Welcome!

There's 77 of us now. That's a lot of sevens.

The double sevens reminds me of a useful technique. When you're rating something on scale of 1-10, eliminate 7 as an option. 70% is lukewarm.

A 6/10 movie isn't motivating. 8/10 is. 7/10 ratings aren't useful. Remove them and commit to a definitive stance. 🤺

Thanks for being an early subscriber to my digital postcard. I prefer the description postcard (rather than newsletter) cuz it feels more casual, personal and specific to a moment in time. Each week I share updates, anecdotes and links to things I enjoyed recently.

TIP: First-time recipient? A reply will help prevent these emails being marked spam. Don't feel obligated to say something kind or clever. In fact, I encourage the opposite. Make your reply as conveniently incoherent as possible. A quick: "sDGHsdasd" is splendid :)

Sketch 4

Yesterday I posted this drawing on Twitter:

Tommy Lee @thomaselliotlee Underrated productivity tools: rest, boredom and play. Each creates space for new ideas to shine through. pic.twitter.com/E9mlBlFnS7 February 7th 2022 15 Retweets 102 Likes

Roughness Integration

I made a fun 'technique discovery' on this one. Initially I drew a perfect ellipse (below, left). Then I traced around the edges with a fine brush to give it a hand-drawn feel (below, right).

The circle is still 98.7% perfect. It's infinitely more symmetrical than I could draw freehand. The roughened edges help the circle feel integrated into the scene. It's a subtle shift in pixels, but much more cohesive :)

Consensus

I drew this week's sketch waaaay faster than my last two. Part of this is getting familiar with tools, and more confident in my process. Partly it's that a couple days before, my drawing buddy Prashant said:

This star drawing felt pretty straightforward, so I decided to skip peer approval and just post it.

• It felt good.
• After 18 minutes I wished I chose a larger font size. It's juuust on the edge of legibility at thumbnail scale. 🙃

It's interesting to me where I seek consensus.

I've never asked for a second opinion on my weekly postcard. Somehow that seems totally unnecessary. I think it's cuz the core factor of where I seek consensus is how easy it feels to do 'another one'.

Essays, drawings and pitches can be difficult to get near the finish line. After investing time to make one the best I can, I want to see if there's any blindspots I can learn from on the CURRENT piece. It might be a while before I'm this close to the finish line again, so I want to do so at my absolute best.

In contrast, with this weekly email my goal is consistency. A consistency both in maintaining my connection to you, and in honing my voice. So I focus 95% of my attention there. Seeking feedback would be prioritizing a 5% value secondary goal. So I don't.

Tiger vs. Shark

I've mentioned in past emails I'm exclusively listening to Alan Watts this year (instead of my typical buffet of podcasts). Here's a snippet I loved from his talk Reconciliation of Opposites:

It's divisive times right now.

Saturday I walked home on streets shut down by police and mask mandate protestors. A guy walked behind me hollering: "..Fill the gallows! Hang Trudeau by the neck! Hang him till dead..." and "Hey, Hey! Ho, Ho! Doug Ford has got to go!" Horns were honking everywhere.

There's a fundamental agreement that COVID's been disruptive in Canada. We share a common ground that we value our health. It's the specifics where we're collectively muddled. We're arguing sharks. 🦈

Things Will Be Fine

So far, my 2022 has been a high stress year. At any given time, it's felt like a 6:1 ratio of unstable variables to solid ground.

This track feels like deep breaths of fresh air. The song balances a steady upbeat momentum against introspective (but overall hopeful) lyrics. It's a good snapshot of my inner atmosphere right now.

Things will be fine Metronomy

That's all till next week!

Thanks for reading,

Tommy

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PS. Replies Encouraged :)

• If you have 27 seconds to jot an impression of this postcard, please do!
• I know each of your lives bustle with activity. If it helps, think of the reply as a text (rather than an email).
• A quick jotted: “I will never rate something 7 again” or "Woah, careful now... Almost got political there for a sec" is valuable signal of where to re-invest :)