                        • 50:05 · What will machine learning for creatives look like in the future?
                                        • 53:00 · Who would you write a book with?
                                        • 54:50 · The purpose of teaching
                                        • 55:51 · Books
                                        • 56:49 · ALGO
                                        • 57:40 · Outro

                                          • I'd love to hear from you.

                                          Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

                                          Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

                                          If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

                                          Show notes, transcripts, and past episodes at gettingsimple.com/podcast.


                                          Follow Nono

                                          Twitter.com/nonoesp

                                          Instagram.com/nonoesp

                                          Facebook.com/nonomartinezalonso

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                                          59 min
                                        • #40: Music or Podcasts? Commuting, Meditative Walks, and Solitude

                                          During your commute, do you listen to music or podcasts?


                                          Books
                                          • Deep Work (and productive meditation) by Cal Newport
                                            Links
                                            • My Podcasts Not Music blog post (2014)
                                            • Oak meditation and breathing app
                                            • Hurry Slowly podcast by Jocelyn K. Glei
                                            • Deep Questions podcast by Cal Newport
                                              People mentioned
                                              • Adam Menges
                                              • Cal Newport
                                                Chapters
                                                • 00:00 · Intro
                                                • 03:38 · Why not music, by default?
                                                • 04:20 · Focus and meditation
                                                • 04:53 · Why listen to podcasts?
                                                • 05:46 · Solitude
                                                • 06:24 · Meditative walks
                                                • 07:16 · Once-in-a-lifetime audios
                                                • 10:06 · My commute
                                                • 11:46 · Remote work
                                                • 12:38 · Listening together
                                                • 13:23 · TL;DR
                                                • 13:31 · What's your take?

                                                  • I'd love to hear from you.

                                                  Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

                                                  Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

                                                  If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

                                                  Show notes, transcripts, and past episodes at gettingsimple.com/podcast.


                                                  Follow Nono

                                                  Twitter.com/nonoesp

                                                  Instagram.com/nonoesp

                                                  Facebook.com/nonomartinezalonso

                                                  YouTube.com/nonomartinezalonso

                                                  14 min
                                                • #39: Roberto Molinos — Plan for Failure: The Peace of Mind of Being Patient and Antifragile

                                                  Modelical's Roberto Molinos on the benefits of being patient and embracing uncertainty, a series of techniques, theories, and books that can help you rethink your company and market your products, and his 4-day workweek.


                                                  Roberto Molinos is an architect and holds a Master of Advanced Studies in Structural Design from Madrid Tech - Madrid (ES). He has developed undergraduate and graduate research with Rafael Escolá Foundation and POLE Europe program, completing essays on the use of information technologies in multidisciplinary projects.

                                                  Roberto is the Managing Director of Modelical, a technology consultancy working at the intersection of design, engineering and computation with an extensive experience in complex projects across the globe. He also leads the BuiltTech program on digital transformation for the AEC industry at IE School of Architecture and Design - Madrid and is the co-director of Algomad, a workshop that seeks to spread the use of computational tools among the Spanish-speaking community.


                                                  The strong bias toward believing that small samples closely resemble the population from which they are drawn is also part of a larger story: we are prone to exaggerate the consistency and coherence of what we see. —Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow


