THINK BOX NEWSLETTER

By Shu Omi

Two Types of Knowledge and How to Grow on Twitter | The Week's Best Links

#25・ Aug 12, 2020

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Shu Omi

@ShuOmi3

Hey :) How are you doing today?

**Announcement**

1) I just published a new video on How to Build a Writing Habit and Why Writing is a Superpower

2) I just moved my mind garden to a Roam database because it just works better in it. You can see my notes on what I read, watched and listened. Check it out if you haven’t yet. I’m adding new notes every week :)

Anyways, here are the best articles, books, podcasts, tweets I found this week in Mind | Money | Relationships | Health.

It’s a long list, so I’d recommend using a read-later service like Pocket Instapaper or mymind, which is the app I use ;)

Save them 👉 Read them later 👉 Take notes 👉 Create your own content!

Mind

1. Two Types of Knowledge by Farnam Street

Richard Feynman argues there are two types of knowledge - knowing something and knowing the name of something.

We often focus on the latter - we know what things are called, but don’t know how they actually work.

So, how can we gain the right type of knowledge? This is where the famous Feynman Studying Technique comes in. You try to explain an idea in a plain, simple language.

This is what I keep in mind when I take notes in Roam. I try to use plain and simple words to explain the thing I’m writing about. This process requires lots of mental energy, but that’s what it takes to truly understand something.

“The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks.”

— Mortimer Adler

Also, I discussed this further in my latest video :)

2. The importance of spaced repetition for notes

This illustration by Anne-Laure Le Cunff is legendary:

Anne-Laure Le Cunff

@anthilemoon

Reading without taking notes ⛲️ https://t.co/ViCLEygQKf

9:08 PM - 17 May 2020

But, I also love love what Matty said here:

Matty

@mattygrov

@anthilemoon Love this picture, although I think it’s incomplete. Because notes are still just notes unless you have a powerful way to learn from them over and over again

7:58 AM - 7 Aug 2020

Taking notes may not be the end. You want to make your notes resurface constantly so you can learn from them over and over again and develop them even further.

Perhaps, this is why Remnote is a very powerful learning tool.

Also, this is why I love Roam Toolkit extension. It lets you use spaced repetition on your notes in Roam!

3. Walling App - Let Your Ideas Connect

I’ve discovered this cool app called Walling. It’s kind of like mymind - it lets you save anything you want to remember without having to think about organising and categorising because its AI does that for you.

Also, it lets you visualise the connections between the items you saved, which is something mymind cannot do.

However, it doesn’t have a mobile app, although they said it’s going to be released soon.

I think I’m going to stick with mymind for now :)

But you should definitely give it a try! Some people love it over mymind.

4. Good Enough Is Just Fine by More To That

Perfectionism is my arch-nemesis. Maybe it’s good to have to some extent. But if I tried to make every video and article perfect, I never publish anything.

So, how can we beat perfectionism? This is precisely what Lawrence from More To That talks about in this article.

Perfectionism is the inability to let your expectations go.

…ultimately, perfectionism is the result of an unattainable vision. The hands cannot re-create the idealized blueprints of the mind—no matter how hard we try. Perfectionists try to ignore this reality, but doing so will always result in a chase that never ends.

Instead of “Perfect”, you want to aim for “Good Enough”

Good Enough is when you’ve done the hard work to get it to 95%, but you understand that it’s okay to let it go. It’s the ability to recognize that 100% is a construct of the mind, and pursuing it will take you away from exploring other areas of interest.

Good Enough is when you know that the work isn’t perfect, but it still respects the intellect of your audience. It’s not exactly what you envisioned, but it’s still damn good enough to deserve their investment of attention.

Money

1. The Passion Economy: Why Now? by Martin Anquetil

The idea of the Passion Economy is something I’ve been researching on. But, this article really summarises what it’s about and why now is the best time to become a creator!

