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Audre Lorde Completely Changed How I Relate to Pleasure and Sex

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These revolutionary ideas can rewire how you think about the erotic.

Created by the author via Canva.

When my tantra teacher read out a sentence, I didn’t anticipate how much the words would influence my life.

It was last August, and the sentence was one of those where you need to put in some mental effort to get it. I didn’t.

My brain was fogged from Vienna’s summer heat, and I only managed to save a link in my read-later app.

A week afterward, I read the entire essay. Again. And again. I have read it ten times since. And I discover new layers of meaning every single time.

Audre Lorde’s ‘Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power’ is one of those timeless essays with the power to change you. Below are some of her ideas that have transformed how I relate to pleasure and sex.

Tapping Into The Most Underrated Source of Power

I remember the moment I started to fear the yes within myself.

It was a week before I turned 13, in the bedroom of my then-best friend. We stroked our skin, and I felt an until-then-unknown heat arising from deep within.

It was in this moment of embodied desire towards another woman that my friend’s mum opened the door — eyes wide open, lips pressed together, her head shaking in disapproval.

I froze.

My deep-felt YES turned into something shameful to be ignored and avoided at all costs.

Audre Lorde writes, “We have been raised to fear the yes within ourselves, our deepest cravings.” She goes on to dismantle the oppression of the erotic in a patriarchal society.

Depending on where you live, there are implicit and explicit rules for acceptable behaviour in sex, pleasure, and desire.

Most societies are organized around patriarchy, with laws and media representation of practices that keep existing power dynamics in place (e.g. sex in a marriage between a cisman and ciswomen), and stigmatization, violence, or laws against practices that threaten them (e.g. free love of whoever they want, including other women and trans bodies).

Forty-five years after Lorde published her essay, cisgender women still learn to be submissive and obedient instead of being self-affirming, emotionally complex, and erotic powerhouses.

And while I feel troubled by the fact that Lorde’s text from 1978 applies almost half a century later, her words also make me feel hopeful.

Because as Lorde writes, “once recognized, those which do not enhance our future lose their power and can be altered.” Calling out dysfunctional structures and learned behaviour is empowering.

Despite global suppression, our deepest non-rational YES is still there.

“We have been taught to suspect this resource, vilified, abused, and devalued within western society. On the one hand, the superficially erotic has been encouraged as a sign of female inferiority; on the other hand, women have been made to suffer and to feel both contemptible and suspect by virtue of its existence.”

— Audre Lorde

How this changed the way I relate to pleasure and sex:

Before, I was unaware of the erotic as a resource, a replenishing and guiding life force. But, since reading her essays, I started to prioritize pleasure.

Thanks to women who have done this for a much longer and are now sharing their tools, I learned to invite and embrace the DEEP YES within myself.

I am doing practices that teach my brain to connect power and pleasure. I am letting go of shame. I am uncovering what happens if I replace the roles patriarchy has scripted into me with actions guided by what I want to create instead.

I am learning my feelings are the most genuine path to knowledge. I am unlocking new levels of satisfaction, power, and completeness.

Eroticism is a source of female power — and power not meaning power over (as within our Western framework of individuality and independence) but power with others (self-actualization linked with the community).

Unlearning How Porn Fucked Up My Mind

Lorde writes how the erotic is a question of what we do and how acutely and fully we can feel in the doing. She argues pornography isolates sex from feelings, thereby abusing the erotic.

In my first few reads, my mind objected. Porn can extend our spectrum of sexual imagination. Some films blend feelings, sensuality, and sex (see, for example, Getcheex or Erika Lust).

But most porn doesn’t.

I must have been around 14 when I watched my first YouPorn video. At that point, I had no sex education from school or my parents (beyond contraception and wrong depictions of female genitals).

I did not know almost all porn videos portray sex (seemingly) optimized for male pleasure, the male gaze. I did not sense that the sex I saw was only one very limited and female pleasure-ignoring form of sex created inside a mainstream paradigm stretching between rape culture and a culture of repression.

The most popular search terms on pornhub, a site people visit more often than Amazon or Netflix, revolve around racialized power dynamics, incest, or sexual encounters with women as objects.

Building upon Lorde’s essay, adrienne brown writes in her ‘Pleasure Activism’ “, While we didn’t create the water we are swimming in, it’s still poisoning us.”

“But pornography is a direct denial of the power of the erotic, for it represents the suppression of true feeling. Pornography emphasizes sensation without feeling.”

— Audre Lorde

How this changed the way I relate to pleasure and sex:

Lorde helped me investigate how porn has shaped sexual interests and behaviours.

The sexual scripts I learned from porn guided my sexual self-expectations and made me fake orgasms long into my twenties. I pretended to be satisfied, thinking this was normal, while now understanding, I followed scripts robbing any real sexual pleasure.

