Hello there,
It’s that time of the year when people start saying the year went by really fast. I don’t think so.
How was September? For me, it was meh. Kind of slow.
Highlights of August:
- Going Paintballing for the first time. My respect for soldiers just went up.
- Voice Ok was launched by an acquaintance.
- Discovering Toucan — A product ( I mostly use the chrome extension) that helps you learn a new language. It’s a simple but really helpful product.
For me:
On Netflix:
I believe everyone should watch The Social Dilemma, It was really enlightening on the power of social media, how they affect us. Despite all the drawbacks that people keep mentioning, there are still many Pros.
The Two Popes good, I never thought much about Popes and the dilemma they face.
Unbroken: An inspiring real-life story I’d watch many times over.
Greatest Events of Worldwar 2: This series kickstarted my foray into watching world war videos and other war-related videos. I can confidently say now that I have the world map in my head after watching different videos of how different countries invaded one and another.
I’m still on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Cloout: I did more reaching out to new potential subscribers on LinkedIn. Reached out to > 300 persons, crossed 400 subscriber count. Continued interviews with subscribers to understand where they’re at and added a different type of content — Interviews with entrepreneurs.
auf Deutsch lernen: einhundertfünfundfünf-Tage-Serie auf Duolingo
On learning German: 155 days streak on Duolingo
Books Read
25 Ways to Win with People by John Maxwell
Becoming a Person of Influence by John Maxwell & Jim Dorman
Thanks to YouTube recommendations, I read these two books by listening to the audio versions. John Maxwell is my day one guy, we go way back. Despite having read both books multiple times in the past, I still got some useful nuggets. I definitely recommend if you’ve not read them.
Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions — Gregory Koukl
This is a fantastic read!
Sometimes the reason you are confused about another person’s meaning is because she is confused, too. She objects to Christianity for reasons she hasn’t thought through. The objection flourishes because no one has challenged the lack of clarity that led to the muddled thinking in the first place.
The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life — Kevin Simler, Robin Hanson.
Why do you do the things you do? What’s the real reason, Your brain might have been lying to you.
We, human beings, are a species that’s not only capable of acting on hidden motives — we’re designed to do it. Our brains are built to act in our self-interest while at the same time trying hard not to appear selfish in front of other people. And in order to throw them off the trail, our brains often keep “us,” our conscious minds, in the dark. The less we know of our own ugly motives, the easier it is to hide them from others.
Self-deception is therefore strategic, a ploy our brains use to look good while behaving badly.
From Me:
If there are guidelines on how to consume food for our bodies, what about for our minds?
From the Web
The truly well-read person isn’t the one who has read a gargantuan number of books, it’s someone who has let themselves be shaped — deeply shaped in their capacity to live and die well — by a very few well-chosen ones.
Brené on Parenting and Shame 🎧
Brené Brown replies someone’s question on what role parenting plays in reducing shame in children — Nature vs Nurture.
Compound interest is the most powerful force on earth. Build a product and brand that can experience compound growth. Then work on it for a really long time.
Winners and Losers in the Race of Life
We cannot — it seems — be winners at everything. Those who appear to be carrying off all the prizes and are lauded in certain quarters as superhuman athletes of life cannot, on closer examination, really be triumphing across the board in any such way.
What If God Wants Me to Marry Someone Ugly?
I first read this article sometime last year, but the response is ever helpful even for different contexts.
I had to trust that for whatever reason, God deemed it good and right for me to be single for the time. He deemed it good and right for the aching in my soul to cause me to turn to Him for comfort and hope, instead of a relationship with a man. And whether he chose to bless me with marriage or singleness, Psalm 84:11 promised me that God wasn’t going to give me second best. He wasn’t hiding his gifts from me, but was blessing me instead.
A brilliant and witty channel that helped me in my quest to understand different wars
Newsletters:
I also subscribe to a ton of great newsletters, here is one out of the many I love:
Patents are a great way of getting a peek into the future before it’s been built and released.
Every week, Neer shares a summary of 3 new patents from big tech companies and a wider list of all patents from these companies.
Thank you for reading!
See you on the last Saturday in October 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 Superb October!
Daniel 😎
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.