Friends of Dave #432: 🌬️faces in clouds ☁️
Feeling lost? Start with simple answers to small questions.
It’s going to be a quick preamble this week, Friends.
Here’s a basic, gentle reminder for you (now or whenever you need it):
If you are getting frustrated and anxious searching for answers to big questions and not finding them, it is probably time to stop.
Instead, focus your energy on getting to one simple answer to one small question and just start there.
Take a step or two back if it helps.
Once you’ve done that, pat yourself on the back.
And then find another simple answer to another small question. Rinse and repeat.
Then, only when you are ready, move on to tackling the bigger things.
Focus on keeping things simple (maybe even DEEP AND SIMPLE).
Get unstuck and so you can get back on your feet and start to gain some momentum again.
Be patient with yourself….Be kind to yourself.
Tune out all of the noise that will not help you get to a simple answer to a small question — and, we all know, there is a LOT of noise these days…..
The bigger, more complicated answers will come with time.
But they will absolutely not come all at once….and not today.
Today just get in touch with a simple answer to a small question….
Pass it on. 🙌
XOXO
Dave
And now a few things to make you smarter…
With $438.9 billion in Chinese goods entering the U.S. in 2024, the country played a key role in shipping computers, consumer electronics, and apparel to American consumers. Overall, China stands as the nation’s third-largest trade partner, covering 13.4% of all imports last year. This graphic shows the U.S. states with the highest share of imports from China, based on data from the U.S. International Trade Association.
Have you ever looked at the clouds and discovered sheep, poodles or faces in their shapes? Then you’re in good company. In fact, so do monkeys and even Google-programmed neural networks. This might even be a sign of your creativity – as your brain just generated images from random patterns.
Cancers tend to do best in the tissues where they initially grow, studies have found. And when they do move, these primary tumors have preferred target sites. Understanding these migrations through the human body, known as metastases, could suggest novel treatments.
Canadians are not particularly amused when you eagerly point out their “eh” habit, but the word has become emblematic of the country in a way that is now mostly out of their control. But what even is this word? How did it come to be so associated with Canada?
The Great Recession led to a carpenter exodus. Even among the other construction trades, which have long faced retention and recruitment problems and for which there were ~400k unfilled jobs in March, carpentry stands out for its shortages. Builders have more trouble finding carpenters than roofers, electricians, or just about anything else, and by a wide margin. Cultural and pay issues have stunted the profession’s growth.