#14: Craig Long — The Unexpected Life Plan

Craig Long on how life is in the moments you didn't expect, quieting your inner intensity, helping others achieve complex goals when they don't know where to start, remote working, and disconnecting from technology. Craig grew up in the mountains of Wyoming wanting to be an architect, and studied architectural engineering with an emphasis in mathematics at University of Kansas. He currently works at Autodesk, Boston, developing software for other designers that — like he did for several years at Zahner — heavily rely on computers to build intricate designs. After knowing Craig for a few years, I couldn't agree more with Kevin Rooney's description: "Craig is the mentalist. He can tear apart a problem to its root core to reveal the best opportunities. He can move easily between general ideas to technical execution in order to make [things] happen. He is also an incredibly kind person." Connect with Craig at (@craigalanlong). Favorite quotes "Life isn't always a deterministic process you know ahead of time." "[Listening to podcasts on my commute] became this empowering and centering force." "Part of growing up and growing older is learning that life is in the moments and things that you didn't expect." "If I looked at the logistics and analytics of how often I pick up my phone there would probably be very disconcerting information. So that's what I'm trying to be. More attentive [and] intentional about turning off those those stimuli and being more present." "Find what you love and do it to the best of your abilities." Links Zahner Arup Experience Music Project by Frank Gehry Guggenheim Museum Bilbao by Frank Gehry Stata Center by Frank Gehry De Young Museum by Herzog & de Meuron and Fong + Chan Grasshopper Dynamo CATIA .NET Rocks podcast by Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell C# Scala This American Life by WBEZ Radiolab by WNYC Studios Slack Zoom ShopFloor Google Earth Snowcrash by Neal Stevenson Alto's Adventure 2048 Chapters 00:00 · Intro 00:53 · Craig Long 05:24 · The plan 08:44 · Challenges 12:03 · Starting a project 16:09 · Manual vs. automated 17:38 · The fun moments 20:48 · Zahner 28:16 · The last man 33:23 · ShopFloor 36:20 · Things you miss 42:57 · Commute 50:02 · Remote working 54:55 · Helping others 57:04 · Yourself 58:08 · Creativity 59:39 · Your best ideas 01:01:17 · Disconnection 01:02:42 · Email 01:04:09 · Flow 01:06:14 · Habits 01:08:37 · Finding what you like 01:09:59 · Digital workflows 01:12:50 · Work-in-progress 01:14:48 · Clutter 01:20:51 · A comfortable user interface 01:21:48 · Simple & intuitive 01:22:46 · Success 01:26:12 · One sentence to the world I'd love to hear from you. Submit a question about this or any previous episodes. Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds. If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps. Show notes, transcripts, and past episodes at gettingsimple.com/podcast. Follow Nono Twitter.com/nonoesp Instagram.com/nonoesp Facebook.com/nonomartinezalonso YouTube.com/nonomartinezalonso