11 ways the World Cup can help you survive.

An adjustment to the Information-Action Ratio.

There’s a lot of stuff out there along the lines, “Can you guess the hidden meaning behind every World Cup kit?” and it’s hard to know how to feel about it. 

On the one hand, it’s an eyesore and a regrettable reminder of how our brains have been turned to mush. On the other, there really is a lot to learn from a coming together of 48 rabid fanbases from the four corners and the Lord only knows how many nations, cultures and languages they represent. I know a straight shooter respected on all sides who will tell you without a hint of irony that this World Cup is the most important geopolitical event in history, and the thing it’s replacing at the top of the charts is the last one.

The 1001 plays it straight, of course, because you don’t need clickbait or SEO bros when huge-if-true claims like "The World Cup is a random number generator" and "Everything is a tradeoff" are, in fact, true. The thing about kit-based knowledge - and I say this as someone who, at the behest of Grandad, could once name the home ground of all 92 clubs in the Football League - is there’s very little you, someone in the waning days of their career with a laptop job, can do with it, other than score points at The Parrot’s Beak quiz on a cold, rainy Tuesday night in Sheffield.

The real quiz is extending as many careers and lives as possible long enough to see the next World Cup. For that, we need to adjust the Information-Action Ratio a little away from titillating trivia and toward generalizable concepts that can be deployed day in day out at the desk in mum and dad’s basement.

I wrote a list of some of the things football commentators say which sound silly out of context yet will make you better at understanding contemporary workplace dynamics and communicating about them with your colleagues (human or otherwise).

You can bet your bottom dollar "11 ways the World Cup can help you survive" is unlike any listicle you've ever read.

From The 1001, an EA sports blog.

The World Cup is a random number generator.

And at the end legends be minted.

From The 1001, an EA sports blog.

Lol

Why isn’t there a shrine to the Unknown Donor at Roland-Garros?

Shot: “Rafa gave absolutely everything. He gave us everything he had.”

Chaser: “I gave my life to one of the most individual sports that exists.”

Rafa Nadal isn’t the GOAT, and neither are Federer or Djokovic.

(Biased as a long-time CoS myself, but) I co-sign your section on exec support. Here's a note I wrote a while back about CoS-type roles.

You don’t have to stick to your picks.

Changing your mind is not the second-worst thing you can do.

Success is a mess

I’m someone who learns by doing. I need exposure, practice, and feedback so I can continue to improve and hone my craft.

I'd go so far as to say we are all this someone. We all learn different things from doing different things, but I'm not aware of anybody who doesn't learn things by doing things.

Your experience resonates with me and mine, and I too am trying to figure out where the lines are, how best to balance the productivity gains we’re making today and the opportunity cost we’re paying for those gains.

It’s a dog eat dog world...

Unless and until we decide otherwise.

The Blog fka the Blog with No Name is now dba The 1001.

Everything is a tradeoff.

Pep Guardiola is first a dancer, second Mourinho's nemesis, and third a genius endlessly troubled by the impossibility of the game he loves providing him with the control he craves.

Mikel Arteta, Pep's disciple, is first and foremost a sicko.

There's all sorts we can learn from these two madmen and their race for the title, starting with how everything is a tradeoff. When you start looking at your favourite game as a short blanket, always forcing the choice between a cold head or cold feet, it makes more sense. 

Despite the best efforts of the just try harder and be better at everything crowd, the same goes for the workings of the “real world”. Few easy fixes. No free lunch.

If you've been enjoying the Blog, please consider subscribing via Substack! No slop, no spam, and it really helps with the wretched algo, and therefore with the impact. (Nothing at all to do with my ego you understand.)