Hello there,
Once a month I share some personal updates & the most interesting/helpful things that I come across on writing, design, human behaviour, faith, finance, tech or any other random topic I happen to be interested in during the month. I mostly tweet these things also but you’d have to stalk me to see them, so I decided to bring them to your door mail step.
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Welcome to August!
July was quite a ride for me, it was like all the work not done in April and May came to June and July.
I’m taking a step forward toward making this newsletter more public by reposting it on my site as a blog post. If you find it helpful please share.
For me, I write this because it’s really helpful for me, it helps me look back at the month and reflect on what I’ve learnt. Also, I have an archive of some of my fave content from Jan 2019 – date. It’s easy to go back and see what I was learning or thinking about at a particular time.
Thoughts from July
Belonging > Facts.
Belonging > Logic.
The constant debates on social media have made me realize that the desire to belong is often stronger than facts or logic. People would throw facts or logic aside just to belong.
Courtesy: Farnam Street
Two highlights of July:
- Joining LunchClub. An avenue to increase my network. I think it’s similar to Dialup (a voice-chat app that connects you serendipitously to the people from all over the world based on topics of interest even though we end up just talking about topics beyond the selected topic) which I’ve been using for over a year now.
- I submitted an essay for UONGOZI leadership essay competition, results come in August. 🤞
For me:
On Netflix: I concluded Losers – a beautiful docuseries, watched another episode of Babies, still on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Surprising I saw a lot of Nigerian movies because of the Netflix top 10 list — I enjoyed Nimbe, Cold feet had a good ending, Your Excellency was funny, and The Million$ felt like a waste of my time.
Personal Finance: Finally bought my first stocks using Chaka. I had been postponing it since. I’m a long term investor, hoping to flip here and there for short term gains when necessary. This deserves a separate post.
Cloout: Exhausted by the mid-week series, cutting it down to once a month, it’s not as good as I want to be and I could be using my time for other things. Started interviews with subscribers in July to understand where they’re at, it’s been one of the best decisions ever.
auf Deutsch lernen: Seibenundhundert-Tage-Serie auf Duolingo
On learning German: 107 days streak on Duolingo.
Books Read
New Birth or Rebirth: Jesus talks to Krishna: Ravi Zacharias
I got talking to an agnostic (former Hinduist), and this prompted me to read. I’ve had it on my list but I just wanted to understand the relationship between Christianity and Hinduism.
From Me:
Nope, didn’t write any article for myself again. I have some topics I want to write about. Anyone want to read the first drafts please reply. I’m doing less writing for Cloout so I’d def have more time for this.
From the Web
It’s in the nature of our psychology that a pattern developed in relation to one particular set of circumstances in childhood becomes a feature of adult character, until and unless we remember and understand its dynamics. In other words, we’ll continue not to be spontaneous until we can grasp how and why being so once felt so dangerous.
When Snap launched, there were infinite way to share images, but Snap asked a bunch of weird questions that no-one had really asked before. Why do you have to press the camera button – why doesn’t the app open in the camera? Why are you saving your messages – isn’t that like saving all your phone calls? Fundamentally, Snap asked ‘why, exactly, are you sending a picture? What is the underlying social purpose?’ You’re not really sending someone a sheet of pixels – you’re communicating.
Why Our Best Thoughts Come To Us in the Shower
The primary obstacle to good thinking is not a cramped desk or an uninteresting horizon. It is, first and foremost, anxiety. Often the most profound thoughts we need to grapple with have a potentially disturbing character.
In struggling companies, people often subconsciously assume they have Wrong Strategy Syndrome, because it is human nature to invent new narratives when we’re in trouble. It doesn’t occur to us as easily that the old narrative would work if we implemented it with more focus and clarity.
The power of the Poor – Hernando De Soto
Watching this video about Hernando de Soto’s work in Peru got me asking, What’s the cost of being a predominantly informal economy?
Charlie Munger’s advice on life and Investing
At 95, Charlier Munger is still spot-on.
Morgan Housel:
Lots of Things Happening At Once
In his documentary on American history, Oliver Stone says, “Real history is the story of lots of things happening at the same time.” Big trends rarely have one cause.
What’s Something You Strongly Believe That’s Likely Wrong?
But while everyone knows they have to be wrong about something, few of us want to admit or think hard about what that something might be.
A really cool project: Open a new window somewhere in the world
Newsletters:
I also subscribe to a ton of great newsletters, here is one out of the many I love:
One of the best roundups of the African and Emerging market Tech space. I like it best for the recommendations and conversations that are plugged into the newsletter as opposed to just telling me what happened this week.
Thank you for reading!
See you on the last Saturday in August 2020 – so help me God!
Did you come across anything helpful or something that got to you? Please share with me. Also If you have any feedback please reply via email 🙂
Have a Fabulous August!
Daniel 😎