Tag: productivity
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Does automation make us less human?
How much of our thought process do we want to relinquish to artificial intelligence? Even Gmail’s auto-replies takes the burden out of typing in two-word responses with pre-populated text likes “yes, great,” “sounds good,” or “awesome.” Soon enough the computers will be the only ones conversing and high-fiving each other. Just as the painter imitates…
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Learning to think again
Humans are thinking creatures. Otherwise, the only difference between humans and other animals is that we have bigger brains that also allow us to speak. But we use less brainpower every day because we use calculators, Google, and self-driving cars. We’re not lazy.; we just prefer to do the things we want so we can carry on with the…
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What do we read next?
We suffer from the infinity of choice, to what type of books we’re interested in, all the way down to the format we want to read them in. Amazon’s recommended book algorithms allay the frustration of making decisions by taking into account your past reads and what others have read to suggest what to consume…
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Admitting that you’re lost
Whether you’re stuck in a labyrinth or looping around the same racetrack, admitting you’re frustrated and lost is at least a starting point. The hard part is developing a plan to do something about it. If you want to go pro in any profession, you’re going to have to practice your beliefs and take calculated…
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Confronting reality 👀
Goal setting is like game setting. You start at level 1 and graduate into unforeseen directions. If you’re lucky, you’ll ping-pong forward, making leaps and bounds. But more often than not, declaring your ambitions acts as a compass, guiding you with mere suggestions on how to proceed. Like a magnet, the lighthouse tugs you into its…
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V is for vulnerable
Shake it up. The only reason to play it safe is to blend in. But the artist wants to be vulnerable. Unsure of their work but certain of their originality and passion, the maker prides themselves on self-expression. They’d rather show their work then let it sit in the tiny backwater of the internet. Art…
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Feeling like a failure
There’s a reason why we always feel like a failure: We’re better off than ever. With the Internet at our fingertips, it feels like we can all get ahead but mostly all we do is fritter time away in the cesspool of news. Even when we make something, it adds to the millions of other…
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Fleeting motivation
Here today, gone tomorrow. Motivation is fickle. But what if you promised yourself you’d get it done regardless of how you felt? Going to the gym, doing homework, emailing the boss — there is no time like now time. You’ll feel incentivized if, under no circumstance, you have to do it anyway. Good habits are…
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Bounce back
Why does every new passion start off with a rush of positive energy and excitement and then die? Alacrity lives for the short-term. What’s new becomes old. Boredom strikes, a new and superior product emerges that we have to have. We also give up on our passions. The work involved outweighs the sticktuitiveness to achieve…
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‘The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now’
“The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now,” goes the old saying. Waiting to start almost always means never. The work in the head of a perfectionist will never match the reality it takes to get there, a path fraught with failure and mistakes. But you…
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The emotional journey of creating anything great
Why is it that every new idea begins with excitement but ends in the ‘dark swamp of despair?’ Writes Angela Duckworth in her book Grit: “Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare.” Angela Duckworth The key to achieving anything is not necessarily maintaining that excitement but pushing through all the CRAP (criticism, rejection, assholes, and pressure) while balancing…
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Following our external compass
The psychic costs of living in a place with gloomy weather or having trite friends is scarring. Our surroundings have a significant impact on how we think. That’s not to say if you want to be an entrepreneur you have to move to Silicon Valley or Hollywood if you want to be a star. Culture…