Lorde’s essay helped me understand how most porn was created from a patriarchal standpoint. These storylines wired my brain around fantasies and desires that are unhealthy for me. I also acknowledge the power of fantasies, as they can contribute to perpetuating existing inequalities.

I have started to retrain my brain around desires that stem from a new paradigm that centres around female pleasure, inclusivity, consensual non-monogamy, non-gender conforming roles, and a broader spectrum of beauty and attraction.

“I have been intentionally working on developing new fantasies. Fantasy is where I first explored the impossible idea that I am desirable. The improbable idea that fat bodies, brown and Black bodies, scarred and dimpled bodies, bodies that hurt and lurch and roll, bodies with hair and acne, bodies that sweat and make sounds and messes — that all of our bodies are desirable. This work has shifted my reality of lovers and my reality of how I see myself and let myself be treated.”

— Adrienne Marie Brown

Not Settling For Less Than Excellence in Life

Have you ever felt you are asking for too much?

Many women have been taught accommodation and obedience, with partners or families expecting them to sacrifice their desires for their partner’s or families’ greater good.

In her essay, Lorde encourages striving toward excellence in the erotic and not misconstructing it as demanding something impossible.

And this goes beyond intimate connections with ourselves or others. The erotic is a form of embodied energy that can inform many areas of our lives.

Lorde writes, “When I speak of the erotic, then, I speak of it as an assertion of the lifeforce of women; of that creative energy empowered, the knowledge of which we are now reclaiming in our language, our history, our dancing, our loving, our work, our lives.” She invites us to connect with our capacity for joy.

“It is an internal sense of satisfaction to which, once we have experienced it, we know we can aspire. For having experienced the fullness of this depth of feeling and recognizing its power, in honour and self-respect we can require no less of ourselves.”

— Audre Lorde

How this changed the way I relate to pleasure and sex:

Lorde made me realize that liberating pleasure is a precondition for satisfaction, joy, and excellence.

I don’t fear the yes inside myself, but I invite it. I dare to demand and aspire for what I truly want and not settle for less. I show up as the most empowered version that feels most like me in the context of the reality I was given.

Her words, and the interpretation of her words by brilliant minds such as adrienne brown, Minna Salami, and bell hooks, helped me understand that our power starts from within. Our pleasure and most non-rational knowledge can guide us to our most authentic desires.

I will continue to explore the erotic as power by sharing my deepest desires through my writing and the spoken word, engaging in more activities at a speed that allows me to feel fully (ecstatic dancing, self-pleasure practice and embodied awareness through breath, sound, feeling), and cultivating all my senses, and especially my felt-sense of touch (as opposed to my overdeveloped sense of sight).

Source: Created by author

Final Feelings

Every woman, cis or trans, experiences the erotic and discrimination against it. Yet, the ways of experience differ because of factors like race, class, disability, and gender presentation.

Lorde’s words still hold revolutionary power for all of us, as she shows how the erotic is a form of power that both reveals and endangers oppressive forces.

Organizing your life around pleasure is one of the most revolutionary things to do while nourishing our minds, bodies, and souls.

Ready to bring more pleasure into your life?

Sign-up free for the Pleasure Letter, a monthly newsletter where I share the best resources, reads, and tools for leading a more pleasurable life. If you want to become a fearless writer, sign-up for my free Write Letter.

How Optimizing Your Workdays for Focus Can Help You Do More in Less Time

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Staying productive, sane, and healthy as a solopreneur.

Source: Salzburg Global Seminar // Katrin Kerschbaumer

The first six months of working self-employed felt like a constant struggle between doing too much and barely enough.

Nobody sets your priorities or boundaries. You’re maximum self-reliant.

I felt guilty when I wasn’t working and stressed when I was.

It took me more than a year to benefit from the freedom and impact that can go along with it. Two and a half years in, I feel at peace with my workload most of the time.

Below are the mind shifts I took and tools I use to spend only a couple of hours at my screen each day.

1) Understanding that Working Less Doesn’t Equal Laziness

Are you sometimes judging yourself for not doing enough?

Societal structures have shaped our thoughts about productivity, rest, and enjoyment.

The working world values busyness and working for long hours. Rest, pleasure, and play are often equated with laziness. No wonder we often measure our worth by how much we achieve.

It took me years to unlearn this belief and untie my self-worth from achievement.

My grandparents were World War II survivors and peasants in a rural 800-village. My parents worked hard to offer my sister and me a childhood with more opportunities and prosperity than they had experienced.

For a long time, I felt guilty just thinking I wanted to work less than my parents. Their words always echoed inside my head:

  • Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
    (Was du heute kannst besorgen, das verschiebe nicht auf morgen.)
  • Work hard, play hard.
    (Wer abends lange feiern kann, kann morgens auch schaffen.)
  • “You can’t make something out of nothing.”
    (Von nichts kommt nichts.)

