#008: Spoiler alert: there's no magic tool
Maybe it's time you quit searching for tools, and instead model your own workflow
Disclaimer: This edition was written by our community member, Varun Choraria.
Hi,
I hope all readers of this edition are doing well. This edition is slightly different- with the change that there isn’t a featured story. There are actually a few. All focused around the theme of personal development, but from a first-principles based approach. While it may have seemed apt to compile the findings and share an opinion- but like workflows- every inference is unique. Thus, presenting to you a story-based curation around how you can build practices this year, and not static goals. Enjoy!
Week in Review: Highlights of our community
New launches- what our members are building
For all leetcoders out there, Madhur Ahuja published a chrome extension to format the code in leetcode code editor at a click of a button. It’s currently supporting languages like Java, JavaScript and Typescript. Feedback appreciated- check out the tool here!
Jens Polmski, launched his free tool on product hunt. It’s a simple tool that creates beautiful clubhouse preview pictures for your clubhouse links so you can share them with your audience! Do check it out here and maybe drop an upvote :)
Binge Recommendations
Kevin Jain shared this interesting video in #videos-and-podcasts channel called ‘the flip phone problem’. What’s interesting about this video is that David calls us all ‘junkies of the digital age with a comfortable problem, but not an incurable one’- citing that the dopamine levels released from playing the slot machine is the same as every time you open a social media app. Time to rethink how you can be more mindful with these devices, more powerful than nuclear weapons?
In fact, I’d also shared a similar twitter tool called ‘Twitter Demetricator’ that Removes like, comment, follower numbers from the Twitter interface.
Nitin Goyal wrote an interesting article on whether you should consider investing in Bitcoin or not. Here’s the link. It’s honestly a very good analysis on why retail investors should invest- considering all the action that’s been happening on the internet with the cryptocurrency!
In #random, Rishi shared this paper. The threat of an influenza pandemic has alarmed countries around the globe and given rise to an intense interest in disease mitigation measures. This article reviews what is known about the effectiveness and practical feasibility of a range of actions that might be taken in attempts to lessen the number of cases and deaths resulting from an influenza pandemic. The article also discusses potential adverse second- and third-order effects of mitigation actions that decision makers must take into account.
This is a great list of books from around the world, if you're looking to find an exotic read for the weekend!
In case you’re looking to feel inspired, here’s a list of the books that the world’s most interesting people are reading.
Magic bullets (tools) don’t exist. The magic of workflows, do.
“Each person’s mind works a little differently, and each person remembers and processes information a little differently. I think we all work at our best when we work with tools that fit how our minds work.
The Eureka moment that some of us feel when we finally find a notes app or todo system that fits our brains – that epiphany happens when the tools we use mirror the way our minds work, and how we want to move information through our lives. Good tools fit perfectly around our workflows, bad tools don’t.”
Okay, now you’re clear on why you need to better your workflows and decide which tools to use, that feels like a natural extension to your own self. But, what if your goal setting isn’t working out? Here’s some food for thought:
“Have you ever decided to work out regularly? If not, I’ll tell you my experience: it was extremely hard. After a few weeks, I began pushing my workouts in favor of meeting friends or learning languages (my passion and main hobby).
The principal reason it was so difficult was that I had decided I’d do it forever.
When you have a year in front of you, skipping one day doesn’t seem like a lot. After all, it’s only 0.27% of it.If you skip one day when you only have two weeks, you’re missing 7%. It matters a lot more so it’s easier to remain controlled and work on whatever challenge you’ve given yourself.”
The cherry on top, and an effective conclusion: how many of us can differentiate between change and action? How do we measure the nuance of both these inertial variants?
(Paras Chopra, thanks for sharing this article on twitter!)
A theory of change is the opposite of a theory of action — it works backwards from the goal, in concrete steps, to figure out what you can do to achieve it. To develop a theory of change, you need to start at the end and repeatedly ask yourself, “Concretely, how does one achieve that?”
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here are some highlights from the paper mentioned in point 3 of the binge
recomm. (do read the paper though as these highlights do not cover the entire length of the article)
https://invertedpassion.slack.com/archives/C88MV8UPL/p1611839413012300