Info refinery #12: Dyslexia, leisure, the error of omission.
I am back from my holidays in the Finish countryside living for some days without electricity and water. Was great but feels good to be home.
đ§ Whatâs on my mind
Over this year I have started to think that achievement is not that important in life. Is good to want to improve constantly, but being too harsh on yourself can make you feel frustrated constantly. Many people feel the pressure over spending all of their time productively, thus demonizing leisure. Who decides how to value your time? Is it society that sees time spend not making money as wasted time?
"Value of free time depends not on the activity you pursue, but on how much satisfaction it gives you" David Perell
Let's be honest, not a lot of people can say that they feel fully realized at work. Be disciplined at work and search for fullness in leisure.
What gives you satisfaction in life? For me my biggest sources of satisfaction/fullness are:
Creativity: Which explains my love for visualizing data and analysis, photography, cooking and music
Quality time with people: Being surrounded by great people and interesting topics over a table with food, it doesn't get much better than that honestly.
Optimize your leisure time for those activities.Â
Improve yourself by focusing more on your leisure activities instead of focusing too much at work. You will have the added benefit of learning/gaining skills in other areas that can be ultimately useful at work also.
The word "school" comes from a Greek word for leisure, skole. Let leisure be your teacher.
đ€Ż What have I learned this week
Regrets are mainly errors of omission: Paul Graham inverted regrets to yield a list of 5 commands:Â âDonât work too muchâ, âSay what you thinkâ, âDonât ignore your dreamsâ, âBe happyâ, âCultivate friendshipsâ (Link).
The golden rule: "You will run into people again and again throughout your life. Make sure they speak highly of you."
Black box thinking: Learn from moments of stress/problems and create checklists, to be better prepared next time you face them.
Prerequisites for behavior: Motivation, Ability, Prompt. From a podcast episode with Behavior scientist BJ Fogg (Link).
đź Interesting things
Dyslexia simulator: Webpage that shuffles words interactively (Link).
Hourglass precision: A reddit user took multiple measures for a cheap hourglass and plotted the results (Link).
Over-labeling?: Labelling can be a powerful visual cue, but when is it too much? Do you think this Airbnb host has gone too far?
đŽ Food for thought
Our brain is full of leaks, ensure to maintain knowledge by taking notes.
đ Visualization of the week
Pretty useless but interesting visualization