Idea Surplus Disorder #110

This week's edition comes a week later than normal due to a self-inflicted copy/paste error last Monday that made all my hyperlinks disappear (I finally got most of them back).

Still, I do have lots of cool things to share, including how we should be thinking about AIs as “bags of words” instead of super-intelligent geniuses, why process excellence may matter less now, hoard-scrolling, better employee questions, and why CEOs might skip 1:1s.

Plus: pricing bad habits, taste as the new intelligence, short-lived careers, and the joy of house parties.

And as always, you’ll find a mix of fun finds, practical insights, and thought-provoking quotes to help you lead, live, and think more intentionally.

I'm Matt Homann, and I'm glad you're here.

Ideas + Insights

Maybe AIs like ChatGPT are really just Bags of Words:

An AI is a bag that contains basically all words ever written, at least the ones that could be scraped off the internet or scanned out of a book. When users send words into the bag, it sends back the most relevant words it has. There are so many words in the bag that the most relevant ones are often correct and helpful, and AI companies secretly add invisible words to your queries to make this even more likely.

Do you hoard-scroll?

The hallmark of Hoarding-type scrolling is saving good posts for later instead of reading them now.

The strangest part of it all? I have more saved content than I could possibly consume in the entire next year. Even just between books, videos, and blog posts, I have thousands of hours left of thought-provoking pieces to read and videos that might actually change how I see the world.

Ask a random sample of your employees these questions. You just might be surprised at their responses:

• What are the firm’s goals?
• How are you personally trying to help the firm achieve these goals?
• When you must make trade-offs, which of the firm’s values are prioritized?
• What kind of behavior do you hire for?
• Which types of behaviors do you promote?
• Which types of behaviors get people fired?

Speaking of questions, if you're thinking of launching a new product or service, here's a great question to ask:

Where are your users currently solving this problem without you?

Could AI make "process improvement" irrelevant?

The effort companies spent refining processes, building institutional knowledge, and creating competitive moats through operational excellence might matter less than they think.

If AI agents can train on outputs alone, any organization that can define quality and provide enough examples might achieve similar results, whether they understand their own processes or not.

Should CEOs have fewer 1:1 meetings?

In most large organizations, a typical CEO’s or senior executive’s calendar is clogged with 1:1 meetings. These are usually seen as necessary for alignment, decision-making, or relationship management.

But at the top of an enterprise, the very structure of these meetings is working against the organization’s best interests. While there’s lots of information available about how to optimize or improve your 1:1 meetings, no amount of improvement will help meetings that shouldn’t be happening in the first place.

Tired of sycophantic AI tools always telling you how smart you are? Try this prompt:

I want you to operate with a provocative and curious voice-sometimes
sarcastic, never verbose. Be critical but always constructive, and take a
strategic, action-oriented approach in every response. When developing ideas use subversive and non-linear approaches, rooted in tension. When I present an idea, don't play the role of a passive assistant. Your role is to sharpen my thinking: call out assumptions I'm overlooking, challenge my blind spots, and highlight any contradictions. Present the strongest counterarguments or alternative perspectives clearly, even when uncomfortable. Push me to articulate the value and purpose behind my concepts rigorously. Always steer the discussion toward pragmatic insights and actionable steps, ensuring my ideas are resilient, robust, and ready for real-world impact.

Put a price on your bad habits

Think of your income in terms of an hourly wage, and assign a corresponding monetary value to the time you spend on other activities.

If you consume the average amount of social media in the U.S. (about 142 minutes per day) and earn the average hourly wage (about $29.92), you’re effectively “spending” about $71 worth of time per day on this activity.

When you feel the cost of your bad habits, you’re less likely to waste your time.

Taste is the new intelligence:

Every time you read something thoughtful instead of watching some random show Netflix just recommended, you’re voting for your future self. Every time you build a library instead of a wishlist, you’re telling your mind what it’s allowed to prioritize. Taste is how you teach the world to treat your attention.

Is the new "career" just 18 months long?

The traditional career model assumes skills and roles remain stable long enough to build expertise and advance within them. AI breaks that assumption. When job titles can emerge and disappear within 18 months, building identity around specific technical skills becomes risky.

Let's bring back house parties!

House parties bring us together physically and allow us to be our noisiest, messiest selves. They are a space dedicated to lighthearted decadence and enjoyment for the sake of enjoyment. They are decidedly unserious in a world that feels suffocatingly serious.

Because here’s the thing about house parties: You don’t need to drink if you don’t want to, and you don’t need to spend a ton of money. You could even suggest that other partygoers drop their phones into a bag at the beginning of the night, to ensure you won’t have gone viral on TikTok by the morning.

Fun Finds

• The Analog Life suggests ways to unplug and reengage with the world in non-digital ways.
• 100 Years of Art Deco
• Get a Microdose of Art
• Coverjunkie is a collection of well-designed magazine covers.
• The last ShowBiz pizza (or at least the animitronics)
• Basic Computer Terms (from 1976).

Words of Wisdom

Fiction gives you a model for caring about things that you might not otherwise care about. – Susan Sontag

Be an Encourager: When you encourage others, you boost their self-esteem, enhance their self-confidence, make them work harder, lift their spirits and make them successful in their endeavors. Encouragement goes straight to the heart and is always available. Be an encourager. Always. – Roy T. Bennett

Mistakes are the portals of discovery. – James Joyce

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. – Malala Yousafzai

It is better to say yes than no. Unless saying yes will hurt you or someone else, say yes. Don’t say no if the invitation is scary. That’s when you should definitely say yes. – John Hodgman

The words in advertising are like the windows in a store. You must be able to look right through them and see the product. If you see the window, it’s dirty—and you’re going to see yourself, or you’re going to see the smear. You’re not going to see the product, and you’re going to lose. – Eddie Schleyner

If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else. – Booker T. Washington

Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be. ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Optimism isn’t a belief that things will automatically get better; it’s a conviction that we can make things better. — Melinda French Gates

You always find product market fit when your product is giving away money. – Bryce Roberts

Up Next From Filament

Every month, Filament delivers an incredible mix of free programming and professional development. You can find links to sign up for all of our upcoming events, including PlayDays, EmpowerHer, NSFW, and SuperCollider here.

Now Reading

If you've made it this far, here's what I'm enjoying right now:

• The Four Conversations by Blair Enns: One of the best "sales" books I've read in a long time. Worth it just for the examples of language you can use with prospects on the sales journey.
• Alchemy by Rory Sutherland: A deep dive into counterintuitive thinking from one of the best advertising minds in the last fifty years.
• AI First by Adam Brotman and Andy Sack: Just started this last night on the recommendation of someone I trust. I'll share more as I dig in.