Idea Surplus Disorder #91
In this issue, learn why naming the dynamics in the room can transform bad meetings, how trimming the sails can sometimes be better than a full reset, and why brainstorming questions instead of ideas might unlock your next breakthrough.

Welcome another edition of Idea Surplus Disorder, where I share thought-provoking ideas, practical tools, and inspiring insights to help you work smarter, lead better, and navigate life’s challenges with creativity and resilience.
In this issue, learn why naming the dynamics in the room can transform bad meetings, how trimming the sails can sometimes be better than a full reset, and why brainstorming questions instead of ideas might unlock your next breakthrough.
You’ll also find wisdom on turning decisions into identity, rethinking goals with “minimum, target, and outrageous” benchmarks, and embracing “daily-ish” habits to make meaningful progress without chasing perfection.
And if you’re in St. Louis, don’t forget to join us next week for New Skills for Work and SuperCollider on February 7th.
I'm Matt Homann, and I'm glad you're here!
NSFW + SuperCollider
Join us next Friday (February 7) at Filament for New Skills For Work and SuperCollider:
- Anyone can attend New Skills For Work (NSFW) from 9 to 10:30. I believe NSFW is our region's best professional development, and it is free (a $250/person value). We're beginning this year with an updated version of our Meeting Mastery program, where we'll share some new tools and tactics to help you improve every meeting.
- Once N.S.F.W. concludes, SuperCollider begins. You can work with us at Filament or, if you've brought a team, grab a private office upstairs in CIC's coworking space.
Sign up for both on the SuperCollider website and let us know whether you'll be coming alone or with your team.
Ideas + Insights
Stuck in a bad meeting? Sometimes, just calling out the room dynamics can help:
We’re all so caught up in our own perspectives and agendas that we forget to take a step back and acknowledge the collective experience happening in the room. That’s where the simple act of naming what’s happening comes in. It’s like hitting a giant “pause” button on the spiraling negativity. Some examples:
“Hey folks, I’m noticing that we seem to be talking in circles here. Can we take a step back?”
“I’m sensing a lot of frustration in the room right now. What’s going unsaid that we need to address?”
“It feels like we’ve shifted from problem-solving mode to defending our positions. How can we realign?”
When done well, these interventions can be transformative. They snap people out of their mental tunnels and create space for a reset.
Feeling overwhelmed? Instead of heading back to port to refit the ship, perhaps just trim the sails:
To adapt an analogy from the Austrian philosopher Otto Neurath, we’re like sailors on a ship that long ago left port and now urgently needs repair. We’d love to return to dock and get it kitted out perfectly – setting up our lives so they’re just as we’d like them – then start the journey again.
Instead we have to patch things up mid-voyage as best we can, adapting incrementally towards the people we’d like to be. I have too much work to spend the next month designing the ideal productivity system. And you, I assume, have too many non-negotiable responsibilities to become the perfect, fully committed campaigner against injustice.
Don't talk to your customers to learn what they want. Simulate them instead:
You can actually have a conversation with an AI model that mimics their persona. You can prompt it with detailed information about your target customer—their demographics, goals, pain points, even their favorite industry websites. Then, you ask the AI questions, just as you would in an interview with a human customer. How would they describe their biggest challenge? What features are most important to them? What are their objections to your product?
Brainstorm Questions, Not Ideas:
- Identify the most important goal/decision at hand (this could turn into a discussion, or start with prepared material to work from).
- Take suggestions for any and all, large or small, questions it might be helpful to answer.
- Once you have all your question, plot them according to how little you know and how critical it is to find out.
Even Abraham Lincoln knew that haters gonna hate:
If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how, the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what's said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.
I'm often a knee-jerk reaction kind of person. That's why I enjoyed several tips from this essay on ways to like everything more, including these:
Being in a state of absolutely perfect enjoyment is an arduous task, which might not be fun to attempt. But you can probably just choose to enjoy anything 10% more by just letting your guard down.
But you can also often just… give it a second, and refuse your internal compass’ direction to go somewhere else immediately when you have a knee-jerk reaction to a thing or person.
Break every goal into three levels:
Minimum is defined as “what you can be counted on to achieve based on your past performance”. Not on your hopes. But on the reality of your actual past achievements.
Target is the “stretch”, that which is slightly beyond what you know you can accomplish.
Outrageous has an unusual definition: “what you know you cannot achieve”.
When you're faced with a big decision, consider the person you'll become after making it:
Each decision creates a new version of yourself—a person who now walks the dog every morning, a parent who will always feel responsible for their child, a homeowner who's tied to a location, or a business owner who works evenings and weekends. Ask yourself, "Am I ready to become this person?" "Do I want to become this person?"
Focus on Daily-ish Habits:
If you're prone to making yourself miserable by holding yourself to unmeetable standards, like me, "dailyish" probably sounds a bit self-indulgent. But it's the opposite – because it involves surrendering the thrilling fantasy of yet-to-be-achieved perfection in favour of the uncomfortable experience of making concrete progress, here and now.
Besides, it isn't synonymous with "just do it as often as you can"; deep down, you know that if you never average more than a day or two per week on your novel/fitness plan/meditation practice/side business/whatever, then you won't acquire the momentum to move forward. "Dailyish" involves applying more pressure to yourself than that. But (crucial distinction coming up!) it's a matter of pressure rather than of forcing.
Fun Finds
- A collection of fun, designy hi-res backgrounds for video calls.
- A fun rabbit hole: All 300 issues of Your Majesty's 10 Things Newsletter (that I steal links from regularly).
- Turn your photos into Lego brick mosaics.
- Remembering VH1's Pop-Up Video.
- Marginalia Search is a search engine that prioritizes non-commercial content.
- Supercut of movies breaking the fourth wall.
Words of Wisdom
It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well. — René Descartes
What you deny subdues you. What you accept transforms you. — Carl Jung
The end of a melody is not its goal. – Friedrich Nietzsche
I urge you to please notice when you are happy. – Kurt Vonnegut
Planning is important, but the most important part of every plan is to plan on the plan not going according to plan. – Morgan Housel