Everyday Greatness: Inspiration for a meaningful life by Stephen R. Covey is a compilation of inspiring stories that centre around three choices. The stories are compelling and heartfelt, sometimes about world-changers, others about personal heroes.
The three choices are 1) to act – to activate the energy inside you, 2) of purpose – giving direction to your energy, and 3) for principles – the means for attaining your goals. These are incorporated into each story, who are grouped together with three per topic or principle.
Some of these topics include; taking charge, creating the dream, overcoming adversity, and blending the pieces. One example is the tale of Walt Disney, who had a vision of creating Walt Disneyland. The story elaborates on his youth where he got his inspiration from, but also on the start of his career and the numerous rejections he had to face. It tells a story of following your dream, even when it is not even realizable with the technology of the day.
While Stephen Covey is named the author, also David K. Hatch can be attributed a lot of the credits as the compiler of the book. He has done an amazing job of combining stories of leaders from every field of life and giving them all a very human and personal voice. A final touch of greatness are the quotes at the end of every chapter that further highlight the virtues discussed.
The novel is a big but very comprehensible read. The path you take through the book is not set in stone and you can decide to read only the chapters and stories that appeal to you most. That is also the strength of its re-readability, within only a few minutes you can refresh your memory and get back into giving back goal, direction and principles to your life.
Built to Sell by John Warrillow explores the do’s and don’ts of building your company so that it has maximum value for selling. The book takes you on a journey with Alex, an advertising business owner for 8 years. Through him you will learn some very valuable lessons in specializing, excelling and selling. All from the management team through to the process of making your product are discussed.
It all starts with making the product specialized, don’t be a generalist and do lots of things not so well but do some things very well. This includes having to make some hard choices, and saying no to projects you are not specialized in. When you specialize it is also imperative to become less dependent on a few customers, don’t let any customer become more then 20% of your clientele.
A second step is teaching your employees to sell the product without you. Make it teachable, develop a guide on how to perform the job. Then make it valuable, have something that competitors can’t copy. And make it repeatable, have costumers repurchase often and regularly.
By implementing these three lessons you make sure that the company has both value and is able to operate without you. John Warrillow then explains how to start your management team, sell your products and get a steady revenue going for two years straight before considering to sell. Strategies and things to know for selling the company are explained further in the book.
With years of experience in business and the successful sale of four companies, John Warrillow is the authority on building to sell. His philosophy extends beyond people wanting to sell, even if you have no intention to sell the book offers handles to improving your business. By telling the story of Alex, he takes you on a step-by-step journey towards selling your business.
The quality of the novel is its simplicity, it tells a story and at the same time learns us a lesson. For getting to know the fine details of building and selling your company this light read might not be it. But for introducing the principles that govern the whole process and guide you through different stages of development, it is a must read.
The Book:
Built to Sell: Building a Business that can Thrive without You – John Warrillow – ISBN 1101514116
It’s been a while since I’ve read Simply Brilliant by William C. Taylor, so read this short review at your own peril.
The book is divided into four parts:
Stop trying to be the best; strive to be the only
Don’t let what you know limit what you can imagine
It’s just as important to be kind as to be clever
The allies you enlist matter more than the power you exert
The first part is about doing something original, about doing things that other organisations can’t or won’t do.
“Every great company has redefined the business that it’s in”
“[be an] alluring alternative to a predictable (albeit efficient) status quo”
“… create a one-of-a-kind presence and deliver a one-of-a-kind performance that is not just a little better than what other companies do”
Taylor calls this a lighthouse identity (unique point of view, intensity, salience, build on rock)
“… if everyone is heading in one direction, you should head in the other”
“… choose to inspire rather than to manipulate” (with a reference to Start with Why)
John Doerr believes in missionaries (who are on a mission) over mercenaries
“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence”
“The world will not force you to be extraordinary. You must demand it of yourselves”
The second part is about knowledge and that having less experience can be a positive. This makes me think of older people who have already experienced so much, as that it makes them less open to new experiences (or 28 year olds who sometimes feel like they’ve seen it all already).