                                                  Books
                                                  • High Output Management by Andrew Grove
                                                  • Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Taleb
                                                  • Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
                                                  • Scarcity: The New Science of Having Less and How it Defines Our Lives by Eldar Shafir and Sendhil Mullainathan
                                                  • Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool by Emily Oster
                                                    Favorite Quotes
                                                    • "Your company is your first product."
                                                    • "[Those] who can price the products properly [are] magicians."
                                                      • Links
                                                      • Modelical
                                                      • DejaVu
                                                      • HoloBuilder
                                                      • StructionSite
                                                      • Dynamo
                                                      • Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
                                                      • Salesforce, SugarCRM, Contactually, Pipedrive (CRMs)
                                                      • Basecamp & 37signals
                                                      • Case Inc & WeWork
                                                        People mentioned
                                                        • Cal Newport
                                                        • Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson (the Basecamp guys)
                                                        • Sarai Zabala (Modelical)
                                                        • Andrés De Mesa Gisbert
                                                          Chapters
                                                          • 0:00 · Teaser
                                                          • 2:12 · Intro
                                                          • 2:29 · Roberto Molinos
                                                          • 3:28 · Career contribution
                                                          • 5:06 · Modelical is good at selling Modelical
                                                          • 7:29 · Your company is your first product
                                                          • 9:51 · The playground
                                                          • 11:58 · Techniques to market and develop products
                                                          • 13:55 · Engaging the client late
                                                          • 16:15 · The importance of pricing your services
                                                          • 18:18 · How do sales happen?
                                                          • 21:06 · CRMs
                                                          • 22:54 · Best format to distribute content and attract clients
                                                          • 24:56 · How do clients find you?
                                                          • 25:43 · Missing on potential projects
                                                          • 27:05 · How is COVID affecting Modelical?
                                                          • 28:18 · Promoting yourself
                                                          • 30:30 · Books to rethink your company
                                                          • 30:51 · High output management
                                                          • 31:32 · Don't worry about what you cannot predict
                                                          • 33:59 · Preparing for failure
                                                          • 36:01 · Save as much as possible
                                                          • 36:49 · A definition of antifragility
                                                          • 38:11 · Robustness or antifragility?
                                                          • 40:36 · Books that influenced your decision-making process
                                                          • 42:29 · Consistency tradeoffs
                                                          • 44:26 · Consistency and automation
                                                          • 46:17 · Buying peace of mind
                                                          • 50:44 · How should we use the time we save?
                                                          • 52:21 · Effectiveness
                                                          • 53:22 · The four-day workweek
                                                          • 56:23 · What will change after having kids?
                                                          • 57:15 · The time blocking planning method
                                                          • 59:53 · Best ideas and creative moments
                                                          • 1:01:11 · More than thirty employees
                                                          • 1:03:00 · From 3 to 10 employees
                                                          • 1:05:12 · Do you consider your life simple?
                                                          • 1:06:32 · Daily habits
                                                          • 1:07:44 · Work-life balance
                                                          • 1:09:13 · Success
                                                          • 1:11:42 · Role models
                                                          • 1:17:08 · Your message to the world
                                                          • 1:17:30 · What gives you goosebumps?
                                                          • 1:18:35 · How was Modelical's first office?
                                                          • 1:19:34 · Data-driven parenting
                                                          • 1:21:28 · Patience
                                                          • 1:25:46 · Connect with Roberto
                                                          • 1:25:57 · Outro

                                                            • I'd love to hear from you.

                                                            Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

                                                            Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

                                                            If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

                                                            Show notes, transcripts, and past episodes at gettingsimple.com/podcast.

                                                            Theme song Sleep by Steve Combs under CC BY 4.0.


                                                            Follow Nono

                                                            Twitter.com/nonoesp

                                                            Instagram.com/nonoesp

                                                            Facebook.com/nonomartinezalonso

                                                            YouTube.com/nonomartinezalonso

                                                            1 hr 27 min
                                                          • #38: Sketches — Newsletterversary

                                                            Celebrating a year of weekly sketches and stories.


                                                            Today, I bring you an episode that celebrates a year and a half of weekly sketches and stories. At the time I published this essay on my blog, I was at fifty-three publications. But as I write these lines, I'm at seventy-one posts. Happy Newsletter-versary!


                                                            Repetition, repetition, repetition. It works, it works, it works. —John Maeda

                                                            Links
                                                            • The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda (book)
                                                            • My published sketches (blog)
                                                            • My British Museum basalt stone statue sketch and story (blog)
                                                            • My writing habits (podcast)
                                                            • Stories are the answer (podcast)
                                                            • Newsletterversary (post)
                                                            • A4-sized Moleskine watercolor sketchbook
                                                              People mentioned
                                                              • John Maeda
                                                              • Lourdes Alonso Carrión
                                                              • Patrick Winston

                                                                I'd love to hear from you.

                                                                Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

                                                                Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

                                                                If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

                                                                Show notes, transcripts, and past episodes at gettingsimple.com/podcast.

                                                                Theme and exit songs, Sleep and A Loop to Kill For, by Steve Combs under CC BY 4.0.


