This has been an interesting year, and I wish you a great last day before we move into 2021. No matter how the year has turned out for you, I'm sure it has been "interesting", good or bad, filled with stories.
Happy Last Day of 2020
To figure out what you want, find what you don’t
I'd searched for a long time trying to figure out what I wanted but even after years never really figured it out. I have, though, found many examples of what I didn't want. Some of these things were for me closer to what I did want, some further. Mapping them all out, I'm starting to... Continue Reading →
The Barbell Strategy to Sales Operations
I first heard about the barbell strategy reading Nassim Nicholas Taleb's book Antifragile (or at least it was the first time I really understood the concept - I think it was also mentioned in his earlier books). In investing, the barbell strategy can be summed up like this: money to be invested should only go... Continue Reading →
Who’s going to know?
"From Monday to Friday," I tell the wife, "I'll be doing 100 push-ups. And Tuesday, Thursday, and I think Saturday, 100 squats. Oh, and I'll be aiming to run 20km per week." She looks at me like I'm mad. "What for? What'd you pushing yourself so hard for?" "I gained three kilos since the lockdown,"... Continue Reading →
All work is theatre
I came across a post on Reddit by someone who was working from home. He wrote that he felt guilty having on occasions hours to spare. "I feel really guilty," he writes, "when sometimes I have absolutely nothing to do. Does anyone else feel that way?" The overwhelming response was that it was ok to... Continue Reading →
Nature vs. Nurture
I'm currently reading The Sports Gene by Jeffrey Epstein (really enjoying it so far) and he provides a great analogy for nature vs. nurture, liking nature to be "hardware" and nurture to be "software". So here are a few things that really stood out for me: You are born with certain traits, i.e. your genetic... Continue Reading →
Nudging in Product Design
I agree with Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, the authors of Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, who argue that products and systems, especially those with which people interact to make decision, ought to be designed to nudge them in the direction of what best serves their true interests. Few, S.... Continue Reading →
the unforced error
An unforced error is a missed shot or lost point (as in tennis) that is entirely a result of the player's own blunder and not because of the opponent's skill or effort often happening because of impatience; inattention; or taking unnecessary risk. In other words, completely preventable. Life, I find, comes in peaks and troughs.... Continue Reading →
The books I read are almost ALL highly rated!
As I was going through my Goodreads account, looking through the ratings and reviews of books I'd read, I realised that almost all of them were highly rated! I couldn't help but think what a poor reviewer I was, contributing to a ratings inflation. Did I have an inherent bias of giving high scores to... Continue Reading →
I am thankful I have it easy
Yes, sometimes I feel overwhelmed. How could I not when I have to juggle kids while going 110% at work thanks to Covid-19? Who'd think a pandemic could complicate our lives this badly? It doesn't make it any easier that I also feel this invisible weight of fear for my own and my family's health... Continue Reading →
