In the time that I'd be normally working on a weekly blog post, I was instead getting my tail handed to me in finalizing last year's tax prep and the homework for my last two MBA classes. So that looks like me sorta phoning this one in and sharing some of highlights of last week.
Anne and I got to watch American Symphony, the documentary film by director Matthew Heineman that follows musician Jon Batiste and his wife Suleika Jaouad as he's having an incredible period in his professional career and she's once again battling leukemia. Filmmaker Magazine has an interview with the film's director and the wild lengths they went to in creating the work. If you've not already seen the film, make sure you do.
This past week was bursting at the seams now that I'm back in full-on MBA mode as well as Anne and the boys being back in school as well. They've had an unusual amount of "snow days" in getting started with their spring semester, so that's certainly smashing into the idea of me working from home. I'm also training for the OKC Memorial half-marathon, which is the first one of those I've done in quite a while. The weather hasn't been kind considering the deep freeze we're thawing from this week, so I've been dodging ice, sub-30° temps, and generally rough conditions. On Saturday I got in a six mile run, which is the furthest distance I've done in years. This morning I got in a short run before starting the day and felt like a sack of potatoes trying to be a real boy.
There's also a couple podcasts from this past week that I'd pass along. The episode about The Hybrid Worker Malaise from The Daily by the New York Times was an interesting one, especially considering how I've worked from home since 2011. There were quite a few issues discussed that I've personally had to work through myself.
There was also the "Surviving Our Lowest Lows" episode from The No Film School Podcast. Filmmaking isn't for the faint of heart and it felt like the two episode contributors had been reading my mail.
The third one I'll leave you with was from the Harvard Business Review's IdeaCast episode "Making Peace with Your Midlife, Mid-career Self". I'm in my early forties and certainly never made it into the cool kids club during Vimeo's golden age. There was also something in this episode about exercise and "how much more expensive a six-pack is" now.
If you've not noticed a theme, it's the first of the year, seasonal depression is a real thing, and from personal experience, I know things get better. Hence me training for a half-marathon this April.
I'll leave you with this last one just drilling graduate business school and the recent flood of MBAs. If nothing else, I'm totally at peace with not taking myself too seriously. Crazy thanks Good Work.