Visual Storytelling | The Power of Good Questions | Picking a Career | Finding The One - This Week's Best Links
Hey :) How are you doing today?
**Announcement**
1) No video last week as I was working on my Roam Japanese course ;( But a new video about Zettelkasten coming up soon!
2) I added more notes to my mind garden. 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 and Instapaper.
Save them 👉 Read them later 👉 Take notes 👉 Create your own content!
Mind
1. How Anne-Laure Le Cunff Wrote 200 Articles In One Year by Dan Shipper
Anne-Laure is one of my biggest inspirations. The way she produces top quality content consistently each week blows my mind.
This article by Dan Shipper of Superorganizers - which is a fantastic newsletter - dives into how she manages to write 3 articles every week. As a huge fan of Anne-Laure and Dan, I thoroughly enjoyed this one!
My weekly review is in my notebook—it’s analog. I turn my notebook horizontally, and I do three columns: What went well, what didn’t, and what I want to work on the next week. This is called plus, minus, next.
After I do “plus, minus, next,” I boil down my goals for the week on a Post-It that I put in front of me on the wall. I try to be mindful here, and keep the note to three things maximum every week. Three things. That’s it. These aren’t tasks to check off; they’re more like themes to keep me on track.
2. The Power of Good Questions by Norman Chella
Someone - I think it was Taimur Abdaal in Not Overthinking podcast - said something along the lines of “Everyone has something interesting to say. If you’re finding someone boring, you’re not asking good questions”.
I think this is very true. But what are the good questions?
Norman shares his insight into what kind of questions we should ask more in our everyday conversation!
Less of trashy questions like "How are you?" And more of "Why this?" "What do you think of?" "What if?"
A good way to use this? Start with "I'm curious -"
It's your golden ticket to asking any question. You humble yourself down to ask a provoking question, and they understand
3. Summary of The Sovereign Individual (1999) by @anilsaidso
Some people, including David Perell, say this book is one of the most important books today.
So I started reading it a while ago, but it is a little hard to read (or maybe I’m too stupid).
If you’re like me or want to read a summary of it before reading in full, this Twitter thread gives a general idea of what it’s about!
The Sovereign Individual (1999) is a guide for navigating the current transition from Industrial to Information Age.
Remarkably, it predicted the rise of 'digital gold'.
“If our deductions are correct, you stand at the threshold of the most sweeping revolution in history.”
A🧵 https://t.co/WPd57N3Myp
4. The Ultimate Guide to Visual Storytelling by Lawrence Yeo / More to That
Drawing is one of the most critical skills for knowledge workers or anyone who writes online. As David Perell says:
Writing and drawing is the ultimate 1-2 punch.
Attract people with your words.
Entertain them with your drawings.
They don’t need to be perfect. But they need to be memorable and consistent. https://t.co/FPoKdIEnf2
In this article, Lawrence talks about why visual storytelling makes your idea even more powerful, and shares the process of creating his content.
Have you read Lawrence’s blog by the way? They’re brilliant!
How exactly do you do it [visual storytelling]? What are the steps required to put this craft into practice?
I’ve distilled the whole process down to four essential steps:
1. Select an idea
2. Define the Problem and the Takeaway
3. Create the Visceral Journey
4. Simplify the message visually
5. Vivaldi Browser
There’s been a hype about this new browser “Vivaldi Browser” among some people in the Roam community.
I haven’t tried it yet, but they made it sound like a game-changer!
Why did it take me so long to start using @vivaldibrowser? This browser is incredible for my workflow, and I've only been using it for an hour. I love using the tile tab stacks, and I set a keyboard shortcut to pull up my daily notes for @roamresearch in the side panel. Brilliant
Money
1. How to Pick a Career (That Actually Fits You) by Wait But Why
This long essay by the legendary Tim Urban explains a framework you can use to make important career decisions. It’s really long read (30~mins), but you’ll definitely find it helpful if you’re graduating university soon or thinking of changing job.
Society tells us a lot of things about what we should want in a career and what the possibilities are—which is weird because I’m pretty sure society knows very little about any of this
This post isn’t me giving you career advice really—it’s a framework that I think can help you make career decisions that actually reflect who you are, what you want, and what our rapidly changing career landscape looks like today
2. How to Start a Newsletter by @Kamphey
Starting a newsletter is probably the easiest way to build an audience online.
If you’re thinking of starting one or just got started, this Twitter thread might help!
1/10
Start at 0
Everyone starts at zero subscribers.
So just start.
Now.
@SubstackInc is free.
@mailchimp is free for 0 subs.
@ConvertKit has a free tier
@emailoctopus has a free tier too
@sendfox too has a free tier.
2/10
Curate and Create
Can't figure out what to write?
What did you read this week?
What's interesting to you?
Share 5 great products you love, with your audience.
If you're curating, be sure to add your own voice. Write a paragraph about what you found insightful this week.
Relationships
1. How Do I Know When I Found the ONE? by Esther Perel
Esther argues the concept of “The One” is problematic. When we think of “The One”, we expect him/her to be someone who can give us everything: it’s someone who becomes your best friend, passionate lover, co-parent as well as someone to go on adventure with etc etc.
But this is unrealistic. Nobody can satisfy all of your needs. This concept is a setup for frustration and disappointment.
Finding "The One" - Esther Perel
Health
1. 12 Tips for Working Thorough Your Imposter Syndrome by Emily Anhalt
To tell the truth, I’ve been experiencing some of the symptoms of Imposter Syndrome. Like whenever I get invited to a podcast, I feel like I’ll be exposed as a fraud! But I guess that’s something I have to work on.
This Twitter thread by Emily Anhalt helped me a little.
Imposter Syndrome is believing that you are not intelligent or capable despite evidence of high achievement. There is a feeling of phoniness and a fear of being found out or exposed as a fraud.
Sound familiar?
Here are 12 tips for working through your Imposter Syndrome:
👥 Avoid comparisons.
Don’t compare your behind-the- scenes to everyone else’s highlight reel (in other words, people’s social medias are not reflective of their true struggles).
Allow your accomplishments to stand on their own.
2. What is imposter syndrome and how can you combat it? by Elizabeth Cox
More on Imposter Syndrome if you’re interested!
TedEd produces such great videos.
This feeling of fraudulence is extremely common. Why can’t so many of us shake feelings that our ideas and skills aren’t worthy of others’ attention? Elizabeth Cox describes the psychology behind the imposter syndrome, and what you can do to combat it.
What is imposter syndrome and how can you combat it? - Elizabeth Cox
Idea Sketch of the Week - Escaping Competition
My Note
Anna Karenina said “all happy families are alike and all unhappy families are unhappy in their own special way”.
But Peter Thiel believes the opposite is true for business.
He says “All happy companies are different because they’re doing something very unique. All unhappy companies are alike because they fail to escape the essential sameness that is competition”.
But I think this holds true for individuals. If you doing the same thing as those around you, you will fail to escape the competition.
You have to avoid competition by being you, through authenticity, because no one can beat you on being you.
More sketches on here: https://www.shuomi.me/sketches
Share this newsletter :)
Thanks for subscribing and reading this newsletter till the end!
If you liked what you read, please share it with your friends on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook!
I’d be extremely grateful :)
Hope you have a great week!
Shu