“[show] a willingness to improvise under difficult conditions without compromising the timeline or the goal”
“[If] you’re making folks uncomfortable, you’re doing something right”
“Expertise is powerful – until it gets in the way of innovation”
He explains that the paradox of expertise means that the more you know of an industry/technology/market, the harder it becomes to ‘think outside the box’ and leapfrog it
“Be firmly competent – thorough, smart, business-minded, accountable. And boundlessly provocative – challenging, surprising, restless, imaginative” (again an example of keeping two thoughts/ideas in your head at the same time)
Be confident in the things you know and at the same time explore new things. I see this also as a way to overcome the Innovators Dilemma
Commit yourself to continue learning and growing/exploring
“If you want to stay young, you have to work to keep trying new things”
The third part is about being kind, about caring more than anyone else. This makes me thing of Give and Take and how being a giver, can help you get back more (revenue, happiness, etc) in the end (without being a sucker).
Recognise that clever thinking and strategising will only get you so far. It’s about connecting with humans both inside the company and outside
“We can do small things with great love” – Mother Teresa
See the customer as another human being and see what small act of kindness you can do
“Civility is not the enemy of productivity”
One example he uses is of the mounties in Canada who give positive tickets, what a great idea!
“Will you be clever at the expense of others, or will you be kind?”
Think about emotions, about mystery, sensuality, intimacy and how these things can add to your brand and story
“You can’t quantify it on a spreadsheet, but there is a tough-minded case for leading with love”
“People have to be internally motivated to change”
“Be provocative enough to change what people do”
“If you want to create something exciting and compelling, a performance that keeps evolving, the human spirit is the only thing that delivers”
The fourth part is about allies versus exerting power. About connecting with others and learning through those connections.
“ROC, return on connectedness, and ROL, return on luck”
“Sustained innovation comes when everyone has an opportunity to demonstrate a ‘slice of genius'”
Be humble as a leader and admit when you don’t know things, be open to learning from others
Make everyone win when the company does so. This could mean ownership form employees, profit sharing with customers, etc.
“Nobody wins unless everybody wins”
“Companies generate more ideas and create more value when more people get a piece of the action and a seat at the table”
The books ends with a few questions for entrepreneurs, here they are:
Can you develop a definition of success that allows you to stand apart from the competition and inspires others to stand with you?
Can you explain, clearly and compellingly, why what you do matters and how you expect to win?
Are you prepared to rethink the conventions of success in your field and the logic of your success as a leader?
Are you as determined to stay interested as to be interesting?
Do you pay as much attention to psychology and emotion as you do to technology and efficiency?
Do the values that you define how your organisation works reflect the values proposition around which it competes?
Are you as humble as you are hungry?
Are you prepared to share the rewards of success with all those who had a hand in achieving it?
““The key to good decision making is not knowledge. It is understanding. We are swimming in the former. We are desperately lacking in the latter.” – Malcolm Gladwell
Lessons learnt: First impressions are real. It is regulated by our “adaptive unconscious”, it relies on our knowledge, manifests very fast and without conscious awareness. Although in some way quantifiable, intuitions are difficult to explain rationally. Intuition is built on / is a manifestation of your prior experiences.
In 1986 the J. Paul Getty Museum in California was presented with an intact and very much beautiful ancient Greek statue (a ‘kouros’) for purchase. The art historians thoroughly examined the statue and after a period the museum acquired the statue. Everyone loved it, it looked magnificent and was one of the few in such great condition. Then a member of the board came to see the statue, she immediately knew something was wrong. She could not pinpoint what exactly (after all, the tests said it was authentic). Others followed suit and a second investigation was started. They found out that they had lost $10 million on a fake.
This is how Blink by Malcolm Gladwell commences. It beautifully describes his power to use stories to make scientific explorations come to life. Blink is (of course) not about art history, but about intuition: our two-second judgment or gut feeling we immediately have. In this entertaining book, Gladwell takes the reader on a journey through the science behind intuition. He uses examples about marriage, choking on the golf course and military manoeuvres. Intuition, the power of thinking without thinking, is examined and conceptualized as the “thin slices” of behaviour.