It took me years of inner work, which included psychotherapy, rapid transformational therapy, and psychedelics, to feel my self-worth even in unproductive times.

I now know and feel (most of the time) that I AM ENOUGH — just in being, no matter what I do or don’t do.

This led to major behavioural shifts. I no longer sacrifice my health and relationships for work. I won’t wait for retirement to do what I really want to do. And this all doesn’t mean I’m lazy. It just means I no longer need productivity to feel worthy.

And yet, I want to have an impact on what I do. So apart from this inner work, I changed a couple of things in my working days to do more in less time.

2) The Key to Doing More in Less Time

Energy levels change during the day. The longer I sit, the slower I think. Writing an email at 5 pm might take thrice as long as writing it at 10 am.

I used to think the more hours I put in, the better the results. And I know so many people who brag about working long hours. But time spent is only one part of the equation.

High-Quality Work Produced = (Time Spent) x (Intensity of Focus)

You can spend eight hours with zero focus and not produce any high-quality work at all.

I decided to optimize for focus, thereby reducing the time I needed to produce my desired outcomes.

But building focus takes time.

I started with a single 20-minute block daily. I increased the duration to three to four 50 minutes blocks a day.

You won’t believe what’s possible if you work with a complete focus for four uninterrupted hours each day.

As Tim Denning wrote: “As much as it sounds like clickbait, 4 hours of deep work a day can be enough for most people to finish all their work.”

On most days of the year, I work up to four hours a day at my computer.

There are exceptions, though; weeks with time-sensitive client work while running my cohort-based online course, where I am back at 50-hour work weeks and many weekdays on which I don’t work at all.

3) The Things I Stopped Doing to Get Everything Done in Four Hours a Day

If you only have four 50-minute intervals a day to get your work done, there are some things to unlearn and deprioritize.

I no longer have my phone at my desk. My phone is in a different room. I enable flight mode until I’ve finished my focused work intervals.

If I have thoughts that require a phone, I write them down to do it after the in-depth work sessions (e.g. using the tan app for sending bank transfers, texting a friend about something etc.).

I don’t do online meetings except with my direct clients and those who work for me. I ask for or prepare prioritized agendas for weekly check-ins.

I “grab virtual coffees” audio-only over a walk in the park.

If you look at my calendar, you will barely find more than three hours of meetings in a week.

I don’t talk to people when I’m in focus mode. People around me know that if I wear my headphones, they can’t speak to me until the next break.

I don’t use messaging apps on my computer. I don’t have the WhatsApp application, and I’m not logged into LinkedIn, Facebook, or Slack.

I disabled all notifications on my computer and phone.

I don’t ever get notifications on my computer. I’m writing this in Manila, where I am visiting a friend and classrooms in the Philippines.

4) The Tools I Use to Maximize Productivity

There are only a couple of tools I use every day.

Headspace is the first app I use in the morning. I open the app on my old phone (while my real phone is still in flight mode in another room) and meditate for 10 or 15 minutes.

When I meditate, I follow my breath — inhales and exhales. The goal of meditation isn’t to get rid of thoughts. Thoughts are the weights in your mental gym. Your job is to return your attention away from them and back to your breath.

You can land a prestigious job, earn tons of money, and find a wonderful partner — if you don’t change your mind and the lens through which you look at life, none of it improves your well-being.

You’re truly happy when you silence your inner chatter. You feel content when you stop judging what you’re experiencing and just experience.

Happiness is a by-product of complete presence, and meditation is one entryway into this presence.

Screenshot of my Headspace App

Once I get to work and deep focus, I rely on three tools — noise-cancelling headphones, the free beFocused apps to schedule 50-minute intervals, and the free BlockSite extension that prevents me from visiting my distraction sites.

I start my workdays with the most thinking-intense task, which often includes some form of creation (writing concept notes, papers or articles).

Readwise and Roam power this creation process (more here).

My newest extension to this powerhouse is the Reader App by Readwise. It allows me to read through RSS feeds and newsletter subscriptions and manually save documents in one beautiful interface. All highlights get synched to my Roam.

The Reader App is still in private beta mode, but anyone who signs up at Readwise through my link (even free trial users) can get access.

I often end my work hours by providing feedback to people who work for me. For that, I use a free project management tool called Clickup.

And that’s when I’m done with using digital tools (apart from my Kindle and a sports aggregator app called MyClubs). In the afternoon, I travel, read, meet friends, or learn something new (e.g. DJing this year).

Conclusion

The above advice doesn’t apply to most people on this planet.

I’m a cis-gender woman in a Western European Country where a single income can afford rent, food, and travel. I am privileged, and most of what I have achieved is not due to hard work or focus but rather my privileges.

But if you read this and can afford a $5 Medium subscription, you might be similarly privileged. In this case, the above strategies and tools can help you spend less time working on a laptop if you want to.

