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  • Seeking Sacrifice

    Jun 18, 2021

    While living in a world of instant gratification and getting things done immediately, seeking sacrifice becomes important. The Society seeks experiences that are meant for instant consumption, related to the current period of time and are subject to urgent action.

    All this comes from a place of greed and even though it is satisfying in that very instant, hard work and sacrifice are more satisfying in a long term. All the gratification gets old and forgotten very quickly.

    As you might have heard about the story of the Monkey Trap – a monkey puts his hand inside a jar of cookies to grab one. He realises that his hand is now stuck. The cookie is too large, the only way to get his hand out would be to leave the cookie in the jar and sacrifice it.

    The monkey doesn’t do this out of greed and instead holds the cookie even more tightly. As a result, the hunters who set up the trap come and catch him. Seeking Sacrifice becomes important to get out of the trap of selfishness and lightning urge, which I’m sure everyone today can relate to.

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  • Good Reasoning

    Jun 17, 2021

    “Sir, you are giving a reason for it; but that will not make it right. You may have a reason why two and two should make five; but they will still make but four.” – Samuel Johnson

    Reliable reasoning is the building blocks of a strong argument. Not all reasons are good and not all of them are true. Good reasoning comes from a place of relevancy and knowledge.

    People who have better-grounded opinions are able to have better discussions because they can well elaborate on it and convince people.

    Good reasoning signifies the cause and purpose in a manner that makes it capable of carrying the “third operation” of our mind. It comes from thinking about “from what cause” and “from what purpose” of the action.

    Another way of bringing the effective reasons out is by framing them using  “because”, “therefore”, “hence” and “since”.

    They usually need to have a premise or a set to start from. And as described by this paper from the University of Southampton, reasoning does not always lead to new attitudes – sometimes it  leads us to reaffirm the existing one or to drop the attitude completely.

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  • Being Average – Sunday Clippings #10

    Jun 13, 2021

    Hello there,

    This week’s blog posts are A Good Definition on what makes a definition efficient and valuable for the audience and a list of Completed Proverbs by Lisle de Vaux Matthewman. Moving on to the newsletter now.

    This issue is inspired by one of the poems I recently read called “To the Average Men” by Wallace Irwin. Wallace is known for his clever and humorous writing and this was the first poem in his book called Random rhymes and odd numbers. It describes the life of an average man, with average circumstances, average expectations and average results.

    In this poem, he goes from writing:
    “Statistics declare that the Average Man
    Finds the Average Woman and mates;
    That the Average Family, children all told,
    Is something like two and three-eights.
    (Though fractional children disturb and appal,
    The Average Man isn’t worried at all.)”

    to “But deep in the breast of the Average Man
    The passions of ages are swirled,
    And the loves and the hates of the Average Man
    Are old as the heart of the world
    For the thought of the Race, as we live and we die,
    Is in keeping the Man and the Average high.”

    I believe that there are two opinions on this. There’s a set of people who feels that being average makes you happier and more grateful as Wallace writes in most of this poem. It keeps you stress-free as you’re mediocre in everything and aren’t setting unrealistic standards for yourself.

    The other point of view is more common – Being average restricts you and deprives you of the greater things you want to achieve. Being average makes your life boring and makes you less ambitious as you start settling with the result you get. I recently overheard someone say, “Aim for higher than you want, this way you’ll be able to at least get what you want.”

    I understand both the viewpoints here and there’s a considerable amount of evidence to support both of them. Some studies even suggest that the ‘Better than Average Effect’ is observed because “average” is often construed as the below-median ability:

    “[..]when assessing self-enhancement bias in comparative judgments of ability, it is important to ascertain how the judges interpret “average ability” and accordingly interpret the results with caution. When asked to compare their ability to an average person, some people may not grasp the intended meaning of the comparison target (e.g., median ability). Indeed, as studies have shown, when people are asked to compare their abilities to those of a vivid and specific, rather than general, comparison target.”

    In my opinion – no one is completely average. The ‘average man’ Wallace describes in this poem doesn’t actually exist. It depends on the choices you make and how you measure being “average”. Choosing mediocrity is restrictive as you’re choosing to remain stagnant. There’s always a difference between who you are and who you want to be.

    Have a great week,
    Vedant


    This Week’s Clippings

    1 – Blog Post – I really liked Paul Graham’s essay on having a project of your own which is fun as well as productive. He writes about how we differentiate “work” and “hobby” and how it impacts our productivity negatively. Here’s an interesting clipping:

    “If your projects are the kind that make money, it’s easy to work on them. It’s harder when they’re not. And the hardest part, usually, is morale. That’s where adults have it harder than kids. Kids just plunge in and build their treehouse without worrying about whether they’re wasting their time, or how it compares to other treehouses. And frankly we could learn a lot from kids here. The high standards most grownups have for “real” work do not always serve us well.”