“Truly successful decision-making relies on a balance between deliberate and instinctive thinking.” – Malcolm Gladwell
One of the first chapters is about doctors and how many times they get sued (in America). Gladwell proposes a question to the readers about what the cause of the number of lawsuits would be. I here propose roughly the same question to you – Which of these two causes would more strongly influence if a doctor would be sued?
The knowledge of their field and subsequent amount of mistakes (malpractices) they made
How the doctors talked to their patients
You would be surprised to find that 2. is the right answer. Much more important was the way the doctors treated their patients than how many actual mistakes they made. Gladwell explains this as follows: doctors are not sued because of their errors, they are sued because of their errors and then something. This something is how they are perceived by their patients. If someone felt that the doctor cared for them, that he or she made an honest mistake, nothing would happen. But if the doctors showed no personal interest in their patients, virtually every mistake would end up in court. In the final paragraph the reader is suggested to listen to that gut feeling and if alarm bells ring, find a new doctor.
From these “thin slices,” the book progresses to other areas of our instincts. In great detail, our snap decisions are examined and analyzed. Further on in the book, this is also related to decision making. In yet another great story the reader gets to experience the “War Games” and learns how one General ends up winning, whilst acting for the outgunned and outmanned ‘bad guys’ (which is not suppose to happen). This chapter illustrates how intuition is related to leadership. Leaders have to make decisions based on incomplete information, to make the right choice your gut feeling should be consulted.
Later chapters speak about the errors of thinking fast. Two of these examples are very striking (and worrying). The first is about the “Warren Harding Error”, how America chose the wrong president. It states that people make their big voting decisions not on who has the best policy or ideas for their country, but that they base it (solely) on appearance (of the president-to-be). The second is about discrimination, how we quickly judge minorities less favourably. Using very fast displays on a monitor, good and bad words and timing of how quickly a person will associate with either kind of word, research has found that people will connect minorities with negative words more quickly. It is something that even people from the minority themselves do and it is very difficult to overcome, but it is caused and anchored in this instinctive thinking.
Critics of Malcolm Gladwell have pointed out that critical thinking too is very important in making the right decisions and that thinking fast is not the solution to all problems. In my opinion, Gladwell is aware of this, yet does not really put too much focus on this. In the end, Blink makes for a great book to read.
This was the very first article I first shared in the winter of 2013. Although I still agree with the explanation, I do question the value and validity (over time) of these tests and if they even add anything beyond listening to your colleagues and understanding how to communicate effectively.
What do personality and leadership have to do with one another? It turns out, a whole lot! It is not only education, heritage and luck that determine who will become a leader, but personality too. In the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) several personality styles have come on top. This article will explain the basics of the MBTI, the ‘leadership’ personalities and its implications for leadership.
The MBTI was developed in 1962 by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers. Their studies were based on the psychological types by Carl Jung. From this, they extrapolated 16 different personality styles, defined by eight characteristics on four dichotomy scales. The questionnaire to measure with the MBTI consists of 26 questions. Some variations use more questions and others say you can define each characteristic by one question.
Although the validity and precision decrease, by asking four questions you can get a good and fast feel for your type.
Attention and Energy: Where do you prefer to focus your attention? Where do you get energy? [E/I]
Information Intake: How do you prefer to take in information? [S/N]
Decision Making: How do you make decisions? [T/F]
Interaction with External Environment: How do you deal with the outer world? [J/P]
If in the first your answer is from other people you are Extrovert. If it is from retreating for a while to power up, you are Introvert. Another indication could also be: talk (E) or think (I). For the second question if you rely on your eyes, ears, and other senses you are Sensing. An Intuition person would answer along the lines of gut feeling or vibe. On the third question, a Thinking person will (solely) consider the facts, while a Sensing type will consider the feelings of the affected persons more strongly. The final question is decided by how you interact with the environment. If you are actively exploring new possibilities you are Judging, if you wait and adapt to new situations you are more Perceiving.