Want to feel inspired and become more thoughtful about how you learn?

Subscribe free to my Learn Letter. Each Wednesday, you’ll get proven tools and resources that elevate your love for learning.

These 8 Unusual Strategies Helped Me Write Consistently For +2 Years

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And build a loyal online audience.

Photo lya Pavlov on Unsplash

Writing consistently is the most important yet hardest part of building an online audience.

If you’re starting out, you’re writing in the void. You feel as if nobody is interested in your work. You start to question why you’re even spending the time on it.

I’ve almost given up hundreds of times. I’ve spent months in the process, not knowing whether my writing will ever attract readers. I’ve written 40 articles before my first story went viral back in 2020.

Fast forward two years, and I have an email list of +4K subscribers and +27K followers on Medium.

Most writers give up when they don’t see much traction. If you really want to build an online audience, don’t be one of them.

If you can keep writing when no one seems to bother about your work, the odds are high that you’ll attract an online audience one day.

In the last 2 years, I’ve kept writing and improving. The strategies below are the ones that have helped me the most. They can help you stick to writing too.

1. Knowing that attracting an audience isn’t linear

Most writers hope that after they’ve published their first or second article, people will read it. For all of the about 50 successful online writers I’ve talked to in the past two years, this was not the case.

Sinem Günel helped me start with the right mindset — don’t expect anything all before I’ve written and published 100 articles.

I wanted to give myself that range to try, fail and figure out what works and what doesn’t.

Because the thing is, success in writing isn’t linear. If you keep writing a lot, you’ll likely experience sudden growth. One of your articles will get traction and tens of thousands of people will read it.

Having the idea of exponential growth in the back of my mind saved me.

I know it feels lonesome to keep writing when nothing happens. You can get anxious, stressed, and desperate. All your feelings are valid.

But if you hang in there and keep up with a consistent writing practice long enough and keep learning and improving (with the strategies outlined below), more and more people will discover and read your work.

Source: Screenshot from the Writing Online Accelerator Module 1

2. Knowing your why

The second thing that helped me become a consistent writer was knowing why I write.

My why changed.

When I started, I wrote a very vague why in my bullet journal: “I want to be a writer. I’ll sit down and write every day.”

Some weeks in, I learned more about what really motivated me and added: “I write because it’s the best learning habit. I want to support others. I write because I want to make a full-time income through writing.”

It doesn’t matter why you start but knowing the reason why you want to spend time writing will help you stick with it in the long run.

You have a lot of competing priorities in your life — your job, hobbies, friends, and family. So why do you want to spend your precious time writing online?

3. Write what you’re curious about

Initially, I forced myself to write about topics that were popular on this platform at that time — productivity, finance advice, and relationship habits.

My writing motivation vanished. Sitting down to write became harder and harder. I almost stop.

It wasn’t until I allowed myself to follow my curiosity that writing became joyful again.

If you’re passionate about a topic, your readers will notice. Within the right framing (great headline, solid introduction, clear and reader-centric story structure), you can make even the most niche topic interesting.

For example, I was deeply fascinated by the Zettelkasten technique and how to apply it in RoamResearch. I wrote a guide about it. The article attracted +16K readers, led to 512$ earnings, and about ten clients that requested a 1-on-1 session to get coached on their knowledge management.

I would’ve never written that article if I hadn’t followed my curiosity.

I still stick to this principle. When I looked at my idea board on xTiles this morning, I thought, “What am I curious about? Which topic would I like to explore?” I then chose the metaverse and education.

Even though your niche isn’t among the popular topics, you can make it work by making it helpful for the reader.

If you want to write consistently, write about what you want to learn or think about.

4. Being your biggest cheerleader

Now, this advice might seem weird. But I’m sharing it because it’s one of the factors that has helped me a lot.

When I started writing, I prepared a motivational audio recording. I talked about why I want to be a writer and how it’ll feel once I’ve attracted an audience. I told myself what I must do daily to achieve this (sit down before work every morning for two hours no matter what).

In the first months of writing, I listened to that audio almost every day.

Self-recorded affirmations can become a powerful motivator. You don’t even have to believe in positive thinking, etc. Recording yourself can serve as a reminder, and anchor, to prioritize what you want to do.

5. Keep on learning

You can only improve your writing if you write. Don’t get lost in reading or learning about writing instead of doing the work.

But once you do have a regular writing habit, learning from the people who’ve already done it can level up your writing practice.

These are the most useful books I’ve read are about writing:

Taking writing courses can further accelerate your writing skills. I took courses by Tim Denning, Sinem Günel, Niklas Göke, and Tom Kuegler. And I’m glad I learned from the people who’ve walked the talk.

But the most important thing is to sit down and actually do the writing.

That’s why I created the outcome-focused online course where you learn and write. In the Writing Online Accelerator, you don’t only sit in front of pre-recorded videos. You’re part of a highly-motivated peer group.

