Reading Time: < 1 min If you do something often enough you’re likely to get pretty good at it, but simply doing something over and over isn’t the same as practicing it. In his book “Outsmart Your Brain“, author Daniel Willingham shares his thoughts on this: Aristotle was right in saying that the doing is vital—a lyre player must play […]
Learning
What am I missing?
Reading Time: < 1 min I’m constantly on the lookout for what I might be missing. I shared some of these fears a few years ago and how it related to game shows, but I think it’s largely part of being an Enneagram 5 — I feel the need to know all of the answers to all of things, and […]
Be willing to miss your exit
Reading Time: < 1 min There’s a saying out there that says “bad drivers never miss their exit”, meaning a good driver will take the safe route if they are about to miss their exit, but a bad driver will make poor decisions in order to make their exit at all costs. Here’s a great example, where the white car […]
The truth versus your beliefs
Reading Time: < 1 min Strong beliefs are great things to have, but when they contradict with the truth it can be troublesome. You might change your mind and be glad you’re now less wrong that you were before, but some people will hold their beliefs above the truth. In her book “I Never Thought of It That Way“, author […]
When you shove away the hostile, you push away the curious
Reading Time: 2 min I talk about this a lot, largely because I struggle with it myself — if someone has beliefs that are completely counter to mine, pushing them away is likely a bad idea for a large number of reasons. A few months ago I shared the idea of not “unfollowing if you disagree”, which can be […]
Wanting to remember something doesn’t help
Reading Time: 1 min I talk about memory quite a lot on here, as it’s a concept that is fascinating to me. I frequently talk about using Anki to improve what I remember, but that’s ultimately just brute-force practice. It’s a good thing, and I use it every single day, but understanding more of the science behind memory is […]
Honesty can lead to contradictions
Reading Time: 2 min I write a lot about honesty on here, but being honest doesn’t mean always keeping your beliefs the same. As I wrote more than 10 years ago, it’s a good thing to be willing to change your mind and it’s often the logical thing to do. However, changing your mind can sometimes appear as contradictions […]
The two uses of faces in Anki
Reading Time: 2 min I’ve talked about my use of Anki for years now, and it’s a tool I’ve used on-and-off for nearly a decade and one I’ve used every single day for almost five years. While I use it for a lot of different purposes, one of the early uses was to better remember names and faces. It’s […]
The successful explosion
Reading Time: < 1 min You likely saw last week when SpaceX launched their new “Starship” rocket, which exploded minutes after launch. If you’ve not seen it, here is a video of it: The odd part of the explosion is that it was actually a huge success. Granted, I’m sure they would have preferred that the flight lasted longer, but […]
Why do they disagree with you?
Reading Time: < 1 min Through the course of your life you’ll encounter many people that disagree with you. They might not like your political party, your car, your mobile phone, your religion, or any number of other things. Why? If done in the right spirit, it can be useful for both parties if you ask and find out. Going […]