The Passion Economy is exciting and important because it offers people an opportunity that did not exist before - the ability to make a living by educating, entertaining and supporting others. They can do what they love and build a life on their terms, offering them one of life’s best resources: freedom.

2. How to Grow Audience on Twitter by James Clear

James Clear recently tweeted this:

James Clear

@JamesClear

Let’s play a game...

Reply to this tweet with a topic and I’ll try to write a clever or useful tweet about it.

(This could be a disaster.)

11:15 AM - 11 Aug 2020

And then.. someone said “How to grow on Twitter”

His answer was this:

James Clear

@JamesClear

@uxblake 1. Always give value before you ask for value.

2. Spend more time revising your tweets than you think is reasonable. Most of mine take 10-20 minutes to write.

3. Post at least 1 tweet per day.

11:22 AM - 11 Aug 2020

Also, this whole thread is really interesting. It just amazes me how insightful he is, seeing his answers to those questions 🤯

Relationships

1. Philosopher Erich Fromm on the Art of Loving and What Is Keeping Us from Mastering It by Maria Popova

I’ve recently started re-reading The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm.

The central theme of this book is this:

Love is a skill to be honed the way artists apprentice themselves to the work on the way to mastery, demanding of its practitioner both knowledge and effort.

It’s a great philosophical book on love, but this article by Maria Popova summarises the idea well.

in spite of the deep-seated craving for love, almost everything else is considered to be more important than love: success, prestige, money, power — almost all our energy is used for the learning of how to achieve these aims, and almost none to learn the art of loving.

This is very true. We all want to be loved. But we tend to put more emphasis on success, money, power etc. Why don’t we put more time and effort to master the art of loving if it’s so important?

Health

1. Benefits of Exercise by NHS

If exercise were a pill, it would be one of the most cost-effective drugs ever invented. - Dr Nick Cavill

I was researching on why exercise is underrated and stumble upon this article.

We all know exercising is good, but don’t do it enough. Maybe this article works as a reminder how beneficial exercising is!

It can reduce your risk of major illnesses, such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and cancer by up to 50% and lower your risk of early death by up to 30%.

Exercise is the miracle cure we’ve always had, but for too long we’ve neglected to take our recommended dose. Our health is now suffering as a consequence.

2. How breathing exercise helps you with your anxiety by Emma Seppälä

Research shows, during the pandemic, anxiety level increased, which is no surprise at all.

So, what can we do to reduce our anxiety?

Emma introduces a breathing protocol called SKY Breath Meditation. Apparently, it’s pretty effective:

Of all the programs, SKY Breath Meditation that had the most benefits—improving stress, depression, mental health, social connection, mindfulness and positive emotion

when compared to a traditional cognitive approach, SKY Breath Meditation shows stronger results, improving stress, sleep, social connectedness, distress, anxiety, depression, conscientiousness, self-esteem, and life satisfaction.

I think I’m going to give this a try since it sounds promising. You can learn this breathing exercise from here:

SKY Breath Meditation is a comprehensive series of breathing exercises taught in online or in-person workshops (by non-profit Art of Living Foundation, or for college students by SKY Campus Happiness, and veterans by Project Welcome Home Troops. There’s even a middle and high school program called SKY Schools.)

Idea Sketch of the Week - 3 Stages as a Creator

See my note about this idea here :)

Latest Video - How to Develop the Writing Habit

How to Write Everyday

Share This Newsletter :)

If you liked this issue, please share this to your friends on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or whatever other apps you’re using 😇

Feel free to send me a message on Twitter if you want to connect with me!

Shu Omi

@shuomi3

Scheduling > To-Do Lists

If you want to do something you’ve been procrastinating, schedule it rather than adding it to your to-do list🙌

E.g. if you want to write everyday, create a 1 hour time block dedicated for writing, giving yourself no options but to write ✍️

8:50 AM - 11 Aug 2020

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Shu Omi @ShuOmi3

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