I and two other editors will give you 1-on-1 feedback. By the end of the course, you’ll have 3 high-quality articles online. If you want a free sneak peek into the material, subscribe for my free workshop here.

6. Build support groups and learn from others

To make writing less lonesome, reach out to fellow writers and start a group where you exchange ideas, help each other with headline practice, or even edit each other’s articles.

I’ve relied on multiple slack groups in the last two years, which have been extremely helpful in my journey.

Whenever you read something from the writers you like, tell them. Comment on their articles and share what you love about their work. Connect on LinkedIn or other social media platforms, offer help, and ask for their advice.

7. Have a metalog

If I had to name one tool that has kept me going and improved my writing it’s the meta log. It will support you in establishing a deliberate, consistent writing practice that will make you a better writer.

I’ve invented this tool to improve my writing while keeping my motivation. The meta log is rooted in metacognition, a skill essential for learning, according to educational scientists.

According to research, three steps are necessary for unlocking your metacognition: planning, monitoring, and evaluating.

I’ve built the meta log with these principles in mind, which can help you build a consistent, deliberate writing practice.

Here’s my template:

Source: Screenshot from my course Writing Online Accelerator, Module 6

Fill a line every time you finish your practice.

If you use it consistently, you’ll discover a pattern and see which topics flow well and which are the ones you don’t prefer that much.

Three principles for using the meta writing log:

  1. Write this for yourself. It can be messy.
  2. The longer you keep collecting data, the more useful it will be.
  3. Bold your key insights to highlight your critical lessons.
My meta log from April 2020 looked like this. Source: Screenshot from my course Writing Online Accelerator, Module 6

Remember the essence

It’s challenging to write consistently in the long run. But you can build up your unique support system to help.

The following things kept me on my journey:

  • Knowing writing is exponential
  • Being aware of why I write
  • Reading and listening to my affirmations
  • Continuously learning and improving
  • Reaching out to fellow writers
  • Relying on my support groups on slack
  • Having a meta-writing log

Take what feels right and ignore the rest. Not all these things will work. Experiment to find a way that supports you to write consistently.

Ready to accelerate your writing journey and build an online audience?

Subscribe for a free 5-day course on how you can set up the single most important thing writers usually forget to attract a large audience online. With a total time investment of only 20 minutes.

The Only 9 Tools I Use to Write Great Articles in Three Hours

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They will help you improve your writing process.

Eva Keiffenheim (Credit: Florentina Olareanu/Golden Hour Pictures).

When I started writing online, I thought you need the best equipment and tools to become a professional writer.

I got distracted by all the options for upgrading my work setup. I believed you would need to invest plenty of money to write great articles.

In the past two years, I experimented with all the popular options out there and settled for these ten. Most of them are free, and they help me craft an article in less than three hours. They can do the same for you.

1) This browser extension helps you not get distracted

Writing with full focus is a superpower many people lack. With distractions one browser window away, thinking and writing become a struggle.

In the beginning, whenever I didn’t know how to continue a story, I’d impulsively open a new tab with LinkedIn to distract myself. This wasn’t a conscious choice. Distraction just seemed to happen to me.

The following tool has been very helpful in overcoming the distraction habit. I searched for it after reading Cal Newport’s ‘Deep Work,’ and I continue to use it every day.

BlockSite Extension disables websites at the time you want. There must be many similar alternatives, but I use the free version and I love it.

How this tool helps you write great articles fast:

What are the websites or apps that distract you from writing? Add all sites that prevent you from doing the work.

I block the below sites 07:00 am — 10:30 am every day so I can focus on undistracted creation time.

Blocked sites from 07:00 am — 10:30 am (Credit: Screenshot by Eva Keiffenheim of BlockSite)

Depending on your schedule and work, the sites and timing will look different for you. Once you’ve found the right settings for you, you don’t have to look at it again.

2) An easy way to retain focus and motivation

Do you know that satisfying feeling of completing a task in the allocated time?

With writing, this is tricky. Because unless you define what “completion” means, writing has no end. Similar to an artist painting a picture, you can always improve.

You often can’t anticipate how long it will take you to write an article. Some are more research and thought-heavy and require more time; some (like this one) are easy to write because you already know what you want to say.

A cornerstone habit in my writing process is defining “done” and sticking to it. If you always finish your writing time with the feeling of “I should write more,” it’s tough to keep coming back to it and stay consistent.

If you write too much, it can ruin your motivation. I finish writing before I’m exhausted. That way I’m quitting at a point of deep satisfaction (by flow state and deep work) and I’m excited to get back to my desk and write the next morning.

In my writing world, “done” is determined by undistracted writing time. While I can’t fully influence how many words I type in a given time, I can determine how much time I want to spend writing.