Now take a moment to define you four letters and MBTI-type. For more information and a more extensive test see here.
In the MBTI there are no good or bad types. Every one of them has its riches or benefits and pitfalls or blind spots. In the general public, the most common types are: ISTJ (11-14%), ISFJ (9-14%), ESFJ (9-13%), and ESTJ (8-12%). So how do these compare to those in leaders of businesses?
They show both a strong overlap with the general public, as well as certain trends that are linked to the leaders only. The styles are: ISTJ (18.2%), ESTJ (16.0%), ENTJ (13.1%), INTJ (10.5%). As is evident in both categories Judging is the most pervasive category. In the leader group there are however also only Thinking, and no Feeling types in the top four.
It is theorized that skills like decision making and logical thinking are preferred over considering feelings and making less rational decisions. Within business leaders, you can also see that intuition is valued (but not as much as the more rational sensing). This could be due to the positive effects of making fast decisions or the ability to make decisions based on less information.
But what are the implications of these types, are there really no good or bad types? As you can see there is a strong preference for the Thinking type. The problem with this is that about 65% of the male population and only 35% of the female population have this type. So by default women have a statistical setback in the leadership game.
This disadvantage, however, does not have to be too great. In every great team, it is best to have a diverse account of personalities. For when everyone is an extrovert you may end up with a house full of hens, and when everyone is the sensing type, who will consider the (irrational) feelings of your clients?
To conclude it is clear that some styles are more pervasive in leaders and that these are built on the rational thinkers who take the lead. They have with them the skills to lead a team and to manage a company. And at the same time build on the skills and influences of all the other types with which they are surrounded.
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey gives you a compass for being effective in business, home and everywhere else. You are challenged to take on a different perspective on life which is introduced via the seven habits. The book is based on years of research by Covey, and with more than 35 million sales can be considered quite the bestseller.
The habits are divided into three categories. The first features three habits that are focused towards independence or self-mastery. They elaborate on 1) being proactive, 2) beginning with the end in mind, and 3) putting the first things first. The second set of three habits focus on interdependence. In conflicts think 4) win-win, 5) seek first to understand the other, only then wish to be understood, and 6) synergize (1+1=3). After discussing both the internal en external habits one key habit remains. That is to 7) sharpen the saw, to balance and renew your energy every once in a while.
Whilst the principles are easy to understand and are accessible the book does a very good job of elaborating on the thoughts and science behind them. This is strengthened even more by providing the reader with a large supply of examples from both personal and business life.
Now in memory, Stephen R. Covey (October 24, 1932 – July 16, 2012) has been one of the (25) most influential people of the last century. Next to a range of best-selling books, leadership institutes all around the world have erupted that practice the 7 principles. And also in the domain of family life, the book: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families has become known worldwide.
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is a must read for anyone. While the size of the novel may seem like a big chunk to read through, you will have read the whole thing within a week. Next to that, you can easily pick it up every year just to refresh your memory of it.
I wrote this review in 2013 and I think I first encountered the book maybe a few years before that. After that I’ve relistened to it again in 2015 or 2016. I still think the core ideas are great and very useful. I do also agree a bit with this review that argues that there is much fluff in the book and that others (like Triggers) may be a better way to start with self-improvement.
The Book:
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen R. Covey – ISBN 0762408332
More on The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People:
On Wednesday 4th of July 2018, the EA Rotterdam group had their fourth reading & discussion group. This is a deeper dive into some of the EA topics.
The topic for this event was Ending Factory Farming.
During the evening we learned about why factory farming is bad (animal suffering, environment, human suffering). We discussed the ways that people are tackling the problem. Both with regard to our consumption, the conditions in the factory farms, and to offering alternatives. One of my biggest takeaways is that we won’t easily (or at all) change people’s behaviour, but that institutional change may be able to nudge a lot of people into making better choices.