                                                                Follow Nono

                                                                Twitter.com/nonoesp

                                                                Instagram.com/nonoesp

                                                                Facebook.com/nonomartinezalonso

                                                                YouTube.com/nonomartinezalonso

                                                                4 min
                                                              • #37: Adam Menges — Lobe: Machine Learning Made Simple

                                                                Microsoft's Adam Menges—founder at Lobe.ai and a former Apple employee—on helping people build intelligence into their apps by making it simple and understandable, his unconventional education, having death present, regret avoidance, grit, and his daily routine for note-taking, file management, meditation, and much more.


                                                                Adam is a product designer, entrepreneur, and engineer located in San Francisco who specializes in Artificial Intelligence and visual programming languages. He spent time working for both Apple and SendGrid before starting his own company, Lobe, which was acquired in late 2018. Adam is continuing his work on making machine learning more accessible, and researching applications of the technology for video effects. You can contact Adam to find out more at adammenges.com, and reach out to him at [email protected] and +17204840285.


                                                                Favorite quotes
                                                                • "You wake up in the morning, you reach over to the side of your bed, grab your laptop, and then you go until you're tired and have to go to bed." [22:40]
                                                                • "In order to be wildly creative, in order to increase your creative capacity, you need to be able to see the effect of what you're doing in real time." [24:31]
                                                                • "No one can actually context-switch, even if you think you can multitask."
                                                                • "[Lobe] gives you a springboard to understand what's happening behind the scenes and go for the research elsewhere."
                                                                • "If you are reminded five times a day that you're going to die, it makes each day much more meaningful."
                                                                • "All right, I'm never goin to be the smartest person in the room but I'll outwork everyone, and that'll be me."
                                                                • "You can do anything you set your mind to do. Don't hold yourself back."
                                                                • "If it becomes addictive then the technology is not invisible. It's very present."
                                                                • "The mission of Lobe is to make machine learning simple and understandable for those who are not machine learnists—those that don't code."

                                                                  • Books
                                                                  • Grit by Angela Duckworth
                                                                  • The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance by Steven Kotler
                                                                  • Einstein: The Life of a Genius by Walter Isaacson
                                                                  • Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers

                                                                    Links
                                                                    • AdamMenges.com
                                                                    • SendGrid
                                                                    • Lobe.ai
                                                                    • SmartGeometry
                                                                    • CSU University
                                                                    • NVIDIA Titan X graphic card
                                                                    • Machine learning (concept)
                                                                    • ReLU (rectified linear unit) (concept)
                                                                    • TensorFlow
                                                                    • ResNet
                                                                    • ImageNet image database
                                                                    • Grasshopper
                                                                    • Visual programming (concept)
                                                                    • Hacker Paradise
                                                                    • Mirrorless cameras
                                                                    • Direct manipulation
                                                                    • Bear (app)
                                                                    • Oak for unguided meditation by Kevin Rose (app)
                                                                    • We Croak (app) [34:05]
                                                                    • Markdown
                                                                    • Love Story Yoga in the mission
                                                                    • CrossFit
                                                                    • Widget tweet from Adam's countdown
                                                                    • Spark AR
                                                                    • Instagram filters
                                                                    • Shaders (concept)
                                                                    • All Birds
                                                                    • Statistical death
                                                                    • Flow
                                                                    • Deliberate practice
                                                                    • vvvv (visual programming language)
                                                                    • The Future of Programming by Bret Victor (talk)

                                                                      Media
                                                                      • Behind the Tech with Kevin Scott
                                                                      • The Creative Brain (movie)
                                                                      • Abstract: The Art of Design (documentary series)