BeFocused is the tool that helps me keep track of it. In essence, it’s a free productivity timer. You have quick and easy access in the toolbar, can track how many sessions you completed, and time your pauses.

BeFocused productivity timer in my toolbar (Credit: Screenshot by Eva Keiffenheim of BeFocused)

How this tool helps you write great articles fast:

How do you know you’ve achieved your writing goals for the day? Set a realistic writing time goal. Then, stick to it.

I write three times for fifty minutes. When I sit at my desk (mostly at 7 am) I open my Spotify writing playlist (more on that later) and click on “start” in BeFocused. This combination signals to my brain it’s time to get into writing mode.

After each 50-minute interval, I take a five-minute break. I make myself a tea or coffee, walk around in my apartment, do some stretches, look outside the window, or clean some stuff.

If you can, don’t check your phone during breaks, but put it into flight mode in a different room.

3) What I do to get into a writing flow

Flow states are your sweet spot of peak performance. It’s where your writing magic happens.

And yet, I used to find it difficult to get into “the zone.” And once I was in there, it was a fragile state. I was annoyed by every distraction. I snapped at my partner when he asked me a question, I was angry at the postman when the doorbell rang so he delivered a parcel, I was even annoyed by birds.

It wasn’t until I bought noise-canceling headphones that my flow states became the new normal.

I got these ones from Bose. I know how privileged I am to be able to spend money on optimizing noise. Likely there are cheaper noise-canceling alternatives that do the same.

How this tool helps you write great articles fast:

A steady noise input can help you ease into a flow state. I put them on whenever I start to write. I then choose one song from my Spotify writing playlist and put it on repeat.

Since I use these headphones I get into flow states wherever I am, even in the backseat of a car during a 3-hour drive or in a public park. They help me be in fully focused writing mode whenever I want to.

4) Collect and manage ideas with xTiles

When I started writing, I felt I had nothing worthy to say. I thought I’d soon run out of article ideas. Two years and 300 articles later, I know I was wrong about both.

If you don’t kill your baby ideas but capture them, you never run out of writing ideas. To capture and manage my ideas I use xTiles. It’s a merge of Notion and Miro that helps you keep a visual overview.

xTiles for managing my ideas (Credit: Screenshot by Eva Keiffenheim of xTiles)

How this tool helps you write great articles fast:

Collect every idea you have. This will help you save time in your writing process. You don’t start with a blank page but can choose out of an abundance of ideas.

I have a bookmark in my browser reading bar. Whenever an idea crosses my mind while writing, I type it down and add context or links. If I’m on the go, I do the same from my phone.

Your best ideas arise when you don’t expect them. The most important part is to have a capturing tool. With the right system, you’ll always have enough ideas.

5) The lifesaver for non-native English speakers to publish with confidence

“But what if my English isn’t good enough?” is something I often hear from students in my writing course.

I shared the fear. Growing up in rural Germany I never felt comfortable talking in English. But the thing is: many of your readers aren’t English natives as well. For them, it will be easier to understand your articles.

But if you’re still feeling insecure (which I definitely did), the following tool can have your back.

Grammarly suggests corrections for your grammar and word mistakes, helping you communicate effectively and as you intend.

Grammarly’s suggestions for this article (Credit: Screenshot by Eva Keiffenheim of Grammarly)

How this tool helps you write great articles fast:

Use Grammarly once your article is ready to be edited. It will improve your articles and ease you from language worries.

I write my articles in Roam and paste them into a language formatting tool and into Medium drafts. I format my article in Medium (headline, subheadline, section headings, correct image attribution, spacing, and a call to action at the end) and then run a Grammarly check. I include all “correctness” suggestions and see whether there are useful hints for clarity, delivery, and engagement.

6) The power engine behind my idea-to-paper process

There are five steps to my creative workflow: seek, consume, capture, connect, and write. Readwise and Roam help me optimize the capturing and connecting process.

Readwise is an online service that imports all your article and book highlights into other software. You can do a ton of things with Readwise, but I mainly use it for importing my kindle highlights into my Roam database. Roam is an online workspace for organizing and evaluating your knowledge.

I used to have an entire workflow around Zettelkasten and Roam system and I still do.

How these tools help you write great articles fast:

I see the Readwise and Roam combination as my curated google. When I write an article about creativity I type # howtobecreative or # creativity I find any related book highlight, article, or personal thought. I tried Obsidian for a couple of weeks but switched back to Roam.

Once you have a clear idea-to-paper process you can write and create faster. You no longer waste time searching for sources. Instead of using my brain to browse through books and digital bookmark notes, you have everything in one place.

7) Increasing word variety with this free extension

Ever found yourself repeating the same word thrice? Especially as a non-native speaker it can be tough to come up with synonyms.

Power Thesaurus helps you expand your vocabulary and increase your word choice. It’s a fast, convenient and free online word bank.

