I start projects when I’m stressed

Last week saw the birth of Considering today, and it’s quite on par with the way I handle stress. You see, between the rebrand of my digital agency (now known as Hedengren Agency) and a big client’s rebranding, my brain goes into overdrive. Not necessarily about these things, the things that I should be focusing on, but rather new ideas, concepts, projects, whatever.

I’ve always been like that. Thinking about new things when stressed is a way for my brain to decompress, weirdly enough. My wife and business partner shakes her head when she learns that I, after a long work-week, have spent hours on my free Saturday building a new site with some new technology I’m interested in. To her, that’s not taking time off, and in a way, she’s right, but it is a way for me to wind down.

This means I’ve launched, and abandoned, a lot of things over the years. Recently, I’ve not only toned it down, I’ve started to get serious about two things concerning this personality trait of mine:

1. Figure out what’s enough, and set an end date if it’s something that requires ongoing attention.
2. Failure is always an option.

Number 1 speaks for itself, I think, but the second, while sounding simple enough, is harder to accept than you’d think. It’s easy enough to say that it’s okay to fail, and thus abandon, a project, but harder to truly believe it. If failure is an option, then you got no business feeling bad about it. That’s key for me.

And yes, the Considering today projects follows these two, let’s call them guidelines, too. I have a set goal in mind, after that I’ll evaluate. Failing to reach that goal is an option, although I don’t think I will. Deciding not to continue after said goal has been reached is okay. Either way, this project (and more) helped me through the barrage of work that has been my summer. That’s a win in my book.

Linkage

💌 A newsletter by Robin Rendle that I found interested: Always be an intern – The Book Club of California.

📑 Microsoft is removing WordPad from Windows after nearly 30 years, pushing for Word obviously. No thank you.

🗞️ The Drift might have had an easier start than most, but it still underlines the fact that there’s room for niche magazine publishing still.

🤬 An interesting and interactive case study on how Instagram’s Threads app treat your privacy, with a nice little nudge towards Apple to do better. Seriously, Threads is so evil that it can’t launch in the European Union. To leave you need to delete your Instagram account. Don’t join.

🇺🇸 Interesting project with multiple online personas (all US), tryig to figure out who sees what in the various social media algorithms.

🎮 Looking to invest in one of the myriad of handheld gaming PCs? This spreadsheet will help, and/or confuse you further.

✍️ Popular drawing app Procreate has announced a 2D animation app, called Procreate Dreams, coming this November. Looks amazing.

🌏 200+ scientists thinks we can use the Oceans to remove carbon from the atmosphere, thus halting climate change. Fascinating, but still more science fiction than an actual solution, it seems.

Got something I should read? Send it to me, either by replying to this letter, tweeting to @tdh, or hitting up tdh.me on Bluesky. Thanks!

Currently

📚 Not much reading going on this week, I’m still struggling with Tad Williams’s The Dragonbone Chair. I’ve been mixing it up with re-reading the excellent Transmetropolitan graphic novel.

🎵 Alice Cooper’s new album, Road, delivers. Catchy.

📺 I’m not watching a lot right now, except the occasional episode of Full Circle. Not sure what I think of it, to be honest.

🎮 Baldur’s Gate 3 gets my gaming attention. I’ve decided to hold off on Starfield until the new gaming PC arrives. Oops…

I’m scheduling this letter on Saturday due to late night activities set to commence, and I’d while away my Sunday if possible. See you next week!

— Thord D. Hedengren ⚡