                                                                        People mentioned
                                                                        • Samantha Walker
                                                                        • Kevin Scott, Microsoft's CTO
                                                                        • Bill Gates
                                                                        • Jonathan Ive
                                                                        • Markus Beissinger
                                                                        • Mike Matas
                                                                        • Angela Duckworth
                                                                        • Elon Musk
                                                                        • Steve Jobs
                                                                        • Lindsey Menges
                                                                        • Bret Victor
                                                                        • Cal Newport
                                                                          Chapters
                                                                          • 0:00 · Teaser
                                                                          • 1:16 · Intro
                                                                          • 2:15 · An unconventional education and avoiding context-switching
                                                                          • 4:30 · SendGrid
                                                                          • 5:38 · Apple
                                                                          • 6:26 · The beginnings of Lobe
                                                                          • 7:39 · The machine in my apartment
                                                                          • 9:20 · A consumer tool
                                                                          • 10:13 · The origins of Lobe
                                                                          • 12:17 · Projects people built with Lobe
                                                                          • 12:32 · Wind tunnel simulation
                                                                          • 15:06 · Parents autoplaying audio books
                                                                          • 15:53 · Tracking dolphin migration patterns
                                                                          • 16:59 · Is Lobe a black box?
                                                                          • 18:53 · Joining Microsoft: From three remote workers to eighteen employees
                                                                          • 19:49 · Early days of Lobe: How it was to start the company
                                                                          • 21:04 · What do you miss? Building Lobe while traveling the world
                                                                          • 22:10 · Visual programming and immediate feedback
                                                                          • 22:47 · Photography
                                                                          • 23:31 · Direct manipulation
                                                                          • 23:58 · Adam's daily routine
                                                                          • 25:45 · Meditation
                                                                          • 26:20 · CrossFit and Yoga
                                                                          • 27:00 · The goal of meditation and focus
                                                                          • 27:33 · Distractions and notifications
                                                                          • 28:02 · Screen time
                                                                          • 29:31 · Death and regret avoidance
                                                                          • 31:21 · Habits to have death present
                                                                          • 32:51 · A death countdown
                                                                          • 33:36 · A file system to be present
                                                                          • 34:05 · How many days do you have left?
                                                                          • 34:20 · Calculating your statistical death
                                                                          • 35:11 · Analog activities
                                                                          • 35:43 · Keeping in touch online
                                                                          • 37:01 · Grit
                                                                          • 41:09 · The Grit Scale: Angela Duckworth's work on grit as an indicator of success
                                                                          • 45:19 · Forgetting past fears and struggles
                                                                          • 46:52 · Deliberate practice
                                                                          • 47:57 · Custom-made clothing
                                                                          • 51:39 · Connect with Adam
                                                                          • 52:15 · Books
                                                                          • 52:37 · Media recommendations
                                                                          • 53:22 · A purchase of $100 or less
                                                                          • 53:58 · Success
                                                                          • 54:24 · Role models
                                                                          • 54:42 · A message to the world
                                                                          • 54:50 · A healthy relationship with technology
                                                                          • 55:38 · Ideas: When and where do you get them?
                                                                          • 55:59 · Creativity: What makes you more creative?
                                                                          • 56:21 · Slowing down
                                                                          • 56:34 · Simple
                                                                          • 56:54 · Intuitive
                                                                          • 57:13 · Your mission
                                                                          • 57:24 · How will artificial intelligence and machine learning impact our lives?
                                                                          • 58:35 · Outro

                                                                            • I'd love to hear from you.

                                                                            Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

                                                                            Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

                                                                            If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

                                                                            Show notes, transcripts, and past episodes at gettingsimple.com/podcast.

                                                                            Theme song Sleep by Steve Combs under CC BY 4.0.


                                                                            Follow Nono

                                                                            Twitter.com/nonoesp

                                                                            Instagram.com/nonoesp

                                                                            Facebook.com/nonomartinezalonso

                                                                            YouTube.com/nonomartinezalonso

                                                                            1 hr
                                                                          • #36: Daniel Natoli — The Making of Sisyphus

                                                                            Director Daniel Natoli on the making of Sisyphus, Getting Simple's first short film. A man is condemned to repeat a useless task day after day.


                                                                            It's easy to fall into the trap of mindlessly repeating the same routine over and over again. Every once in a while, we need to be reminded to stop and reflect; To meditate on whether what you’re doing makes sense; To find out how to get out of the loop and do what gives you joy.

                                                                            There’s no need to measure how productive each of your actions is—some of it should just be play.

                                                                            That's exactly what, as I understand, happens in the Greek myth of Sisyphus, in which a man is condemned to repeat a useless task day after day.

                                                                            Watch the Sisyphus short film.


                                                                            Daniel Natoli was born in Málaga in 1987. Traversed by his training as an architect, his cinematographic production focuses on non-fiction, documentary, and experimental formats. His works have screened at Málaga Film Festival, Seville European Film Festival, CINEMED, ALCINE, or CORTADA, among others. Currently, Dani directs the movie producer Peripheria Films, developing new film projects and distributing his latest works.

                                                                            Connect with Dani on Instagram at @d_natoli or @peripheriafilms or via email on natolirojo(at)gmail.com or peripheria.films(at)gmail.com.


