Note: Sometimes, it can take me up to a year to turn a concept into a published article. I noticed this recently with my latest piece, Insights from Bjarne Stroustrup, Creator of C++, published this July. The idea for that article originated when I watched Stroustroup’s video interview for Honeypot last August. This made me consider creating a series where I gather insights from my findings. I would call it something else than a newsletter, as it might not necessarily be news-oriented but ideas-focused. And so this is the first edition of the Resources of the Month Series.
EconTalk Podcast
EconTalk is a fantastic free podcast hosted by Russ Roberts that explores various topics related to economics, philosophy, and current events. The episodes are designed to make complex ideas easy to understand and provide diverse perspectives. I like to listen to episodes during the week, and then on Saturday mornings, I review the attached long-form articles, take notes from the audio transcripts, and go over recommended sources. For instance, this week’s article was an interview with David Epstein, author of Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. “Range” is an excellent book that explores the advantages of being a generalist in a world that often champions specialization. I have referenced this book several times in my articles.
Barking Up the Wrong Tree Blog
Barking Up the Wrong Tree is a blog by Eric Barker focusing on practical advice for improving various aspects of life, including relationships, productivity, and happiness, using evidence-based research. The blog posts are in-depth guides, with just enough touches of humorous analogies, and are often summarized with actionable tips.
If you thought navigating a marriage was like defusing a bomb, adding a baby is like deciding, “You know what this bomb needs? More wires. And let’s make them all the same color. And also, the bomb is now screaming.”
This Is How To Make Your Baby Smarter: 4 Secrets From Research
There’s no specific moment when you know you’re getting older. No ceremony where they hand you a cardigan and a book of crossword puzzles and say, “Welcome. You’re one of us now. The Wi-Fi password is getoffmylawn.”
But the wrinkles and gray hairs start accumulating. Your brain’s default setting has gone from “efficient” to “making that dial-up internet sound.” And you wake up with injuries from sleeping wrong. SLEEPING. You know, that passive activity where you’re unconscious and immobile. It’s either laugh at the absurdity of it all or cry into your fiber supplement.
This Is How To Have A Long Awesome Life: 4 Secrets From Research
Develop Your Custom Happiness Protocol: Study your good and bad days to discover patterns for tailored happiness. It’s like turning your life into a DIY project, except instead of making a coffee table, you’re trying to assemble your mood with an Allen wrench of self-reflection.
We all have regrets, worries and memories that have the half-life of uranium. To end the carousel of angst, talk about what bothers you or, even better, write about it.
New Neuroscience Reveals 4 Secrets That Will Improve Your Memory
John Scalzi’s Blog, “Whatever”
John Scalzi’s blog, “Whatever,” has been running since 1998 and covers various topics, including science fiction, writing, politics, personal anecdotes, and pop culture. However, one article stood out this month: Biden, Harris, Trump, and 2024. It is a delicious read and should be savored in its entirety.
Mindcraft Stories
Mindcraft Stories is a Romanian website that publishes science and technology articles about how new scientific progress will affect our everyday lives. For non-Romanian speakers, an option to translate articles is to open this website with Google Chrome, right-click with the mouse, and select “Translate to English.”
Never Too Small YouTube Channel
Never Too Small is a YouTube channel dedicated to ingenious solutions adapted to small-footprint living. Some of my favorite videos are The Cairo Flat (the versatility of the curtain — such a simple and sophisticated solution!) or Flexible Minimalist Micro Apartment (every detail is well thought out and adapted to the client’s needs). Some designs are highly personal (Lego collector’s minimalist apartment or Iconic Tokyo Architect’s Tiny House), which shows how different we all are, just like everyone else.
The Atlantic’s 3-Minute Video on Leonardo da Vinci
For my Leonardo da Vinci article, I tried to find a video explaining the tens of pages Walter Isaacson wrote about all of da Vinci’s innovations that helped him paint the Mona Lisa. This 3-minute video from The Atlantic is a perfect fit.
Tackling Procrastination
A short video from A Life Engineered YouTube channel tries to approach procrastination from different corners:
- Feeling Unmotivated: Just start working and commit to focusing for five minutes. Turn off notifications to minimize distractions. Often, this initial effort leads to working much longer than planned.
- Feeling Stuck: Use a pen and paper to brainstorm solutions — the more specific the brainstorming, the better. Come up with three possible solutions and try them out.
- Feeling Overwhelmed: Break down tasks into smaller, manageable steps. List all major steps involved in the task. For each significant step, create even smaller steps. Start checking off items from your list to make progress.
Bedtime Revenge Procrastination is often caused by feeling like we haven’t had enough time for ourselves during the day. As a result, we might seek out enjoyable activities like watching YouTube videos, streams, TV shows, or playing video games before going to sleep to make up for this lack of personal time.
Learned a very relatable term today: “報復性熬夜” (revenge bedtime procrastination), a phenomenon in which people who don’t have much control over their daytime life refuse to sleep early in order to regain some sense of freedom during late night hours.
This video, STOP putting off bedtime: try these 3 tips from Psychology from the Presenting Psychology YouTube channel, presents potential solutions. In essence:
- Distributing short periods of ‘me time’ throughout the day can help combat bedtime procrastination. Consider the principle of ‘hyperbolic discounting,‘ a cognitive bias where people tend to prefer smaller, immediate rewards over larger, delayed ones. By scheduling shorter, more frequent periods of personal time during the day, we can reduce the urge to reclaim personal time just before bed.
- Create a More Appealing Bedtime Routine. We often delay going to bed because we might have a never-ending laundry list of to-do items (put the bins out, tidy up, make lunch for the next day, etc.). We could potentially do these tasks earlier in the evening to make bedtime more enjoyable. “Implementation intentions” (if/then statements) might ensure these tasks are done earlier. Implementation intentions might sound too easy, but they are a well-tested exercise to create or break habits.
- Plan for Incomplete or Ongoing Tasks. Research has indicated that some people delay going to bed not because they dislike sleep but because they are anxious about what awaits them the next day. This “tomorrow aversion” is the reluctance to face the next day’s tasks, often due to the “Zeigarnik Effect,” where unfinished tasks weigh heavily on the mind. Writing down a specific plan for completing unfinished tasks can reduce anxiety and intrusive thoughts. The plans need to be detailed, specifying when, where, and how tasks will be completed. (See Proven Strategies against Procrastination)
Above all, remember that these tips can always be tried… later.
Source: Pidjin
Until next month, happy exploring!