Power Thesaurus helps you find synonyms (Credit: Screenshot by Eva Keiffenheim of Power Thesaurus)

How this tool helps you write great articles fast:

Whenever I’m editing an article and feel as if I’ve repeated the same word too often, I highlight the word, click on the powerthesaurus icon and check for synonyms. If there’s a word I like, I use it.

8) Write powerful headlines with the free headline analyzer

Composing great headlines is the most underrated writing skill. You can have the most amazing story. But if your headline sucks, nobody will read your work.

The following tool won’t magically make your headlines click-worthy. And yet, CoSchedule can turn good headlines into great ones. The tool checks your word balance, clarity, reading grade level, and many other factors to calculate a headline score.

Coming up with a headline for this article (Credit: Screenshot by Eva Keiffenheim of HeadlineStudio)

How this tool helps you write great articles fast:

After you’ve written a couple of headline variations, paste your favourite one inside the tool and start to experiment. You can use powerthesaurus (the tool from above) to come up with better words.

Once I have a +70 score and feel confident, I paste the headline into my Roam and start writing. I do this before I write an article as the headline will determine the structure.

9) Format your titles in the right way

Title case is the correct style for article headlines. You capitalize every word except articles (a, an, the), prepositions (in, on, for, up, …), and coordinating conjunctions (and, or, but, …).

There are some rule exceptions and luckily, you don’t need to memorize them.

For correct title case creation, I rely on the free Title Case Converter.

Title Case Converter for correct spelling (Credit: Screenshot by Eva Keiffenheim of Title Case Converter)

How this tool helps you write great articles fast:

Editing can become a never-ending process. This tool is one step inside my efficient five-step editing process. All you need to do is copy and paste the title to get the correct spelling.

In Summary

While these tools won’t turn you into a professional writer overnight, they will help you write better articles in a shorter time.

BlockSite, BeFocused, and noise-cancelling headphones help you stay productive and ease into flow. Software such as xTiles, Readwise, and Roam, optimize your idea-to-paper process. And lastly, Grammarly, CoSchedule, Title Case Converter, and Power Thesaurus improve your editing process.

But most importantly, use this article as inspiration, not as a blueprint. Pick the tools that seem helpful and ignore the rest. The quintessence to becoming a better writer is to write.

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This Introduction Technique Can Make People Read What You Write

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A foolproof framework for great introductions.

Photo by Cookie the Pom on Unsplash

If you write bad introductions, all of your writing time is wasted.

People clicked on your article because you’ve written a great headline. But if you disappoint them with a lengthy beginning, they’ll never return for more. Instead, they’ll remember that your articles don’t deliver on your catchy headlines.

And the worst thing is that it won’t matter whether your main content is excellent.

You can be the most helpful writer with an engaging story. You can say the wisest words and give the best advice. But if your introduction sucks, nobody will read the rest.

Many writers don’t get the intros right. They ramble around life stories, unrelated facts, and unnecessary anecdotes until the reader is finally gone.

But writing a bulletproof introduction isn’t rocket science.

Copywriters created an effective tool to hook readers into an article. The PAS technique will help you write introductions that make people read your writing. And return for more.

In this article, we’ll look at the three parts of excellent introductions so you can replicate the process and make people read everything you write.

1) Problem— Be very clear about the problem

Readers click on your article because they want you to solve one of their problems. They turn to you for advice, inspiration, or guidance. They won’t waste time reading your work if they don’t get what they want.

To be respectful of your reader’s time, start with their problem in mind.

The better you describe the problem, the more you can show that you understand it. And that’s how you can quickly build trust with your readers.

You don’t only assume the problem of your readers; you exactly know it. As if you’ve been reading their mind and saying: I know you have a problem, and I’m here to help you.

See how I started this article:

“If you write bad introductions, all of your writing time is wasted.”

If you’re a writer, you don’t want to lose a reader. I touched a pain point you’d want to solve. This is the Problem part of the PAS acronym.

Now you

What are you trying to solve for the reader in your current draft?

If you don’t yet have a draft, what solution are you aware of that can help people? The problem can be anything you’re good at and know a solution to. It can even be about writing emails or recommending books.

Pick a painful problem and write one sentence where you describe it as vividly as you can.

Here’re a few examples to inspire you in your process:

Source: Screenshot from the Writing Online Accelerator Module 4

2) Agitate — Make the problem more painful

In the second part of the technique, you make the problem so itchy that your readers can’t click away without finding out the solution. That’s that Agitation part of the PAS.

This is how I did it in this article:

“And the worst thing is that it won’t matter whether your main content is great.

You can be the most helpful writer with an engaging story. You can say the wisest words and give the best advice. But if your introduction sucks, nobody will read the rest.

Many writers don’t get the intros right. They ramble around life stories, unrelated facts, and unnecessary anecdotes until the reader is finally gone.”