                                                                            Sisyphus was directed by Daniel Natoli and produced by Nono Martínez Alonso, with the help of Marina Díaz García and Pablo de la Ossa.


                                                                            Links
                                                                            • Sisyphus by Daniel Natoli
                                                                            • Peripheria Films
                                                                            • Málaga Film Festival
                                                                            • Seville European Film Festival
                                                                            • CrioCrea
                                                                              Movies
                                                                              • Groundhog Day (1993)
                                                                              • Russian Doll (2019)
                                                                              • The Employment (2008)
                                                                                People mentioned
                                                                                • Marina Díaz García
                                                                                • Pablo de la Ossa
                                                                                • Giovanni Battista Piranesi
                                                                                • Giorgio de Chirico
                                                                                • Robert Bresson
                                                                                  Chapters
                                                                                  • 00:00 · Intro
                                                                                  • 00:51 · Daniel Natoli
                                                                                  • 02:06 · Making of
                                                                                  • 02:47 · Idea
                                                                                  • 03:23 · Location
                                                                                  • 03:49 · References
                                                                                  • 04:29 · Film festivals
                                                                                  • 05:22 · Other projects
                                                                                  • 06:12 · How did you end up in film?
                                                                                  • 07:03 · Connect with Dani
                                                                                  • 07:26 · Outro

                                                                                    • I'd love to hear from you.

                                                                                    Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

                                                                                    Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

                                                                                    If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

                                                                                    Show notes, transcripts, and past episodes at gettingsimple.com/podcast.


                                                                                    Follow Nono

                                                                                    Twitter.com/nonoesp

                                                                                    Instagram.com/nonoesp

                                                                                    Facebook.com/nonomartinezalonso

                                                                                    YouTube.com/nonomartinezalonso

                                                                                    8 min
                                                                                  • #35: Habits — Atomic Habits

                                                                                    How to create good habits and break bad ones.


                                                                                    This episode is part of the Habits series. In this excerpt from my interview with Scott Mitchell (episode 29), Scott and I discuss what atomic habits are, how to use them to create good habits and break bad ones, how I started implementing them in my daily routine more than a year ago, the difference between flow and deliberate practice, and why you should schedule your leisure time.


                                                                                    Links
                                                                                    • Habit tracker sheets template
                                                                                    • Flow
                                                                                    • Deliberate practice
                                                                                    • How To Start New Habits That Actually Stick by James Clear
                                                                                    • Nono's sketches
                                                                                    • Interview with Scott Young
                                                                                      Books
                                                                                      • Atomic Habits by James Clear
                                                                                      • Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
                                                                                      • Ultralearning by Scott Young
                                                                                        People mentioned
                                                                                        • Scott Mitchell
                                                                                        • James Clear
                                                                                        • Scott Young
                                                                                        • Cal Newport
                                                                                        • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
                                                                                        • Anders Ericsson
                                                                                          Chapters
                                                                                          • 00:00 · Intro
                                                                                          • 00:43 · Atomic habits
                                                                                          • 02:59 · How to create good habits (and break bad ones)
                                                                                          • 03:57 · Don't break the chain
                                                                                          • 05:41 · Meditation
                                                                                          • 06:08 · Writing
                                                                                          • 06:32 · Sketching
                                                                                          • 06:53 · Why?
                                                                                          • 08:15 · Discipline, flow, and deliberate practice
                                                                                          • 09:47 · Scheduling your leisure time
                                                                                          • 11:15 · Things are not obvious
                                                                                          • 11:57 · Outro

                                                                                            • I'd love to hear from you.

                                                                                            Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

                                                                                            Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

                                                                                            If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

                                                                                            Show notes, transcripts, and past episodes at gettingsimple.com/podcast.

                                                                                            Theme and exit songs, Sleep and A Loop to Kill For, by Steve Combs under CC BY 4.0.


                                                                                            Follow Nono

                                                                                            Twitter.com/nonoesp

                                                                                            Instagram.com/nonoesp

                                                                                            Facebook.com/nonomartinezalonso

                                                                                            YouTube.com/nonomartinezalonso

                                                                                            13 min

                                                                                          About Getting Simple

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                                                                                          Conversations on simple living, lifestyle design, creativity, technology, and culture. Nono is a creative technologist and AI researcher.