Unteachable lessons, APIs & Tall Poppy Syndrome

Unteachable Lessons

Chris Williamson has a key insight that life is full of unteachable lessons. These are cliché sounding titbits that you roll your eyes at and exclaim "I know, I know" before ignoring them until it is too late. Prime examples of these are "money won't make you happy", "you should find balance between work and life" and "fame won't fix your self worth".

The reason these things are "unteachable" is that you have to feel regret to understand the words. You have to have had money, yet feel the same or have worked for 15 years to realise connection with people around you is more important. You can't shortcut your way to these outcomes. I'm writing this from a position where an opportunity to make more money would be welcomed so I'm not saying for one moment that I've elevated myself above these things. I think that's why this idea stood out to me so much. I know I'm sat right at the precipice and Chris has given me a photo of the top, yet I still feel the need to climb just in case he's wrong. Perhaps money would make me happy...

APIs - They run the world, but I'd never heard of them

At work recently I've been experimenting with an API released for the rental management software we use. For those of you who aren't aware an API (Application Programming Interface) allows you to interact with a piece of software to get (fetch) or send (post) information. An example could be using the Spotify API to embed your favourite playlists into a website. Up to the last month or so I'd heard the time API but not understood the power of them or how often they are used. When you sign up to a website and it offers you to log in with Google or Facebook - that's an API. There are thousands of AI based software options available to you, the majority of which run on the OpenAI API. Essentially, if you're on the internet you're likely using APIs all the time without realising. They are the building blocks that link services together and enable developers to allow controlled access to their platforms.

The Tall Poppy Syndrome

I was reminded of this in this week's issue of Community Service by Grace Andrews and Jordan Schwarzenberger.

The tall poppy syndrome is a term used to describe people with public success being criticised and scrutinised unreasonably. Although the term was first used in Australia and New Zealand it's used more and more in the UK as a comment on a trend in our culture; we like to criticise and "cut down" those above us. Whether it's your boss at work or that person from your school who has just started getting some attention online we often find that people are quick to jump on the negativity band wagon when someone starts to get (and show) success. A lot of the time the route cause of this behaviour is jealousy. It's very easy to see someone else's success and feel envy for what they have but I think there's a second level to this. If you see someone from a very similar position to you get some form of success you question "why them and not me?" The answer could be that they got lucky, but the chances are they worked hard to get where they are and their success is evidence of where your own time has been misspent or inefficient and that feeling can be much worse than pure jealousy of someone's circumstance.