14 Dec 2024 #misc
Want to master any skill? Simple!
Show up. Consistency is king. Do something every day for one year.
That’s common Internet advice to master a skill and crush your goals.
Want to write? Show up.
Want to get in shape? Consistency is king.
Easier said than done.
Show up is good advice. But it’s only part of the full piece of advice
If you want to stay consistent, commit to the smallest action you can sustain in the long term.
At the start of the year, I joined a monthly reading club with some friends. In the first sessions, everybody showed up with their reading done. We were so enthusiastic that we wanted to read more, have online discussions, and write essays with our reactions. We even wanted to meet up every weekend.
But after a couple of sessions, somebody showed up without the reading done. And then, somebody else stopped showing up. And then somebody else…and somebody else. Eventually, we stopped our reading club.
We bit off more than we could chew. And like any plan, it didn’t resist contact with reality.
To stay consistent, show up, but with small actions
Want to write? Commit to writing less than 200 words a day.
Want to get in shape? Commit to doing 1 push-up a day.
Want to read more? Commit to reading 1 page a day.
And make it easy to finish your small action of the day.
Leave your writing app open.
Go to bed wearing your workout clothes.
Keep a book on your desk.
Small and easy-to-finish actions in the long run. That’s how you keep showing up.
13 Dec 2024 #productivity
That was the result of a study by the University of Texas, cited in the book “The Anxious Generation.”
In the study, they divided an undergraduate classroom into thirds.
One third left their phones in another room. Another third kept them in their pockets or bags. And the last third kept them facing down on their desks.
Guess who performed best at the end of some cognitive tests?
Of course, the third that kept their phones outside did best. And the other two thirds did poorly, with some differences depending on the tests. But they claimed that their phone’s presence didn’t affect their performance.
The mere presence of their phones reduced their cognitive abilities, even when they were silent or off.
If you have read Deep Work, you already know about monk mode. But to focus, you don’t have to go into strict mode and retreat to a cabin without reception in the middle of nowhere. Just ask your phone to give you some space. Leave your phone in another room, out of sight.
Now, while I’m typing this, my phone is in airplane mode, in another room.
So if you want to do focused work, leave your phone out of sight.
12 Dec 2024 #misc
I’m answering this Hacker News question:
Is there anything you’ve bought in the past few years (since 2020) that really changed something in your life?
They didn’t change my life, but they’ve made it somewhat better:
-
A pair of 5-kg dumbbells: Cheaper than a yearly gym subscription. With a couple of YouTube videos, they’re enough to keep moving my body every day.
- Money and personal development books: I bought print copies of these titles:
- The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
- The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry
- The Richest Man in Babylon
- The Psychology of Money
- Think and Grow Rich
- Unwinding Anxiety
- Purify Your Brain
-
Workstation setup: Since I spend most of my working time in front of a computer, I bought an air conditioner, a standing desk, and an external display.
-
Writing course: I’ve been writing since 2018 when I wrote my first blog post. But most of what I had learned was through trial and error. This year, I paid for a writing course and went all in with my writing.
- Eating out with friends: Some friends are worth every cup of coffee or dinner out.
11 Dec 2024 #misc
I didn’t pay for the most expensive hamburgers I’ve eaten. An ex-employer did.
When I say “most expensive,” I mean the same greasy $5 or $10-dollar hamburger from a food truck or a corner in a busy street. But they felt expensive because I ate them while working overnight.
I was in a “self-managed team”
In a past job, when my team was lagging behind the self-imposed deadlines of sprints, higher-ups told us:
“This sprint is behind schedule. What are you going to do? You’re a self-managed team, so decide that by yourselves. But if I were you, I’d choose to work overtime to keep up.”
“You’re a self-managed team” was their subtle way of telling us to work extra hours, without accepting any responsibility.
We didn’t have any say in what tasks to do and how. We were only a self-managed team when it came to choosing to work overtime.
They didn’t pay us for that extra time. They only bought us hamburgers. And, when someone raised their concerns about the quality of those hamburgers, they told us we should be grateful because other companies buy their employees nothing to eat.
Since I don’t want this to be only a rant…
If you’re told you’re part of a self-managed team, read the fine print. Look for signs of real self-managed teams:
Otherwise, they might expect you to work overtime without compensation or just buy you an hamburger.
10 Dec 2024 #misc
Jim Kwik is “the world’s #1 brain performance coach.” But he wasn’t always someone we would consider smart.
In school, he was called “broken” because of his learning issues. He wasn’t as fast as his classmates and couldn’t read. An accident caused him brain injuries that put him behind his class.
Believe it or not, he now teaches the very same subjects he struggled with: learning, reading, and memory. He’s the author of Limitless and the host of the Kwik Brain podcast.
Here are 6 lessons I learned from Jim Kwik’s videos and podcast episodes:
1. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot”
That shows the compounding power of consistency.
Want to change your life? Learn a new skill and practice it daily for a year. Read a book, learn a new language, or write online. Start with small, simple steps.
2. “First you build your habits, then your habits build you”
Wake up at 5:00 AM, take cold showers, drink water, go to the gym, meditate, journal…and on and on. It doesn’t have to be that complicated.
You can choose a simple routine: create something in the mornings, consume in the afternoons, and disconnect in the evenings.
Books condense decades of an author’s experiences into thousands of pages.
Reading is the closest we can get to plugging ourselves into a computer and downloading new programs to our brains in seconds, like in the Matrix. “I know Kung Fu. Show me.”
Reading is the best exercise for your brain.
The problem is most of us haven’t taken a reading class since school.
If you haven’t, start by using your finger to guide your eyes as you read. It will increase your reading speed and comprehension.
If knowledge is power, then reading is your superpower.
4. “Yet opens up new possibilities”
We are our first haters with our negative self-talk:
- “I can’t”
- “I don’t know”
- “I don’t have”
Reframe those ANTs (Automatic Negative Thoughts) with a simple word: “yet.”
“Yet” brings new possibilities and room for growth:
- “I can’t yet”
- “I don’t know yet”
- “I don’t have yet”
A simple word can change it all.
5. “You don’t get burned out by doing too much, but by doing too little of the things you care about”
Been there, done that. I got burned out when I tried to convince myself to do something I didn’t like that much just for money.
It took me months to get back my physical and mental health. Doing something just for money was a painful decision.
6. “Use AI to extend your HI, not to replace it”
AI is a powerful tool, but don’t use it to replace your HI (Human Intelligence). Don’t outsource your learning and thinking to AI.
Use AI as your copilot, not as the pilot.
Jim Kwik’s story is a story of change, possibility, and determination. From the kid with the “broken” brain to a world-renowned brain and learning expert.
It’s what you have between your ears that separates you from what you want.