    2 – Research Article – This paper on how active learning increases student performance from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicates that lecture learning is extremely inefficient. Continuous exposition by the teacher where the students are supposed to take notes and occasionally ask questions is not useful at all. It’s not only boring but is also bad for exam preparation. Active learning methods such as discussions, role-plays and problem-solving seem to be the ideal way to go:

    “The data reported here indicate that active learning increases examination performance by just under half a SD and that lecturing increases failure rates by 55%. The heterogeneity analyses indicate that (i) these increases in achievement hold across all of the STEM disciplines and occur in all class sizes, course types, and course levels; and (ii) active learning is particularly beneficial in small classes and at increasing performance on concept inventories.”

    3 – Video – I’m attempting to learn how to use the computer more efficiently. A big part of being comfortable with technical devices involves learning the keyboard shortcut for things you do on a frequent basis. Earlier this week I was trying to learn some of these keyboard shortcuts. This video in particular was quite useful. I don’t know how many of them will stick with me but they’re absolute game-changers that save your time once you get a hang of them.


    (This is an issue of the “Sunday Clippings”. Every week I compile various valuable ideas, learnings, along with my highlights from interesting articles, books and podcasts in a short and skimmable email newsletter. Sign up here to get future issues delivered directly to your inbox!)

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  • Completed Proverbs

    Jun 12, 2021

    “Opportunity knocks once at every man’s door,” but often makes sure the man is out before knocking.

    “It takes two to make a quarrel.” How about husband and wife, who are one?

    “A fool and his money are soon parted,” when the fool has friends.

    “Whatever man has done man can do” better.

    “Look before you leap” out of the frying-pan into the fire.

    “Honesty is exact to a penny,” but not always to larger amounts.

    “The best things are not bought and sold” ; they are stolen and kept.

    “Pity is akin to love,” but kinship does not always signify friendship.

    “The second blow makes the fray,” but not if the first is well placed.

    “There’s many a slip ‘twixt” the cradle and the grave.

    “Everything comes to the man who waits,” except that for which he waits.

    “A fool is never wrong” ; few of us are.

    “No fool like an old fool” in the toils of a woman.

    “He who hesitates” when lying “is lost.”

    “Until a man finds a wife he is only half” ; thereafter he is still less.

    — From “Completed Proverbs” by Lisle de Vaux Matthewman

    What I really liked about this piece of writing from 1904 is how clever and succinct is. The way writers like Matthewman used to play with words and incorporate puns in their writings has changed over time. It was much easier back then, much better too.

    Clare Victor Dwiggins’s illustrations in this book make it even more interesting. Some works like this remain relevant forever.

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  • A Good Definition

    Jun 9, 2021

    Definitions have been around for ages. They are more than words describing words. Proper definitions need to be in a certain way for conveying the essence of a term or concept accurately. The process of creating them requires a lot of planning and consideration.

    A broad definition misses the essential part and a narrow one includes things that aren’t essential. Many definitions end up failing to solve their purpose due to circularity, obscurity and metaphors that unnecessarily complicate them.

    A good definition is broad and narrow at the same time, it conveys what’s essential while being precise and sticking to the objective. It is genuine and doesn’t have any hidden stipulations.

    Good definitions should not contain the word that is being defined itself. And lastly, defining something by stating what it’s “not” is an ineffective way of describing it. Sometimes this is unavoidable but definitions should generally be in a positive sense where they can be.

    For example – Defining a ‘bird’ as “an animal that flies” is fallacious as birds like penguins and ostriches can’t fly. Defining them as “warm-blooded animal” would be too broad considering there other warm-blooded animal species like mammals, reptiles and lizards. And defining them as “feathered egg-laying animal” would be too narrow as there are male birds that get disregarded in this case.

    Here, a good definition will contain all the essential characteristics in a complete, clear and honest manner. Merriam Webster defines ‘bird’ precisely as “Warm-blooded vertebrates distinguished by having the body more or less completely covered with feathers and the forelimbs modified as wings.”

    Good definitions are valuable as  they help us to have better conversations, discussions and arguments. They let us have a common understanding of an issue even if we’re having clashing beliefs. Having proper definitions saves time as the audience gains the understanding of a term or concept in just one sentence that everyone agrees with.

