Reading Time: 2 min In reading Matthew Dicks’ book “Storyworthy“, he introduced a practice that he started years ago, and I’m giving a shot as well. Matthew calls it “homework for life”, but I actually first discovered it in a video from Ryan Kelly; the video was all about his reMarkable 2, but he briefly mentioned it while calling […]
Learning
First instincts are often wrong
Reading Time: 2 min You’ve heard it as solid advice on every multiple choice test that you’ve taken in your life — if you’re unsure of the answer, stick with your first instinct. We’ve heard it many times, but it’s generally very bad advise. In fact, if you’re torn between two answers, changing to the other answer is roughly […]
Regret has huge benefits
Reading Time: 2 min A common phrase from adventurous people is to live with “no regrets”, but that’s not really possible. Say you’re considering breaking up with your girlfriend. The “no regrets” side would say to do it and test the open waters, but it’s entirely possible that 10 years from now you’ll have huge regrets about that breakup […]
Sobremesa
Reading Time: 2 min In reading Mónica Guzmán’s fantastic book “I Never Thought of It That Way“, she shared the idea of sobremesa. She tells it like this: My favorite word in Spanish has no translation in English. It’s the word “sobremesa.” It refers to the conversation that follows a meal while everyone’s still sitting at the table (“sobre” […]
The Waters of the United States, and why political leanings might not mean what you think
Reading Time: 2 min I recently listened to an episode of the EconTalk podcast, where host Russ Roberts spoke with Monica Guzman about her book “I Never Thought of It That Way“, which I’ve shared on here before. One piece from the podcast really jumped out at me; perhaps it wasn’t in the book, or maybe I just missed […]
It’s obvious to me
Reading Time: < 1 min As I’ve shared before, my primary motivation for this blog is selfish — it’s a place for me to think through new ideas and concepts. The act of listening, then unpacking, then polishing, and then sharing helps me to better understand new things that I come across. There have been times when I’ve been a […]
Organize your brain by sharing your thoughts
Reading Time: < 1 min One of my main ongoing topics on here is finding ways to better organize my brain, and it happens in a few different ways. I have tools like Obsidian (to store my brain) and Anki (to remember things) to help a lot, but this blog itself is one of my main forms of learning — […]
Significant learning comes from being wrong
Reading Time: < 1 min I talk a lot on here about being wrong, and if you read much of what I write you probably have seen some times when I’ve literally been wrong. Thinking through ideas in public like this can lead to that, and I’m ok with it. Part of this comes from Daniel Kahneman’s idea of being […]
The more you talk, the more you think you learn
Reading Time: < 1 min When having conversations with others, we all know that we need to do a better job of listening. As Henry Cloud has said before, empathy comes from listening. To really get to know someone, listen more. However, it doesn’t feel that way. In studies about conversations, the person that talked more often felt that they […]
You can learn more from people’s questions than their answers
Reading Time: 2 min In any great conversation, questions are being sent back and forth as you go through various topics. While the answers to the questions are certainly a great way to gain insight on the other person, often the question itself will be revealing. I recently heard Adam Grant sum it up like this: “Don’t follow people […]