Category: Life
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For productivity geeks, futility is a relief and a starting point
A fascinating thread started at Hacker News about Oliver Burkeman’s latest post entitled, “It’s worse than you think.” There are words like, “pessimism,” “nihilism,” and “futility,” floating around in the comments. I commented in there a couple of times (1, 2), feeling confident after my own submitted blog post gained a bit of momentum. I…
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Overidentification
It really isn’t always your responsibility. Timing won’t always work out right away. It won’t always feel like this. People don’t ignore or reject you, they’re living their own lives. Things will not always turn out as you prefer or expect. It doesn’t always get worse. Things are constantly changing. Just trying is enough. P.S.,…
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Two sides of the same coin
Reality is skewed by perspective. You choose where you look. By accepting reality, and truth—every part of it, the saddest, most empty, hopeless, despairing truths—and not resisting it, you’ll start the journey to finding whatever it is you’re meant to seek.
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Less force, more fun
One rainy night, a couple of years ago, I stayed up late playing Pokemon. If you must know, I was grinding and gaining experience points, motivated by a streak of catches and an increasing multiplier. I knew better than that, because the video game was interrupting valuable sleep and sleep hygiene. Still, I felt like…
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Hotel playlists
Luxury hotels have a problem: choosing the right type of music, so that it sets the right ambience for the service team and for its customers. The Wall Street Journal: “While some cutting-edge independent hotels and hip brands like W Hotels have long focused on music by hiring DJs and producing concerts, the trend is…
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Optionality cost
I talked to my parents last night, and my mom was telling me about how she thought about my book while she was practicing her nagomi art. It was an awesome feeling. Obviously, that conversation wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t write the book. And I almost didn’t. I’d wanted to write a book throughout…
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Since you’re here, you might as well…
Stick around longer and get to know people. Pick up the plastic bag that floated right in front of you. Try a new route. Stretch or do bodyweight workouts. Pet the dog. Take it all in for a couple of minutes, and notice what catches your interest. Pause the music and listen to what your…
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“I wish I did this earlier”
True progress can be measured by the number of times the words, “I wish I did this earlier,” tumble out of your mouth. Sometimes, these words come with a sense of regret at the time lost not having this in your life, or perhaps even stupidity at how easy this other way is. If only…
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Once, or every day
In the words of Andy Warhol, “Actually, I jade very quickly. Once is usually enough. Either once only, or every day. If you do something once it’s exciting, and if you do it every day it’s exciting. But if you do it, say, twice or just almost every day, it’s not good any more.”
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Permission to ship
It’s one day until I ship something new. 3 things on my mind, in the hopes that each balances the other two out: 1. “For 2 frickin’ years, I thought it’s too early to release my app because it’s clunky, buggy, it’s missing features, blah, blah, blah. No one would ever use it, right? I…