Life Hacks I thought this would be a good place to start. Considering the fact that I've had all these browsers open for nearly a month, with the intention of sharing its content. "When you have 90 percent of a large project completed, finishing up the final details will take another 90 percent." This, one of Kevin Kelly's life hacks, can be found here. Be sure to check out the links within for more. Silence We could all use some. But we could all certainly create more. Link here. "When we’re constantly fixated on the verbal agenda—what to say next, what to write next, what to tweet next—it’s tough to make room for truly different perspectives or radically new ideas. It’s hard to drop into deeper modes of listening and attention. And it’s in those deeper modes of attention that truly novel ideas are found." "Cultivating silence isn’t just about getting respite from the distractions of office chatter or tweets. Real sustained silence, the kind that facilitates clear and creative thinking, quiets inner chatter as well as outer." "This kind of silence is about resting the mental reflexes that habitually protect a reputation or promote a point of view. It’s about taking a temporary break from one of life’s most basic responsibilities: Having to think of what to say." A pause. Something so simple, yet so necessary. Make sure to check out their book, "Golden: The power of silence in a world of noise." I just finished it and it was a great way to start the new year. "The world is getting louder. But silence is still accessible—it just takes commitment and creativity to cultivate it." On Reading I never read fiction. I know I should (it's been stated that those who read fiction are more empathetic), I just don't. The goal for this year is to read at least one fiction book. Regardless, we all know we should read. And many of us do. But many of us also overlook the link between reading and writing. "You can't think well without writing well, and you can't write well without reading well." "You have to be good at reading, and read good things." "People who just want information may find other ways to get it. But people who want to have ideas can't afford to." So if you have an idea, you need to write about it. But in order to write about it, you should read about it. On Writing But of course, writing isn't easy. Our minds spin with ideas, many of which escape our short term memory. Then when we do start writing, all we can come up with are one or two sentences. If that. But we press on. We put ideas into words. We jot down our thoughts, even if incoherent. We continue this process. And write some more. For it is then, and only then, where we finally have content and when we are finally able to refine. Until we go back and read it of course. "You have to pretend to be a neutral reader who knows nothing of what's in your head, only what you wrote." What matters little is the sense that it fails to make. What matters most is that we write. "If writing down your ideas always makes them more precise and more complete, then no one who hasn't written about a topic has fully formed ideas about it. And someone who never writes has no fully formed ideas about anything nontrivial." A notebook, your notes app, post-it notes. Just write. Putting ideas into words is certainly no guarantee that they'll be right. Far from it. But though it's not a sufficient condition, it is a necessary one. Overcoming Fear...Cautiously "Our culture still treats mistakes as impediments when they are, in fact, the path to betterment." Experience matters here. There is no experience without "try." "When you have a history of overcoming adversities, you can become highly confident in navigating future follies when they arise. You are confident and cautious." "You can develop that confidence by marching into the din of battle, being as informed as possible of potential outcomes, and committing to adapt to whatever comes your way. Most importantly, once you overcome challenges, you update your self-talk and beliefs, realizing you can adapt to failures, which changes your life for the better." Courtesy of Austin Einhorn. People are confusing the quality of the communication of an idea with the quality of the idea itself. Communication When the responsibility is on the other party as well. Some nuggets on ideas and communication from Steve Mesler. "...good communication doesn’t magically transform a bad idea into a good idea. It simply changes the perception of the idea in a way, leading us to buy into it, invest in it, or simply believe it’s a good idea. But at the end of the day, a bad idea, bad product, or bad service is still bad." "It’s not their job to communicate better. It’s MY job to understand incredibly well." Space and Time Two closing links on space and time. First, the Luddites. An emerging group of "rebellious" young adults, intentionally creating space between themselves (individually) and technology, so that they can create connection, collectively. A tribute to 18th century, Ned Ludd, members of this collective have distanced themselves from social media and iPhones, to the point where they've reverted to flip phones for necessity, and focus on true connectedness and friendships. "And she began waking up without an alarm clock at 7 a.m., no longer falling asleep to the glow of her phone at midnight." "My parents are so addicted. My mom got on Twitter, and I’ve seen it tear her apart. But I guess I also like it, because I get to feel a little superior to them." In the end, what they've regained is time. Which as you'll see, is not absolute: "Real time is actually something quite different. In some of the odder corners of the Universe, space and time can stretch and slow — and sometimes even break down completely." "In places where gravity is very strong, time as we understand it can break down completely. At the edge of black holes, for example, the powerful gravitational pull slows time dramatically. And upon crossing the black hole's point of no return, known as its event-horizon, space and time flip." It's a narrative. "Time is a human affair — a result of neurons firing and memories formed and books written." Be free of mind and free of time. Boredom leads to creativity.
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