Operating in Flounder Mode

Sunday Serendipity - Volume 7

I’ve always admired

Kevin Kelly

’s non-linear approach to life. I first heard him on a Tim Ferriss podcast a decade ago and he’s been on my radar since.

For someone who’s influenced generations of thinkers and builders, he keeps a relatively low profile. He’s not “famous” in the traditional sense. He even advocates against being famous or becoming a billionaire. After all, he did pioneer the idea of 1000 true fans. I think this is part of what makes him so unique, that he’s not known for one big achievement, but instead he tinkers and follows his curiosities.

It’s a useful lens to adopt as we progress through The Great Reshuffle.

Our world is full of unpredictable complex systems, so instead of making grand plans, prototype your life with tiny experiments and operate in Flounder Mode.

Flounder Mode — that’s the theme of this weeks Sunday Serendipity…

Source

When I first saw the Flounder Mode essay by

Brie Wolfson

, I knew I was in for a treat. Flounder Mode. Even the name sounds fun.

After reading it, I couldn’t get it out of my head. It put to words so well the type of life I’ve been pursuing ever since I left my engineering job. I like how Brie didn’t do a standard Q&A profile of Kevin, instead she wove in her own story of floundering around in her career. It helps to hear other people’s life experiences when pursuing a non-traditional career path.

Often, the things we see and hear online about achieving success involves tons of sacrifice and white-knuckling your way towards your goals.

Brie talks about this in her essay:

Accounts of people pursuing their life’s work often include phrases like “maniacal focus” or “relentless pursuit.” I hear investors say they’re looking for founders with “a chip on their shoulder.” Facebook’s iconic ‘Little Red Book’ from 2012, which still serves as a pillar for peak tech culture, features a full-page spread that says ‘Greatness and comfort rarely coexist.

This is so opposite to Kevin’s approach. Flounder Mode is less intense:

Compared to this, Kelly’s version of doing his life’s work seems so joyful, so buoyant. So much less … angsty. There’s no suffering or ego. It’s not about finding a hole in the market or a path to global domination. The yard stick isn’t based on net worth or shareholder value or number of users or employees. It’s based on an internal satisfaction meter, but not in a self-indulgent way.

He certainly seeks resonance and wants to make an impact, but more in the way of a teacher. He breathes life into products or ideas, not out of a desire to win, but out of a desire to advance our collective thinking or action. His work and its impact unfold slowly, rather than by sheer force of will. Ideas or projects seem to tug at him, rather than reveal themselves on the other end of an internal cattle prod. His range is wide, but all his work somehow rhymes. It clearly comes very naturally for him to work this way, but it’s certainly not the norm.

Let’s normalize Flounder Mode

I’ve always preferred to study the Da Vinci’s, the Feynman’s, and the Bucky Fuller’s of the world. They weren’t considered to be the greatest in any one particular subject or skill, they just remained curious and followed joyful pursuits.

Those who are the absolute best in one category tend to have weaknesses in other areas because they sacrificed so much for their greatness. Listen to a few episodes of Founders Podcast by David Senra. He always mentions how a lot of histories “greatest founders” had miserable personal lives while those operating in Flounder Mode seem to have a more well-rounded life.

I’ve noticed that when you start operating in Flounder Mode, it puts you in motion with others who are poking around the edges and exploring unconventional paths.

When I came across

Paul Millerd

and

Vizi Andrei

, I joined their communities and met a bunch of other people floundering around. It’s awesome when you “find the others” exploring these unconventional paths.

Times be changing! (Source)

Sabbatical, gap year, call it what you want… just take a break and flounder every once in a while

Kevin was interviewed a couple years back on the How I Write podcast where he said:

I'm a big believer in sabbaticals and sabbaths, taking time off and goofing off.

Where you have no agenda for what you're doing other than the pleasure and the thing itself. This book, 50 years of photography, I was doing it almost like a compulsion; there was no economic possible reason for doing it; there's no demand or people saying "we need pictures" of the disappearing cultures of Asia.

I love that, take time off and goof off, great advice.

This is a common thread amongst those of us who operate in Flounder Mode. We have a great appreciation for time wealth. Instead of working 80 hour weeks, building a massive empire and hiring a bunch of employees, we enjoy a simpler life with less overhead cost. That doesn’t mean we don’t want to make more money, it just means that we know what “enough” is and we like to retire often instead of just once.

There’s the classic Coco Chanel quote: "The best things in life are free. The second best are very, very expensive"

It’s true. Some of my favorite memories are from when I took a sabbatical and moved to Barcelona. My perception of time slowed down, every day was so different. I was living under my means because I was scared to dip into my savings. It was during this time that I realized; it doesn’t take as much money as we expect to take some time off.

I think people tend to overestimate the cost of a sabbatical and underestimate the potential returns. Don’t wait until the end of your life to enjoy it, these ARE your golden years.

An invitation to Flounder

Another thing Kevin is known for is hosting week long Walk and Talk’s with his friend Craig Mod. They even published a guide: How to Walk and Talk: Everything We Know. By the end of the week, every person present has walked about 100 km and has had deep conversations with all the others.

These Walk and Talks are a perfect example of Flounder Mode.

They’re unstructured, exploratory, and often reveal insights along the way. I like the idea so much, I decided to host my own version of Walk and Talk’s, except instead of walking, we’ll be cycling.

I think of all the great conversations I’ve had with friends when we go out on our long group rides and there is so much beautiful nature to explore around Barcelona, I’d love to share that experience with others.

It doesn’t matter if you’re already operating in Flounder Mode and exploring unconventional paths or if you just want to take a break and see if the path you’re on is the path you want to continue on, this is for you.

If you’d like to do Flounder Mode together in Spain next Spring, fill out this form and I’ll be in touch with more details.

Until next time my friends,

<3 B

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