We (the organisers of EA Rotterdam) thank Alex from V2 (our venue for the night) for hosting us.
If you want to visit an EA Rotterdam event, visit our Meetup page.
Why is Factory Farming Bad
Effective Altruism (EA) wants to solve the world’s most pressing problem. EA’s want to reduce the most suffering, or increase the amount of happiness. Most of the focus here has been on reducing extreme poverty. EA combines both the heart & head (and wants to eliminate the emotional bias that puts a spotlight on certain topics). Cause areas that EA focusses on are ones that are neglected, scalable, and solvable. Factory farming certainly hits all three criteria.
There are 50 billion farm animals that we raise each year. Most of them live in terrible conditions. These animals are responsible for 27% of methane production. And use around 33% of the total liveable land. This not only leads to bad outcomes for the animals, it also adds to global warming which impacts the worlds’ poor the most.
Why Don’t We Seem to Care
One reason why people don’t seem to care is cognitive dissonance. This stands for having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes. And we people don’t really like to have those.
When asked in the TED Talk, most people indicated seeing a shocking video of how factory farms operate. And of course, they found that to be something that is terrible. When asked how many were vegetarian (remember, TED Talk audience) it was between 5-10%, about what you find in the general public. Even these ‘thinkers’ didn’t act on what they had seen.
We can resolve cognitive dissonance in two ways. And as you may have guessed the easiest way is to just not think about it. (the harder is to change your actions to match your beliefs/thoughts).
Many people also like to do another trick and that is to think they are eating the chickens that have roamed around, the cows that have seen the Swiss Alps (75% think this). There’s a 99% chance that your meat isn’t one of those (1% of meat is of the free-roam happy-life kind).
We, people, have a lot to think about. One other phenomenon that takes place here is the collapse of compassion. This means that someone thinks the problem is so big, it’s not even worth considering to be something to solve.
And, wait. Don’t we need meat? Nope, protein, water, fat, etc can all be readily found in vegetarian sources too. This aspect also has to do with the dominant/default option. And that is just meat in most countries. Even in countries where not all people could eat meat many days per week (China) they are eating more and more meat. One hope we had is that China might be a country where public opinion could be tipped very quickly if the government decides to take a negative stance on eating meat.
But telling others that their morals are messed up is not the way to solve this problem.
What are the Ways We Can Tackle the Problem
One of the insights of the evening is that we can’t (and shouldn’t) tackle the problem head-on. We should instead focus on helping reduce meat consumption in more indirect ways.
One way is to offer more alternatives. When there are more options available, some people may choose meat alternatives. This can take the form of ‘just’ veggies, meat substitutes (e.g. pea burgers), and cultured meat (meat grown without the animal).
More and more places offer non-meat options on the menu and there are more and more restaurants that are vegetarian or vegan first
(almost) All supermarkets in The Netherlands now offer vegan/vegetarian burgers, ‘meat’ balls, minced ‘meat’, etc
And cultured meat is in development (wiki, article)
“In March 2018, JUST, Inc. (in 2011 founded as Hampton Creek in San Francisco) claimed to be able to present a consumer product from cultured meat by the end of 2018. According to CEO Josh Tetrick (a vegan) the technology is already there, and now it is merely a matter of applying it. Just has about 130 employees and a research department of 55 scientists, where lab meat from poultry, pork and beef is being developed. They would have already solved the problem of feeding the stemcells with only plant resources. Just receives sponsoring from Chinese billionaire Li Ka-shing, Yahoo! cofounder Jerry Yang and according to Tetrick also from Heineken International amongst others.”
Cultured meat could even cause a backlash if they experience self-driving car moments (i.e. contaminated meat or other health problems).
So, what will be able to move the needle? One thing that we can do is encourage institutional change. One example from one of the participants is an initiative by the Erasmus University to serve vegetarian lunches as the default (with other options still being available).
Another example is that of WeWork (a global provider of work environments) who is only paying for vegetarian meals for their workers. Though their main point is the environmental impact, it’s a great signal that this company is sending.
