February 2012
2 posts
The two things about any subject
Stranger in the bar said, “For every subject, there are really only two things you really need to know. Everything else is the application of those two things, or just not important.”
Difficult as it may be to accept, it might be true. Whether it is true or not doesn’t matter so much because I think the exercise of boiling down a subject to two sentences is tremendously...
The key to clear writing
…is clear thinking. From the Economist Style guide:
“A scrupulous writer”, observed Orwell, “in every sentence that he writes will ask himself at least these questions:
What am I trying to say?
What words will express it?
What image or idiom will make it clearer?
Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?
Could I put it more shortly?
Have I said anything that is...
January 2012
2 posts
2 tags
The Two Ideas Deal
It seems that whenever I read/hear/watch anything interesting (eg. TED talks), it is usually full of many ideas. In them, almost always, few ideas are completely convincing to me, many I feel need more exploration to be convincing and some completely repel me.
There isn’t always enough time to be able to explore all the ideas that get thrown at me, of course. But in the spirit of being able...
Fighting the Introspection Principle
Introspection Principle states that the act of self-reflection is the most important for making big life decisions.
This principle is too ingrained in our psyche and is not the most effective way to build a compelling career. Fighting the principle means accepting that the path of finding compelling work is ambiguous.
Cal Newport’s advice seems more convincing:
Compelling careers unfold...
December 2011
1 post
“Emotion in general leads to transmission, and awe is quite a strong emotion…If I’ve just read this story that changes the way I understand the world and myself, I want to talk to others about what it means. I want to proselytize and share the feeling of awe. If you read the article and feel the same emotion, it will bring us closer together.” - New York Times
November 2011
7 posts
Placebo x Nocebo
Just like the perceived presence of a medicine (placebo) can have an effect to alleviate the condition, the perceived absence of a medicine (nocebo) can have the opposite effect.
This is interesting because just as the brain can stimulate the presence of a drug (placebo), it can also negate the presence of a drug (nocebo)!
This is important because the nocebo effect means that side-effects which...
How to become a writer
…or anything else, Ed Yong’s suggestion:
1) Pull your finger out and work really hard. Stay up late. Practice. Sacrifice your social time. Churn out a crazy amount of output. Practice. Enter competitions. Practice. 2) Give people a reason to read you. There are plenty of competent writers and not enough time to read them. Maybe you are the go-to person for a topic....
Probabilities don't exist
Not in the way we have been taught in school i.e. objectively, independent of the human mind. Instead probability is subjective and a widely accepted definition is a rate at which an individual is willing to bet on the occurrence of an event.
Another neat way of making sense of this is that probability of an event is effectively the price that you are willing to pay for a lottery ticket that...
Understanding Small Talk
I hate small talk. It’s no surprise for those who know me well. But I do it because I can see it’s social utility.
One must understand, though, that there is only so much social utility in it. Beyond a point, any small talk is a sheer waste of the time for everyone involved in the conversation.
When deciding whether to keep something prioritise...
Beautiful Things: Will you be driven to share it?
Emotionally Important Things: Does it have a narrative?
Tools/devices/appliances (things that efficiently perform useful functions): Have really high technical standards for this.
Everything else.
October 2011
17 posts
When buying something think about these things
Things that go on your body or inside your body deserve the most attention. Things which you use a lot of time deserve a lot more attention. Things that are in your immediate surrounding deserve enough attention.
Buy something only if it is absolutely necessary.
If it is absolutely necessary then do your research and buy a version of that thing that serves your purpose the best. Even if it is a...
How much power does a mobile phone charger consume...
With no phone attached to the charger, it consumes about 0.5 Wh.
When a fully-charged phone is attached to the charger, it consumes about 1 Wh.
When a partially-charged phone is attached to the charger (aka when the phone is charging), it wastes about 4.5 Wh as heat and delivers about 2.5 Wh to the phone.
Source
PS: 1000 Wh costs about 10 pence in the UK and is equivalent to 0.52 kg CO2e.
