Habit Fields
“When we sit down in a lounge chair to watch our favorite TV program, we nudge the chair’s habit field toward relaxation and consumption. The more we repeat the same activity around an object, the stronger its habit field gets. And the stronger its habit field gets, the easier it is for us to effortlessly fall into that mode of behavior the next time we’re around the object.”
“The irony is not lost here—it seems like the solution to making our multitasking devices more effective is to turn them into unitaskers in roundabout ways.”
That last quote is very interesting to me. Cell phones were made for one reason: to make phone calls. Now, we have computer in our pockets that do thousands of things (from flashlights, to email, to digesting news). Because of this, more and more people are getting distracted. So, there are now apps to help people not get distracted. That’s insane to me.
Finding Your Bliss Station
“The new heroin addiction is connectivity.”
Although dramatic, I feel like this is fairly accurate. The point is it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to disconnect. It’s addicting to be connected, and it’s worth thinking about the implications of that.
The Importance of Intrinsic Motivation
“If you are intrinsically motivated, you can shrug off the naysayers, the doubters, the judgers. What they think does not define your value or who you are. It’s better to have inner confidence than external validation.”
There are always going to be people who doubt you or your ideas. It’s important to have the inner confidence to ignore them because at the end of the day whatever they say won’t matter.
The 10 Rules of Brand Building
“Some of you say you’re passionate about making millions, but your life proves that you are really passionate about hanging out with friends, doing bong rips and playing GTA. You will be rich with that. You might not be able to afford car insurance, but you will be really good at punching babies in a video game and getting so stoned that you can’t feel your feet.”
Bobby is a super smart guy and this post is essential for anyone trying to build a brand. This quote resonated well with me because I hear people talk about “coming up” or “hustling” all of the time but what I hear them say doesn’t line up with their actions. Don’t get me wrong, I love video games (and GTAV), but if I’m not doing well financially you better believe I won’t be sitting around playing games. Get off your ass and work.
Timeless Tips for ‘Simple Sabotage’ (from the CIA)
“Managers and Supervisors: To lower morale and production, be pleasant to inefficient workers; give them undeserved promotions. Discriminate against efficient workers; complain unjustly about their work.”
So the CIA has documentation on what they used for training spies… it’s an interesting read but this quote stood out to me the most. For bosses or managers, it’s important to continually push your best coworkers in an effort to make them better. I feel like this is similar to parents as well.
Yes, There is Such a Thing as an Introvert Hangover
“These feelings are only compounded when other people notice that you’ve stopped communicating and want to find out why. “Why so quiet?” they ask, meaning well. “Are you upset? Are you feeling okay?”
“It’s not that we don’t want to be around you. It’s not that we’re upset. It’s not that anything is particularly wrong. It’s just that we need to be alone. We need some time up in our heads with our thoughts. We need time to just breathe and just be.”
This might have been my favorite article I read for August. Anyone who knows me well knows that I’m an introvert. I don’t need people, and I am perfectly fine being alone in most situations. Sometimes for work or in life it’s required of me to be extroverted. I’m really good at pretending to be extroverted, but when I need to pretend for more than a few days I start needing my space. This article breaks it down really well and I would recommend anyone who either is an introvert or is good friends with an introvert to read this. WE ARE FINE, WE JUST NEED SOME SPACE.
How to Pick the Perfect Watermelon: 5 Key Tips From An Experienced Farmer
“The webbing of a watermelon indicates the amount of times that bees touched the flower. The more pollination, the sweeter the watermelon is.”
Super random, but also very useful for the summer.
Email is Most Useful When Improving a Process that Existed Before Email
“Email seems to be at its best when it directly replaces a professional behavior or process that existed before email’s rise. For example, in mergers and acquisitions, the urgent and hard to predict delivery of complicated contracts has long been a necessary and important behavior. Sending these documents by email is much easier than relying on fax machines. On the other hand, email seems to be at its worst when it helps instigate the sudden arrival of a new behavior or process that didn’t exist before. In teaching, for example, pre-email parents didn’t have nor did they expect ubiquitous access to their children’s teachers. There was no pressing pedagogical or parental need for such access. Once teachers got email addresses, however, this new behavior emerged essentially ex nihilo and began to cause problems.”
An interesting article on when email is most useful, and when it becomes un-useful.
2 Simple Rules That Great Readers Live By (But Never Tell)
“Because dollar for dollar there is no better investment in the world than a book.”
I definitely agree with this.
“When something intrigues your interest, get it. If it doesn’t hold your interests or pass your standards, toss it out (personally, I keep some, sell what I can back to Amazon, and give the rest to Goodwill). That’s it.”
A great process for deciding what’s worth reading, and what’s worth putting down.
Mafia management
“The Camorra put their own unique spin on standard management techniques. They are experts in team-building. New recruits are initiated with quasi-religious ceremonies. Rising stars are given endearing nicknames such as Carlucciello ‘o mangiavatt (“little Charles the cat-eater”). They take care of the relatives of workers who die on the job. Gang members known in their role as the “submarine” deliver money and groceries to the bereaved families on Fridays.”
This was an interesting article on how mafia families manage their businesses and members. Definitely a lot to learn here.
How Cards Against Humanity Writes Emails Their Customers Can’t Wait to Open
“At the time that MailChimp post was written, Cards Against Humanity had sent only 15 emails in three years. According to founder Max Temkin, that low frequency is for a very specific reason (and no, it’s not because they’re lazy): “Sending an email is one of the worst things you can do to a person,” he said. “You are stealing a little part of their life away. 99.99% of all emails are incredibly annoying and a huge imposition. If your job is to write emails, you should always be fighting to send fewer things and make sure each email you send is so incredible that it’s a rare treat to hear from you.”