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  • Golden Mean – Sunday Clippings #9

    Jun 6, 2021

    Hello there,

    This week I have published three new articles that you might want to check out: Showing Up Every Day on why it is important to practice something and show up every day in order to learn better. The difference between Mindless Repetition and Deliberate Practice is another post in the practice series I’m slowly working on.

    And the bat, ball problem on problem-solving and recognising established rules and facts. Moving on to the newsletter now.

    This week had been exhausting. I missed a few deadlines and couldn’t write one blog post a day like I wanted to. This inspired me to write this newsletter issue about Aristotle’s theory of the Golden Mean which is about finding balance in various aspects of life.

    In his philosophical work Eudemian Ethics Aristotle constantly uses the phrase “… is the Middle state between …”, he is referring to the idea of moderation and a finding a desirable middle ground between the extremes.

    In his notes on virtue he writes, “Virtue is a state apt to exercise deliberate choice, being in the relative mean, determined by reason, and as the man of practical wisdom would determine. It is a middle state between two faulty ones, in the way of excess on one side, and defect on the other: and it is so moreover because the faulty states on one side fall short of, and those on the other exceed, what is right, both in the case of the feelings and the actions; but Virtue finds, and when found adopts, the mean .”

    This theory is seen everywhere in life, even in the modern world and is so simple yet significant to understand. He states that the middle ground is usually closer to one extreme than the other and that happens for it’s own good. An example being courage (response to fear), the two extremes are recklessness and cowardice. Here the “golden mean” could be being closer to recklessness than the deficient cowardice.

    Similarly, I believe that finding the sweet spot and balance is important in most places like professional work, creative practices, communication and relationships. Locating the golden mean is not something that comes from studying the principles theoretically or reading books about it. We learn more about it with trial and error, practice and experience – just like other things in life.

    Many people have summarised the means of moral virtues in tables like this and they are quite perfect. For instance, modesty is one of the virtues given here. It’s in the mean between shamelessness (deficiency) and shyness (excess). Most of Aristotle’s virtues are still relevant and I suppose they’ll always stay relevant as they’re spheres of feelings that are a part of human permanence.

    “The people in modern society need to overcome their pride and arrogance and look in nature for guidance because we all depend on it. Staring into the sky and imagining ourselves in heaven will not accomplish anything; it is better instead to accept our role in the world and appreciate the beauty of life, and death, which gives meaning to it. We don’t need “new” and “progressive” ways of life when the ancient wisdom of the world’s greatest thinkers is in front of us, forgotten in the dusty shelves in some crumbling library. The balance, the golden mean of which Aristotle talked about must be recognized as beneficial and important, as it is in nature itself.” – American Nihilist Underground Society

    I agree with everything they’ve said here. In the busy work-life, there needs to be a golden mean between the things you have to do and the ones you want to do. And it doesn’t need to be in the middle ground, it can shift towards the more significant duties from time to time. When nothing goes left, don’t go right – stay in the middle!

    Have a great week,
    Vedant


    This Week’s Clippings

    1 – Article – Daniel Kahneman’s interview on The Guardian was quite insightful. He’s a Nobel prize-winning psychologist and economist who shares his thoughts on AI, efficiency and emotional inclinations to human systems. Here’s a clipping I have saved for you:

    “In terms of the attitude to vaccination. People are willing to take far, far fewer risks when they face vaccination than when they face the disease. So this gap between the natural and the artificial is found everywhere. In part that is because when artificial intelligence makes a mistake, that mistake looks completely foolish to humans, or almost evil.”

    2 – Podcast – I enjoyed the Modern Wisdom episode with Jack Butcher. Jack is a designer, entrepreneur and the founder of Visualize Value, he simplifies complex valuable ideas as visuals that are more appealing and easier to understand. Since he recently had his first-born, they talk about how it impacts his creative processes, lifestyle, the role of algorithm and more.

    3 – Podcast – I found this week’s Back in the Thunderdome discussion really informative. In this episode, they share their thoughts on anger, blind rage and the power of pluralism. I learnt that disagreements can be quite useful if they’re coming from the right, constructive place. In fact, having disagreements with your community is important as it makes you understand the values and standards of having them. The conversations you have with people who have the same understanding as you is one of the best ways to develop your ideas.


    (This is an issue of the “Sunday Clippings”. Every week I compile various valuable ideas, learnings, along with my highlights from interesting articles, books and podcasts in a short and skimmable email newsletter. Sign up here to get future issues delivered directly to your inbox!)