The Role of Habits
The key to better living is forming better habits. Leo Babauta’s now famous blog Zen Habits started with that motto. Forming new habits or getting rid of old habits is difficult and we know that. Past experiences have taught us that lesson. But it has been shown by many that a period of about 30 days is enough to form new habits or break old ones.
Numerical Context
We make sense of the world around us with help of numbers. They are everywhere. Not just in critical things like your body-mass index, the credit card debt or the speed limit on a highway but also in things that don’t affect you so much you like number of calories in that steak, the number of likes received by your latest status update or clinical trials data on a new drug. But numbers on...
“If you work hard, and become successful, it does not necessarily mean you are...”
– http://occupywriters.com/by-lemony-snicket
Removing Mental Creases
Anyone who’s ever ironed their clothes will know that one needs to remove the creases on any piece of clothing before actually laying the hot iron down on it. It’s that short preparation that one does before the actual event which makes the effort in the event worth the time. Similarly, I have found that spending a few moments before diving into any activity to remove mental creases...
Context, Content & Quantity
Being said to whom, where and why? What is the message that needs to be conveyed? How much time do you have?
In any conversation, from telling others what you do to convincing others to buy what you are selling, three things need to be given special attention - Context, Content & Quantity.
Context: Make it as relevant to the listener as possible.
Content: Make it as simple as possible.
...
The Power of Change
We fear change. We probably carry this fear from our ancestors in the Savannah’s. And yet, most innovation and progress has come from times of change. Change has a lot of potential to do good if it is treated as that. Sooner we realise this the better it will be.
Consciously Analysing Risk
We human beings are terrible at risk analysis if we let our sub-conscious mind do it. Take the example of public speaking. Most of us are terrified that we’ll make a fool of ourselves except what really makes a bad impression on stage is being nervous. If we are able to ignore our sub-conscious mind’s flawed risk analysis and instead consciously analyse the risk of the critical...
Why belief systems matter
Our belief system underpins every decision we take. We rely on it from helping us to understand the meaning of our life to helping us decide whether to steal our neighbour’s car or not. We must focus on adopting better belief systems and when we do we should ensure that we update them as we learn more about the world we live in.
Bettering our instincts
To be able to do something really well, one must develop the instincts to do it. When most things needed to get the task done are done instinctually, it frees up the time for us to think about how to do it better. The old adage that says practice makes perfect works because the practice betters our instincts.
The importance of death
On a day when the world mourns the death of a visionary, I ponder about the words that he left behind:
For the past 33 years, everyday in the morning I’ve looked in the mirror and I’ve asked myself, “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” and whenever the answer has been ‘no’ for too many days in a row, I know I...
Focusing on Heuristics
To deal with any situation we rely heavily on models that have been built based on previous experiences (irrespective of how similar or different the current situation is from the previous one). These models or mental shortcuts are commonly known as heuristics. With that realisation, it seems obvious that one must pay adequate attention to these models and do what one can to improve them.
How to deal with privacy issues on social networks
Consider anything you do as public.
It’s that simple. I don’t think you will ever again worry about your social network content if you treated all the content you post to social networks as public.
Facebook keeps changing it’s privacy settings. Google creates Buzz and gives away loads of information. People post things publicly that were considered private by the author…...
Get rid of all that clutter on the web for a... →
Readability is free and simple to use.
September 2011
3 posts
How to beat procrastination
Everyday before the work day starts, take a few minutes to breathe. Clear your mind and then focus on doing what needs to get done that day. Many things will pop up in your mind. From that mental list of things write down three most important things to do on a piece of paper. Then aim to get only those three things done and try to avoid any distractions while getting those done.
That’s it. It’s...
Journalists I follow
Harsha Bhogle of CricInfo
Ben Goldacre of the Guardian
George Monbiot of the Guardian
Vir Sanghvi of Hindustan Times
David Brooks of the New York Times
Why do still I see people using Google Chrome... →
I know we need Google but I can’t deal with those adwords present in every damn corner of the internet. Peace out with AdBlock!