Mark Manson - Your goals are overrated
And here I am, helping entrepreneurs set goals for themselves. But just as important (and what I always also talk about) is creating habits. Habits create “free” progress because after a while they’re second nature. And habits compound. Once you have one, the next one is easier to add. Here, Mark gives the 6 he views as the foundational. Which one will you add to your life?
Ryan Holiday - The Real Reason We Need to Stop Trying to Protect Everyone’s Feelings
Yes, him again. He warns us about trying to be overly politically correct. Not hurting everyone’s feelings sounds like a good idea. Or at least a well-intended one. But, since there is always somebody who could possibly be hurt, it’s a slippery slope. Following its reasoning, it leads to censorship and limits freedom of speech. And, a more empowering way to protect someone, is to let them make their own decision to be offended or not.
Ryan Holiday - 31 Ways To Get More ‘Deep Work’ Accomplished
Sure. Interaction is good. And yes. multitasking has its uses. But some tasks need deep work. Intense concentration and cognitive focus to make real progress. Problem is, we’re more and more being conditioned into shallow work. Here are 31 ways Ryan Holiday uses. Some are: Scheduling distractions, getting off-grid and practicing it.
How to make choices. 11 ways to reframe to make decisions easier.
Making a decision can be super hard. But they're super helpful because they allow you to free up more of your energy on the task at hand. Here are 11 ways to reframe your choice at hand and help you make better decisions.
Brainpickings: Ella Frances Sanders - Lost in translation
Some words are impossible to translate. And every language has a few of these. “Gezellig" anyone? Ella Frances Sanders collected many of these and illustrated them beautifully. Tsundoku. A Japanese word that describes leaving a book unopened after buying it. Trepverter. A Yiddish word for a witty comeback you only think of only when it is too late to use it. Totally! I want that word! Or Fika of course.
TED Ideas: Jessica Gross - How the languages we speak can affect the way we think
Every culture develops its own language. But how does the language we speak develop the culture? It turns out it does. You might save more if your language doesn’t differentiate between the future and the present. Or you might be good at orienting yourself if your language uses north or east to indicate where something is from you instead of left or right. Or you might be very fast to know your own gender (that was weird) if you grow up with many linguistic gender markers around.
Farnam Street - How analogies reveal connections, spark innovation, and sell our greatest ideas
Sticking with communication. Analogies are powerful allies in getting a point across. This article illustrates their use and effect with nice examples. "The tide". “The Permission Slip”. "The Great Train Robbery”. And breaks down their anatomy. Use them at your own peril!
New York Times - 95,000 words, many of them ominous, from Donald Trump’s tongue
You might be very surprised that Trump has become so popular. His ideas seem ridiculous. His views offensive. And that hair!! Remind you of anyone? One of the reason is his use of language. He’s quite the NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) expert. And wins over crowds by framing an argument in such a way that it plays on their emotions. The New York Times went over 95,000 words of transcripts of his public speeches and found some patterns. Interesting read.
Also, check out this video analysis of how Trump talks by Nerdwriter, another favorite of mine.
New York Times - Zombie nouns
Writer tip to bring your language back to life: Avoid all Zombie Nouns. The what now? Zombie nouns. Nouns (zelfstandig naamwoorden) created by adding a suffix like -ity, -tion or -ism to a verb, additive or even to another noun. Congrats you’ve just created a new word that sounds super smart! But that word is as good as dead and will send the reader to sleep. Prevent these toxic monsters! And if you prefer video, here it is.
Nerdwriter’s YouTube Channel
Ah. A proud nerd! This guys is nerding out on the most obscure topics. From different philosophers to the Japanese mending practice Kintsugi. And explaining paintings and art house movies. And he explains these topics very eloquently. A great way to get smarter without doing the 'heavy lifting' of reading. To get started check out his video’s on Morality, Ceci n’est pas une pipe or Pan’s Labyrinth.
BBC Magazine - How creativity is helped by failure
Permission to fail. A great new year’s resolution. Art and innovation get better by making progress. They're not conceived by the initial idea or by thinking really hard about a solution. You need to try and thus often fail in order to eventually find that gem. This art exhibition doesn’t just show the eventual masterpieces but shows the mess-ups, rough drafts and preliminary sketches.
Coding Horror - Rubber Duck Problem Solving
Remember that feeling. In class. When you raised your finger to ask a question. And just when you started speaking it, you thought of the answer? In earlier newsletters, I’ve shared articles about questions. How great questions can shift the way you look at a problem. But the power goes further. Just thinking about a question and working to phrase it better can help you figure out the answer. So, when you don’t know the answer, try to explain the question out loud to your rubber duck.
New York Times - Choose to be grateful. It will make you happier.
For the holiday spirit! I love it when cause and effect can also be reversed. As positive psychology has been saying, you don’t have to be successful to be happy. It’s the other way around. And you don’t have to be happy to be grateful. Again, it’s the other way around. So be happy by choosing to be grateful! Oh, but beware, apparently there are side effects. Like, you wanting more sweets. Aptly called: The Pumpkin Pie Paradox.
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
You’ve probably heard of Occam’s razor. "Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected."
But have you heard of Hanlon’s razor? They are similar in that they both shave off unnecessary and unlikely parts of thinking. Hanlon’s razor goes as follows:
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
Letting go of something you’ve build.
It’s been 4 years (almost to the date) that we launched De Universiteit. 4 years. That’s a big chunk of time. It’s been quite a ride. And for me, that ride is coming to an end.
In this “open letter”, I want to share my thought process. My intention is to share how this decision has come about and what my reasoning was for retiring my role in De Universiteit. To share my experience and view on what we’ve created. And how it is to let something go that you’ve build. Hopefully, reading this is helpful to you and De Universiteit in some way.