“New research indicates that avoiding meat is one of the biggest things an individual can do to reduce their personal environmental impact — even more than switching to a hybrid car.”
One other aspect that we discussed was: What would have the largest impact, having 100 people eat less meat (say 5 meals fewer per week) or converting 10 people to become vegetarian (21 meals per week)? In terms of maths, the former would, of course, be the better choice, but what about the impact of that person becoming a sneezer too?
We also discussed other indirect ways of changing what we eat. Tax reform may be a very effective way to nudge people to make better food choices. Think sugar tax, for meat.
And soap opera’s have substantial sway in public opinion. We discussed that in Germany they have been used to promote vegetarian eating habits.
What Can You and I Do?
Personally, we can choose to make better food choices. If you’re reading this, try and see what small step you can take. If you’re eating meat, try going without meat one day in the week. Learn a recipe or two without meat (may I suggest recipes with beans). Or if you’re vegetarian, try and see which of your current food choices still has a negative effect on animals (e.g. eggs, milk).
We can provide alternatives to friends and family. Give them an awesome delicious vegetarian recipe when they are coming over. Let them taste, feel, see how great vegetarian/vegan cooking can be. Just don’t focus on identity (i.e. I’m a vegetarian and I’m better than you), just show them what can be done. Make them curious, give them options.
How Does Ending Factory Farming Compare to Other Cause Areas?
Factory Farming is related to other cause areas in various ways. It is a large contributor to global warming (e.g. 27% of methane production). This is something that impacts the worlds’ most poor the most. Economic circumstances (related to raising animals, in a world that wants to pay the least and with global warming) has led to many suicides amongst animal farmers (India, USA).
It’s also related to negative mental health (discussed during a previous evening) outcomes for people working in factory farms.
Another area that is affected is bio-threat. The development (and spread) of superbugs is something that is of real concern on factory farms.
We didn’t do a deeper dive into cost-effectiveness and long-term effects, but comparing different cause areas might be a topic of a future in-depth meeting.
Resources
If you want to learn more about Ending Factory Farming, here are some resources:
Like the other discussion evenings, we were thrilled to have you all there and I think everyone took away some great lessons. On the one hand, I feel that this cause area (like many other) is a tough cookie to crack. On the other hand, I do feel positive about the change we can make and the change our society will be making in the coming years. Hopefully, in 30 years we will look back at factory farming, the way we look back at slavery.
Want to join us for another evening? Feel free to come over and bring a friend! Please check out our Meetup Page.
This year my theme is Curiosity. I’ve done some things with it, but there is surely more work to be done there. One of the ways that I’m exploring it is with the catalogue of things I’m keeping with the Timeline.
Here is a reflection on the goals I made previously and the goals I have defined for the remainder of the year. I might update them at the end of Q3 again.
Goal 1: Write a Sci-Fi novella
I’ve started with this goal. But it’s in the very early stages and I haven’t taken the time besides a few spare moments to write more. I do feel that I have a good structure to write around, I just need to take more time to write.
Goal 2: Assemble a personal board
I haven’t done anything with this goal and it’s kinda stupid of me not to do so. It’s something that takes some courage, but after that takes no more than a few hours every month, maybe even less than an hour a week to keep them up-to-date and make a better feedback loop for myself (see more about feedback loops in Triggers). I’m writing this down for tomorrow.
Goal 3: Blog 1x per week
Yes and no, I’ve started blogging again on this website and have rearranged the structure. I think I have a good grip on what I can do here now. I do think that it’s still a lot of work to get things from earlier times on here and to link everything together. So I will take my time to do that and try and keep updated whilst I continue to work on it. I’ve also added some other pages for essays, Spero, Things I Do, and a dedicated page for the book reviews. Of course, I still have to make most of them, but the framework is here.
Goal 3a: Consistently share what I’ve learned on my website
– I’ve let go of the 1x per week, and want to focus on sharing my lessons as I learn them.
