- The Friday Fix
- Posts
- #79: Genius is overrated
#79: Genius is overrated
Shem Opolot
July 05, 2024
Hi! Welcome to The Friday Fix! You’re reading this because you probably stumbled upon this post somewhere on the internet instead of where it should be—in your inbox. But no worries; we can fix that.
Who am I? I’m Shem Opolot, a health professional turned content creator, passionate about helping people be their best selves in life and work.
Why should you subscribe?
I have over ten years of work experience in healthcare, program management, and data analytics on two continents. So, I know a little about helping you work smarter
I comb through tonnes of self-improvement content so you don’t have to, and I distill the content into bite-sized wisdom for you
I’ll occasionally make you laugh
If this sounds good, click the subscribe button below, add your email, read my welcome email (check your spam folder or Promotion tabs), and follow ALL the instructions. This is important so you don’t miss future posts.
Hi! I'm Shem Opolot, and this is The Friday Fix, my weekly newsletter. If you've received it, you’re either subscribed or someone forwarded it to you. If you fit into the latter (yes, I’m the kind of person who uses words like “latter”) camp and want to subscribe, then click on the shiny button below:
You can also skim the past posts here.
Otherwise, grab a seat 🪑.
Happy Friday 🎉 It has been a tough week, so this newsletter was hard to compile. One of my closest friends lost their mum, and it’s devastating.
Nothing is more important than your loved ones. Hug them. Kiss them. Tell them you love them. Spend time with them. Often.
***
Welcome to all the new subscribers, directed here by Prim’s magical staff. There’s a lot in here, and you’ll quickly learn if this newsletter is for you. I hope you stick around.
Prim—thank you. I should put you on a retainer. (I hope you read this issue; otherwise, this token of gratitude is an unheard fallen tree in a vast forest—awkward).
One more thing: I want to start a digital book club under The Good Library banner, but I don’t want to, nay, I can’t run it. If you’re interested in running quite possibly the most international Book Club ever, please reply to this email, and let’s discuss the details.
LIFE.
Genius is overrated.
Gif by nba on Giphy
I have no desire to be a genius, and neither should you.
Have you heard of Ms. Rachel? If you haven’t, and you have a little too much fun this weekend, you might find out.
Ms. Rachel created one of the most successful children’s YouTube channels to help children like her child who struggled with speech development.
But Ms. Rachel wasn’t an actor; she wasn’t a professional speech therapist, nor was she the smartest person. But she became a household option for parents who just need[ed] a break.
Roger Federer, arguably the greatest tennis player of all time, started playing tennis at 8 years old and toiled for decades until his style of play was described as effortless.
But Federer admitted that “effortless” was a myth he sometimes took offense to because it negated his hard work.
Steph Curry, the greatest basketball shooter ever, is often blamed for “ruining the game” because kids in high school try to shoot like him without investing the commensurate time it took for Steph to build his “irrational confidence.”
Ms. Rachel, Federer, and Curry agree that belief in yourself must be earned.
Curry takes ridiculous shots because he shoots over 1000 in practice every day. The same goes for Federer’s famous one-handed backhand and Ms. Rachel’s hypnotic theatrics in front of the camera.
The cure for imposter syndrome is discipline.
In fact, discipline is also a talent.
And the truth is most things are designed by people no smarter than you, and courage is in shorter supply than genius.
This anecdote was inspired by this video, this video, and this tweet.
THINGS.
A quote.
First make it work, then make it beautiful.
Federer’s speech.
Roger Federer’s Commencement Address at Dartmouth yesterday might be the best speech he’s ever given.
Amazingly articulate, funny, full of wisdom. Made me laugh and tear up. I’m so very proud to have had him as my idol for the past two decades.
If you have 25 minutes to spare…
— Bastien Fachan (@BastienFachan)
11:17 AM • Jun 10, 2024
A picture.
This weekend, Evelyn and I turn 5. We celebrated earlier by doing what we do best—gallivanting through the streets of New York City, momentarily getting lost, and having fancy afternoon tea while shirking parental responsibility. I thank God for Evelyn. Even when life gets tough, I know God still favors me because I have Evelyn.
WORK.
Wedding roll call.
This one’s a little difficult. Feel free to reach out for clarification.
You want to know who was invited but didn’t attend because you’re petty.
Here’s the data:
The names are AI-generated if you’re looking for some patterns.
We use the FILTER, NOT, and COUNTIF functions to check the column of invitees and cross-reference the attendees’ column to return the names of those who were invited but didn’t attend.
Best to explain it from the inside going out:
1. COUNTIF(range, criterion)—counts the number of elements in a range that match a specific criterion. In this case, it counts the number of attendees that were invited.
2. NOT(expression)—returns the opposite of whatever comes from the COUNTIF formula. In this case, if COUNTIF returns invited attendees, NOT will return those who were invited but didn’t attend.
3. FILTER(range, condition)—filters a range (the invitees) based on a specified condition (whatever comes from the NOT formula—invited but didn’t attend). In this case, we filter the column of invitees to extract those who were invited but didn’t attend.
This document will help you get started with Excel.
I got this demo from here.
FUN.
The Friday Fix Playlist
Shem’s picks
✅ Need inspiration for your daily routine? Copy the greats.
✅ Find the hidden word and hidden theme in the latest game from the New York Times.
✅ Mesmerizing time-lapse videos of plants growing.
✅ The 12 traits of emotionally intelligent people.
✅ What’s your friendship style?
Have a great weekend,
— Shem
Reply