Don't be humble
Hi friends! :)
I imagine it’s been a hard week for everyone because of Omicron and the uncertainty about it, but let’s not give up! Together we’ll destroy this little coronavirus piece of shit very soon. Stay safe.💤 Productivity
People are not happy because they’ve achieved their goals,people achieve goals because they’re happy.
🪐 Various cool stuff
- Naval at the Knowledge Project podcast (~2h episode, transcript here)
They call him the Angel Philosopher in Silicon Valley. Discovering Naval is probably among the best things that happened to me in the last 2 years. One of the greatest thinkers of this generation. If after the podcast you want to hear more from him, just search “Naval” on YouTube or Google.
🔓 Being humble vs being open
If being humble means having a low estimate of one's abilities, then that’s bad! If you think you’re weak and not capable, you’ll be taken advantage of.I think what people mean when they talk about being humble, is being open.
If being humble means considering others’ points of view without the prejudice that your opinion is superior, then that’s great. Furthermore, according to this definition, everyone should be humble for a very simple reason: we are wrong more often than we think, and you may feel like you’ve figured out everything and you’re winning if you’re famous or have lots of money or whatever (and that’s fine), but, in the end, nothing really matters, nobody really knows anything, you’re still a hunk of meat, and everything you want is programmed into you by the ruthless logic of evolution1.
So, don’t be humble. Instead, know your worth, and be open to listening and evaluating others’ points of view.
🎧 Songs I had on repeat this week
(and their beautiful music videos)
🧑💻 (Beyond) Coding
I used to spend hours tweaking my configuration to make my coding environment look cool and be hyper-efficient until I realized I was spending more time and energy than I was saving. There are things like Vim that make you save time for real and are worth learning but updating your configuration every week (if not every day) leads to unnecessary over-optimisation. Real productivity is less about your tools and more about your attitude. My configuration is very minimal now. Sticking to the defaults instead of constantly looking for better tools makes me focus on the science, the engineering, the things that really matter (and the default shortcuts are very useful already btw). I’ve realised how insignificant are the gains of improving my configuration compared to the gains of improving myself.This is an instance of a common problem we all encounter as human beings. “I don’t have a professional camera, so I can’t start my YouTube channel.” “I don’t have comfortable running shoes so I can’t go running.” The reality is: there’s nothing stopping you except yourself, those are just excuses. Once you’ll realize this, you’ll be unstoppable.
Ps: if you want to learn to code, I suggest starting with this.
🎞 Movies I watched this week
- There Will Be Blood
⭐️ 4 /5
Maybe too long: I was about to abandon it when I had gone halfway through it, but I finished it and definitely acknowledge it’s very well done. I really liked the photography too, especially in the last hour.
🦉 Quote of the week
Vibes speak louder than words.— probably Gabby BernsteinP.s.: the quote of the week is always handpicked from my personal collection of quotes and poetry snippets. To read a random entry instead, visit danielfalbo.github.io