– This means more timeline updates, some articles, and some updates around Spero
Goal 4: Track my finances with precision
Yes. I’ve been on point with this goal and have consistently tracked my spending behaviour. What I can now start to do (more) is to also analyse it and start acting more on the things I see. An example would be that I could see that I’m spending too much on dining out, so I can make a goal for the next month.
Goal 4a: Improve my spending for happiness with feedback loops
– The money I spent should lead to happiness because why else spend it
– This means that I will track and fine-tune what spendings lead to what happiness outcomes and what spending I should avoid or lower in the future
Goal 5: Cooking basics level 2
I’m learning more and more about cooking. I can highly recommend Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. In combination with sports, I think I will enjoy cooking more and more.
Goal 6: Bi-weekly sport challenge
I’ve done these challenges only at the beginning of the year. They were a cool idea but in practice, they were too random and didn’t fit my schedule or lead to real results. Currently, I’m doing personal training at CrossFit and I really enjoy that I’m getting better (at flexibility/mobility). I hope that in the coming months I will progress further and will be able to get to my goals as also mentioned in the Happy Body review.
Goal 6a: Hit my fitness goals
– from most to least important: Achieve squat flexibility, be able to do Squat Press, achieve weights on Squat Press and Clean & Jerk, achieve 10% body fat
Goal 7: Share about Effective Altruism
With EA Rotterdam we’ve been keeping busy with events and have had a blast with our in-depth meetups. There are way more options for reaching people, but here again, it’s still a question about the time that we can and want to invest. I do truly hope that I will be able to influence a few people this year.
Goal 8: Make my house even more beautiful
I still haven’t done much with this goal. I did make a water bowl for Max and that was great to do. Now I do want to make about 2 or 3 things before the end of the year. In terms of style, I also have some ideas for making it look even better than it does now.
Goal 9: Do something crazy for love
On our anniversary Lotte and I have an amazing day in Rotterdam. My final surprise didn’t go through so who knows if I will do something else later this year.
Goal X: More slack in the system
On one level this has been true. But on the other hand, I do still fill all of my time doing things. Now with the timeline, I do see that I’m consuming fewer podcasts and that might have a positive impact on my slack in the system. I also listen to more music which is a nice (and not taxing) thing.
New goals:
Goal 1: Write a Sci-Fi novella
Goal 2: Assemble a personal board
Goal 3: Consistently share what I’ve learned on my website
Goal 4: Improve my spending for happiness with feedback loops
Goal 5: Cooking basics level 2
Goal 6: Hit my fitness goals
Goal 7: Share about Effective Altruism
Goal 8: Make my house even more beautiful
Goal 9: Do something crazy for love
Goal X: More slack in the system
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey is hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Here are my notes on some of the episodes:
Episode 1
Test ideas by experiment and observation
Build on those ideas that pass the test
Reject the ones that fail
Follow the evidence wherever it leads
And question everything
Planets from the Sun.
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
We are on Earth, in the solar system, in the Milky Way, in our local group, in the Virgo Supercluster, in the observable universe,
Copernicus discovered that the Earth was not the centre of the universe in the mid 16th century.
See more here
Giordano Bruno took this idea further and discussed that stars are Suns too, with their own planets.
(the news was not received well)
See more here
Cosmic Calendar
Each month is about a billion years (13.799 billion years is the estimated age of the universe)
Every day is about 40 million years
See more here
The Big Bang
January 1st
The entire universe came from a spec, no larger than a piece of dust.
January 13th
The first small galaxies
March 15th
Milkyway was formed
(Sun not yet born)
August 31st
The Sun is born 4,5 billion years ago
September 21st
Life began on Earth
November 29th
Life was breathing, moving, eating, etc
Pioneering microbes (that had sex)
December 17th
First animals on land
Birds, dinosaurs, flowers, etc followed in the last week of December
December 30th
An asteroid strikes Earth and mammals take over the lead from dinosaurs
December 31st, 23:59m46s
All of recorded history is in these last 14 seconds.
