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The Newsletter | Edition 051
In our Off-White Papers, we provide practical guidance on how to respond to our rapidly-changing world. This newsletter explores those topics in real-time, with information and action steps on how to make progress now.

IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...HACK THIS
We live in a culture that celebrates the "hacker." Those highly ambitious thinkers and doers that find "quick and easy" ways to increase their success (and who love to share it with others). Whether it's for mindfulness, productivity at work, eating right, being more social, embracing minimalism, etc...it seems like there's a hack for just about everything these days. But are hacks helpful? Do they just enable us to ignore a root cause or issue that is triggering the want for a hack in the first place? And if so, how instead can we help ourselves progress?
  1. The ultimate hack your job hack, from Eliza Hadjis
  2. Hack your routine to reset, from Lucas Albrecht
  3. This surprising lunch hack you need to try, from Jess Vander
And this time, our illustrations from Damla Yenigun.
BUT FIRST...
Remember to check out our latest Off-White Paper written in collaboration with our friends at Kindred. In it, we explore the process of defining company purpose, identifying and serving all of your constituencies, and most importantly, how to encode this purpose into your organization by managing stakeholders, identifying the right time horizon, incentivizing employees, and building feedback loops. Or if you're short on time, we also cover this off (among other critical topics) in this episode of Critical Nonsense.

STEP AWAY FROM THE DESK

From Eliza Hadjis

TL;DR

I love a good hack as much as the next person (my favorite as of late), but there’s one place where I miss taking the old fashioned route: my job. Instead of signing up for yet another industry newsletter or hitting return on your 80th Google search for the day, how about trying out a nicely balanced Strategy Diet that includes getting away from your desk for a change?


WHY IT MATTERS

As strategists, we’re tasked with uncovering insights—about people, about culture, about the world around us—but more and more often I find myself glued to my desk. My days are planned down to the hour and minute in the name of productivity, leaving far too little room for spontaneous immersion or a quick burst of inspiration.

But as a strategist, I’ve never been disappointed by a conversation with a stranger. I’ve never been burned by walking into a shop, sitting down, and observing people as they move through a space or engage with a product. I’ve never regretted listening to or watching a show I normally wouldn’t because it’s what the real people I’m researching do with their free time. It only always makes the work better—makes me better.

ONE THING YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW

Stop Googling hacks, close the laptop, get up and go.

TIPS

  • Change your scene. Leave your desk. Leave your house. Get up and go somewhere. Anywhere.
  • Talk to someone unlikely. The next time you're stumped on a problem, call your Mom, call Grandpa. See who they’d have you talk to.
  • Break your routine: Finally use that “Culture and Learning” stipend your company offers. Do something you’ve never done before. Share the experience with others.

FORCE THE FROZEN CIRCUMSTANCE TO DANCE

From Lucas Albrecht

TL;DR

Pianist Nareh Sol attempts Erik Satie’s infamous ironic routine, “A Musician’s Day,” and what starts as a goofy gag and an attempt to round out a YouTuber’s content calendar ends up as a meaningful reset.


WHY IT MATTERS

In response to Louis Althusser’s formulation of ideology, Jack Henrie Fisher builds:

“The most telling symptom of ideological enchantment is in fact the belief that one is outside of its domain. Ideology always declares an outside, in which the subject understands herself as free, but ideology is always and necessarily blind to its own interior.”

Is ‘hacking’ the rejection of permanence? By hacking, we claim a stake in the making of a seemingly impermeable world. But that's kind of a lot. It doesn’t have to be this epic thing. Maybe hacking feels most potent when indirectly aimed at the soft indoctrinations that haven’t been cemented through conviction but repetition. A routine intervention can call into question the quieter decisions we unwittingly make and legitimize in perpetuity.

ONE THING YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW

Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. Or better yet, moonwalk uphill in flippers.

TIPS

  • Bend
  • Soften
  • Sing

PACK A LUNCH

From Jess Vander

TL;DR

As 2021 productivity “hacks” abound, surprise: you should still take a lunch break. But how ever will we find the time? AND make it Keto‽


WHY IT MATTERS

Hacks are often either extreme—obvious or over the top—when what we really want is a good idea. Maybe that comes in a clickbaity package (“10 Ideas to ‘Achieve Work-Lunch Balance’ or ‘Fight the Sad Desk Lunch (SDL)’")... or maybe, at least when it comes to second-meal, we already have the model we need. Like generous parents and enterprising high-schoolers everywhere, don’t think too hard (and channel Khaby.lame). Make your lunch for tomorrow, today. 🤯🤯 #HACKED.

ONE THING YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW

Pack a lunch for tomorrow.

TIPS

  • Pack up leftovers.
  • Make yourself a sandwich. Don’t sleep on a) good bread and b) sides.
  • Make something else.

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