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  • The Bat, Ball Problem

    Jun 5, 2021

    It took me two or three times to completely understand the answer to the famous bat, ball problem. If you haven’t heard about it, here’s what it says: A baseball bat and a ball cost $1.10 together, and the bat costs $1.00 more than the ball, how much does the ball cost?

    The second I read this, my brain prompted 10 cents because well of course 10 cents and one dollar together make up $1.10. But that’s wrong. The reason behind this is that if we subtract 10 cents from 1 dollar, it’s 90 cents and “the bat costs $1.00 more than the ball”.

    The actual cost of the ball should be $0.05 so that the bat would be $1.05 ($0.05 + $1.00) and together the ball and bat make up $1.10 ($0.05 + $1.05). This is something we have learnt in school – solving pairs of linear equations – x + y = $1.10 and x – y = $1.00. Most people know how to solve these but fail at recognising them in the first place.

    While discussing analytic thinking in an article, R. Douglas Fields writes, “Cognitive theory of decision making supports the hypothesis that there are two independent processes involved in decision making. The first process is based on gut instinct, and this process is shared by other animals. The second cognitive process is an evolutionarily recent development, exclusive to humans, which utilizes logical reasoning to make decisions.”

    Learning subjects is about understanding the established rules and facts we have been taught over the years. We know how to use them but end up forgetting where to use them. It is very easy for our brain to be lazy, ignore the technical method and either give the wrong answer or rely on the phrase “I can’t do maths”.

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  • Mindless Repetition and Deliberate Practice

    Jun 1, 2021

    While mindlessly practising something, I’m doing it again and again without proper concentration. It’s similar to being a factory worker who is carrying out the same action repeatedly and can do it blindfolded after some mindless sessions practice. This type of practice is seen in passive actions like tying shoelaces and folding clothes.

    There’s a big problem with mindless repetition, it’s a waste of time and makes you dull. Thinking about the number of pages your read or the number of hours you spend on doing something makes you outcome-oriented. The short-term payoffs of careless repetition are far less valuable than those of doing it with full attention and mindfulness.

    Here’s where deliberate practice kicks in. It’s the act of practising something repeatedly while being completely present in the situation. Sticking to something with engrossment is hard but that’s what makes it worth it.

    Deliberate practice is often useful for people training in music. Musicians often find themselves practising the same chords again and again mindlessly and end up being frustrated when they can’t play them properly. Here’s an insightful extract from a research two professors, Andreas C. Lehmann and K. Anders Ericsson conducted to describe the implications of deliberate practice for music students:

    “Deliberate practice in music typically refer to individuals’ solitary efforts to improve a particular aspect of their performance. However, the concept of deliberate practice includes any training activity for which goals have been defined and feedback is available. Each learning activity in turn promotes the acquisition of an associated skill; all these skills together lead to a structure which supports a particular performance.

    To become creative improvisers, jazz musicians imitate models, listen to recordings, and try to understand the style of a given performer. Chess experts spend large amounts of time studying published chess games by masters, predicting the next move and then comparing their predicted move to what the master actually did. Discrepancies between a chosen chess move and the master’s move then are analyzed. Assuming that the master’s move was indeed the best choice, this activity combines goal setting and instant feedback.”

    (Hat Tip to James Clear for sharing the theory)

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  • Showing Up Every Day

    May 31, 2021

    Around this time last year, I had the thought of starting my blog. It has been one of the best decisions of my life. I’m highly inspired by Seth Godin’s idea of showing up every day. When you write and publish daily, you get forced to look around and find things to write about.

    The world does not lack ideas, our brain ends up ignoring most of them. Daily Blogging makes you more observant and critical. Till now, I have written more than a hundred posts for this blog. Most of them aren’t that good but they got me one step ahead of my previous post and I learnt something new while writing them.

    I don’t write this blog for statistics or the subscribers, I write it for myself and for people who are looking to follow my writing journey. I’m working on building a routine that enables me to come up with something new and publish it consistently, without missing a day. That’s the goal. :)

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  • Without Society’s Soundtracks – Sunday Clippings #8

    May 30, 2021

    Hello there,

    This week I published three new articles that you might want to check out: Moulding Habits and the Loop on forming new habits and eliminating the ones that form along the way. Same Eyes, Different Directions on why perspective matters and the importance of taking feedbacks.

    And Old Normal and New Normal on the fluid meaning of the word “normal” in context to the pandemic. Moving on to the newsletter now.

    This week’s newsletter is about the story of one of the most known and admired composers in classical music, Ludwig van Beethoven and about how he became so deaf to the point he couldn’t hear the notes of his instruments or the singer’s voice and how it later impacted his personal life and career as a musician.

