Strands of Genius: Perfectionism and the Idealised Self, Platform Fatigue and Easy Listening, The Birthday Paradox

Guest curated by Matt Northin

Jul 01, 2021

:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, MATT NORTHIN ::

LOCATION: London, United Kingdom
PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: FestAmp

Hi! I’m Matt. I’m an Australian born, but New Zealand raised, Dutch-Maori Kiwi, living in leafy North London. I love that as humans, we’re all multifaceted and can be different things in different contexts. I’ve been lucky enough to share quite a few contexts with Rosie and Faris, four countries and counting so far (and Ashley in two!). It’s rare to experience friends in different countries but with them there’s always been a delicious foundation of cheese and awesomeness wherever we meet, and I’m hoping it won’t be long until we see each other again!

As mentioned, I’m currently based in London, busily working on getting my entertainment & festival startup off the ground, whilst also contracting on digital strategy for luxury brands Smythson, Marie-Chantal and Starpool.

Editor’s Note (Faris): I’ve known Matt for about 15 years and somehow we continue to become closer and closer friends every year. We met in London, before he worked in media, we hung out in NZ at his friend’s bach (ask a Kiwi), at the mountain house in USA, and in Amsterdam and it’s always absolutely delightful. Always open to traveling, Matt is one of our dearest friends, he embraces us and our nomad life, is a brilliant mind and a remarkably kind and fun human. We’re so excited for his new startup (we’ve seen the pitch it is characteristically great) and so grateful he weaved these strands together for us today. Like all the best curators, he really comes through in the following. We miss you Matt - can’t wait to see you IRL again soon.

:: THE LINKS ::

PERFECTIONISM AND THE IDEALISED SELF

One of the most discomforting aspects of myself that I’ve had to lean into this year is really exploring and challenging my own averseness to the uncomfortable. Starting a business is a hugely scary step to take, and it’s easy to fall into the trap of self-doubt and expecting way too much of ourselves. I discovered Nat Lue’s great website and podcast over the pandemic and some of my most rewarding self-work over the last year has come from her insights. In her podcast & blog post, she discusses perfectionism and getting to know our idealised selves - and how to change our relationship to it. (Baggage Reclaim)

PLATFORM FATIGUE AND EASY LISTENING

There’s no doubt we’ve spent more time on streaming platforms over the last year than ever before, feeding the greedy algorithms with all our personal data. I’ve got quite a lot of platform fatigue at the moment, and I'm trying to be more discerning and playful in the tech that I choose to use. Whilst I love getting exactly what I want to hear on a Monday morning with my Spotify Discover Weekly, I miss some of the play and discovery that used to be part of my music listening enjoyment. I’ve been really digging music platform Radiooooo, which allows you to choose a geo-location, a decade and a pace - slow, fast or weird. Then away you go! I especially love hearing how other countries did particular versions of distinct eras - the 1980’s in Brasil sound wild & 1970’s psychedelic rock from Korea sounds dreamy. (Radiooooo)

THE BIRTHDAY PARADOX AND OUR LINEAR, SELF-CENTRED BRAINS

The Birthday Paradox, also known as the Birthday Problem, stipulates that in a room of 23 people, there’s a 50/50 chance that two people will share the same birthday. The birthday paradox is strange and counter-intuitive - I’ve used this as an ice breaker before for group work, and it’s scary how often it works. The odds can seem surprising because as self-involved humans, we usually frame the situation by comparing just ourselves to 365 possible days. I’m a sucker for snazzy data visualisations that far exceed my own abilities and this cool one from Pudding.cool helps explain how the math stacks up and how our brains think linearly to jump to quick conclusions. (The Pudding)

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:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::

:: Game :: Rummikub. I’m still a bit bitter about my aunty teaching me how to play, and me subsequently learning to beat her, then her going on to win the world champions.

:: City :: This is a hard one! I loved living in Berlin, I’m always charmed by Madrid. I miss Auckland for its food, beaches and my friends and family. I can’t choose one!

:: Book :: My passport(s). It’s the most consistent book that I’ve taken with me whenever I’ve gone anywhere. It’s also the ultimate choose your own adventure book - you get to write it yourself and collect stamps along the way. I loved the Three Body Problem series, by Liu Cixin.

:: Podcast :: The Baggage Reclaim Sessions / Bad Gays: A podcast about evil and complicated queers in history

:: Album :: Belong - Common Era

:: BEYONCE AT COACHELLA ::

I can't wait to experience a whole heap of people coming together to enjoy shared experiences again.

If anyone's interested in chatting about Music and Festivals, or anything else, I love coffee and I'm in London. Let's shoot the breeze! Otherwise hit me up on the links below.

Matt Northin

matt@festamp.com

linkedin | instagram | twitter | festamp

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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.

Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.

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