The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter – And How to Make the Most of Them Now

How being twenty has changed People used to get married and have kids in their twenties, but in a few decades it changed to become the period of wandering becoming an adultWe switch jobs more oftenMore people are unemployedMany don't know what to do with their lives Work Create a coherent story for your life! (You can use it for job interviews & getting into graduate school) Get more weak...

Getting things done – David Allen

Main idea Your mind is for having ideas. Not for holding them Problem: Unresolved stuff We have an endless amount of incoming tasks, and many end up as unresolved stuff:"Open loops"Unfinished thingsCommitted to finishThings you want differentYour mind thinks it needs to do all unresolved stuff at once! (so it gets stressed)Our to-do lists are often just lists of unresolved stuffWe think about...

Is Wi-fi bad for health?

Since upgrading my tracking setup with 2 trackers that both run on Wi-Fi (Withings Body Cardio & Emfit QS), I started wondering if Wi-Fi might be bad for health? What is Wi-Fi? Wi-Fi is radiofrequency waves, which is a part of the electromagnetic spectrum (just like light). Like other low- to mid-frequency electromagnetic fields, it's non-ionizing, which means it doesn't have enough energy...

Crash course: navigating digital information (Summary)

The problem Somewhere down the line, all information was produced by humans with incentivesThere is no place where you will always find the truthWe are not proactive enough about the information we consumeThe social media algorithms don't have our best interest at heart when deciding what to show!Attention = money, so they keep you on the platform by:Only showing information you already agree...

Oura ring vs. Emfit QS

I couldn't decide whether to buy Oura or Emfit QS, so I bought them both for testing! Convenience Oura The Oura ring is comfortable, but I have to: Put it on and off every nightCharge it once every 3-5. days. Emfit QS Once it's installed, I don't have to do anything! Passive tracking FTW! Winner: Emfit QS Traveling Oura Size of the box: 8x8x8 cm.If it's only for a weekend trip, then the battery...

Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life (Bill Burnett & Dave Evans)

Overall Don't move forward by thinking, but by building! Following your passion is bad advice 80% of all people don't have a single dominating passion/purposeMost people have many passions!Mastery causes passion. Not the other way around! Dysfunction beliefs Your degree determines your career2/3 work in a career that is unrelated to their majorIt's too late to changeIt's never too late to change...

The elephant in the brain

Definitions The elephant in the brain = An important but unacknowledged feature of how our minds worksElephant = selfishness, competition for power, seeking status & sex, deception, etc.Our real motives are often unconscious, but large enough (like elephants) to set footprints in economical data. The book in a nutshell The world has finite resources that we compete for, and those who are...

Withings Body Cardio vs. Renpho Smart Body Fat Scale

I wanted a bodyfat scale to judge my bodybuilding progress, and I couldn't decide between Withings Body Cardio & Renpho Smart Body Fat Scale (basic version), so I bought both! Size Renpho (the black one): Narrower, but taller Withings (the white one): Wider, but flatter Winner: Renpho The Renpho scale wins here since my bathroom is small and it's harder to find a place where the Withings can...

Principles – Ray Dalio

5 steps to success They are iterativeDo them ONE at a time! Step 1: Have clear goals You shoulder (almost) never drop a goal because you think it's unattainable! Step 2: Identify problems/obstacles Bring problems to the surface, so you can learn from themDon't mistake causes with problems!Problem = Poor performanceCause = Not getting enough sleepWhile the logical part of your brain knows it's...

Nature vs. nurture (“The complexity of greatness” by Scott Barry Kaufman)

How it all started 1870: Galton argued that high intelligence and scientific talent depends mostly on the genetic endowment in his book "Hereditary genius"1873: Candolle analyzed the history of 200 scientists and concluded that the environment was more important Problems with definitons NatureIs it potential or inborn ability?ExpertsAre famous people experts?Subjective evaluations are not valid,...

The extended selfish gene – Richard Dawkins (Summary)

Definitions: Selfishness = Bad for others, good for meAltruism = Good for others, bad for me Aim of the book: Explain selfishness and altruism through the lens of evolution. What the book is NOT about: How we SHOULD behave (It is about how we DO behave)Nature/nurture problem. However, he says we can learn altruism, but it is hard with our selfish genesPsychological motives (Whether people have...

Who to take advice from?

Different types of people you could take advice from YourselfYou know yourself the bestBut...Your mind hides stuff for youYou may not have the right experience or knowledgePeople with success in what you want to achieveSuccessful people don't always know the truthLuck: Millions of people might have used the same advice and failed! (Survivorship bias)The book "In search of excellence" identified...

Sapiens: A brief history of humankind – Yuval Noah Harari (Book review)

Definitions Humans = Everyone from the genu"homo"Sapiens = Homo sapiens (Our species)Species = Similar living organisms that can reproduce with each other.Every two species that have a common ancestor were at one point two populations of the same species. The book in a nutshell: Why are humans so powerful? Cognitive revolution: We could communicate more information about the surrounding...