    As many of us might know, Beethoven was surprisingly stone deaf. It’s important to know that he wasn’t always deaf, it’s something that developed slowly. The cause is unknown but it is believed that his deafness was caused by syphilis, lead poisoning, typhus, or possibly even his habit of plunging his head into cold water to keep himself awake.

    It started when he was just 26 with a buzzing and ringing sound in his ears that started irritating him. It steadily grew and became more and more noticeable even though he tried to keep it a secret. By 1812 when he was 44, Beethoven had gone completely deaf. His hearing ability had deteriorated so much that he couldn’t hear the sound of the instruments playing or the singers singing. Here’s an extract from a letter Beethoven wrote in 1801 to Dr Franz Gerhard Wegeler, one of his close friend.

    “… For two years I have avoided almost all social gatherings because it is impossible for me to say to people “I am deaf”. If I belonged to any other profession it would be easier, but in my profession, it is a frightful state…”

    He had to start using notebooks as a way to communicate with visitors who wrote down what they wanted to tell or ask him. And in the same way, Beethoven replied by writing his response in his notebook. These are now known as the “Conversation Books“.

    Okay, so here’s the obvious question – if he was couldn’t hear at all then did he stop writing and composing music? – No. In fact, Beethoven created his greatest works including the Moonlight Sonata, his only opera Fidelio and six symphonies during this period.

    The deafness worked as a gift for Beethoven musically because he couldn’t hear the “prevailing compositional fashions.” It was entirely him and his imaginations that led to his greatest pieces. Arthur Brooks, while discussing this in an article published in the Washington Post writes:

    “It seems a mystery that Beethoven became more original and brilliant as a composer in inverse proportion to his ability to hear his own — and others’ — music. But maybe it isn’t so surprising. As his hearing deteriorated, he was less influenced by the prevailing compositional fashions, and more by the musical structures forming inside his own head. His early work is pleasantly reminiscent of his early instructor, the hugely popular Josef Haydn. Beethoven’s later work became so original that he was, and is, regarded as the father of music’s romantic period.”

    He ended up wrecking pianos by banging on them so hard to hear the notes. Beethoven had to go through a lot of struggle, frustration and isolation to achieve greatness and influence. His deafness forced him to become very private and only allowing selective friends to meet him.

    This seems to be a very important lesson. Sometimes eliminating what society has to say from your ears does wonder. Beethoven proved that the outcomes of creative processes are better without the worldly clutter, even though it might take a toll on an individual’s mental health.

    Deafness granted Beethoven complete artistic freedom – not being influenced by what other musicians are producing, not considering people’s comments about his work, just creating sound without even listening.

    Have a great week,
    Vedant


    This Week’s Clippings

    1 – Podcast – I really enjoyed last week’s episode of the Tim Ferriss Show with Chip Wilson, a serial entrepreneur and philanthropist. They discussed intriguing things like goal setting, the winning formula, linguistic abstractions and Chip’s theory about turning 43. Here’s one of the paragraphs I highlighted:

    “There’re many times when people can’t be in integrity. But to clean up the mess caused by lack of integrity is where more integrity occurs. So that’s the other thing. So the third thing that I think is most interesting to me is this thing about being responsible. I could sense that I was a complainer in life. You know, I complained, complained, complained, but you know, of course we all know that after two complaints, nobody would listen to me anymore. It took me a while to get that. But more interesting is that when I was responsible for whatever the situation was, then immediately I had the power to do something about it.”

    2 – Podcast – This podcast episode about Unsticking Yourself and overcoming writer’s block was quite helpful. I ended up re-listening it three times, it’s short but gives a practical exercise for generating new ideas.

    3 – Article – I enjoyed reading this Interview with Alex Honnold, a pioneer of “free solo” climbing. He answers many intriguing questions about risk-taking, problem solving, teamwork, efficiency and failure. In free solo climbing, there are no safety ropes and even a slight failure leads to death. Here’s a clipping from the interview:

    “… when I’m free soloing, I’ve already prepared and want to stick to the plan. I don’t want to be improvising. That would bring more uncertainty and risk into the equation. So most of my creative processing comes on rest days when I’m lying around somewhere safe, just thinking about climbing. That’s when I’ll envision “enchainments”—combinations of climbs that people have never done before.”


    (This is an issue of the “Sunday Clippings”. Every week I compile various valuable ideas, learnings, along with my highlights from interesting articles, books and podcasts in a short and skimmable email newsletter. Sign up here to get future issues delivered directly to your inbox!)

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