Here the problem becomes almost alive. It’s filled with emotions and specificity. The aim of the agitation is to make the readers feel that they desperately need to solve that problem. If they don’t, it’ll deeply affect them.

You turn the problem from ‘bad’ to ‘worse’ and describe why it’s so terrible.

You can think of the problem part as a fact and the agitation as the vivid emotional background that comes with it. In the intro of this article, the problem became terrible because the writer wasted time and their knowledge is lost.

You can describe what the problem feels like. Or, if it fits your context, you can add studies and statistics to show your readers the possible consequences and the scale of the issue.

Now you

Make the problem more specific and more emotional. In the Problem part, you described the issue. In the Agitation, it’s time to paint it with vivid colours.

Ask yourself:

  • Why is this problem so bad?
  • What will happen if the problem isn’t solved?
  • How can I make this feel more painful?
  • How can I depict a realistic scenario for the reader?
  • Which emotional words would fit the problem?
  • How did I feel when I faced a similar situation and didn’t have a solution?
Source: Screenshot from the Writing Online Accelerator Module 4

3) Solution— Here’s how you offer a way out

The last element of the PAS framework is the Solution. After building up so much tension, you must provide your readers with a cure.

Here’s how I did it in the introduction of this piece:

“But writing a bulletproof introduction isn’t rocket science.

Copywriters created an effective tool to hook readers into an article. The PAS — Problem, Agitation, Solution — technique will help you write introductions that will make people read everything from you. And return for more.

In this article, we’ll look at the three parts of excellent introductions so you can replicate the process and make people read everything you write.”

Remember that you don’t have to solve the problem in the introduction. You’ll have plenty of time for that in the main part. So be short and snappy.

Your task in the intro is to promise a realistic and accessible solution. Your readers should feel that if they keep reading, their problem will be solved. To take the solution one step further, you can briefly describe the outcome. Explain what will change in your readers’ lives after solving this specific problem.

Now you

After you’ve vividly described the problem, it’s time for resolution. Show the reader that there’s a solution, and your article will deliver it.

Be empathetic and offer your readers a way out.

Summarise the proposed solution promptly before entering it in-depth. You have the whole article to explain the cure for the problem. And if your readers will want to solve the problem, they’ll likely stay until the end of the article.

Source: Screenshot from the Writing Online Accelerator Module 4

Remember the essence

To write bulletproof introductions, you can rely on the PAS framework.

Describe the Problem and highlight the pain in the first few sentences. Start a new paragraph to push the issue further by making it more specific and emotional. Agitate until it’s almost unbearable. The readers should feel desperate to get to know the solution.

To ease the pain, offer a way out. Your article will be the cure for the problem. If people read the whole piece, they’ll have an implementable, straight-to-the-point Solution.

Ready to accelerate your writing journey and build an online audience?

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6 Principles That Helped Me Write Effective Headlines

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Over 2 million people clicked on my headlines after I improved them using these techniques

Photo by 43 Clicks North on Unsplash

If your headline isn’t good enough, no one will read your articles. Your content can be perfect. But you drive the audience into your writing through the title.

No one clicked on my articles in early 2020.

My headlines were as shitty as “The digital gap is increasing — we need to act now!” and “Out of your head and into your body in less than 5 minutes”.

I didn’t think of the reader when crafting my headlines, and I believed recycling older, but well-performing headlines is a great idea. I didn’t put time and thoughts into crafting the heading. Hence, almost nobody clicked on my words.

If you ever want to be a successful writer, you need to start working on your titles. Because if no one clicks on your heading, you’ll always have zero readers.

The good news is headline writing is a skill you can master.

Once you understand the components of successful headlines, you can create your own engaging titles.

But consistently writing headlines that make people click is more complex than you might think. It requires continuous practice and re-learning.

And yet, there are a couple of components that will help you craft titles that make people click. The following tips helped me reach 2 million readers in less than two years.

Considering just half of them, you’re already better off than 90% of all online writers.

Write clearly for the benefit of your readers

Online readers don’t have much time. They need prompt satisfaction and quick solutions.

That’s why great headlines focus on the reader’s benefit. They specifically answer the question: What’s in it for the reader?

If readers click, they’ll get something out of the article.

This seems trivial, but when you look around, you’ll see that most articles neglect the reader’s benefit. They read like journal entries and lengthy life stories where the reader’s benefit is hidden.

How you can apply this:

Every time you write a new story, ask yourself: what’s in it for the reader?

Provide your readers with a specific benefit that can bring transformation to their lives. To give you some concrete examples, the reader’s benefit is crystal clear in these headlines:

You can be explicit and use the word “you” to state that the article will be about the reader. As an alternative, you can guide the reader through an experience of your life that can help the reader as well.

Find an angle that attracts a broad audience

I love writing about education.

Yet I’m aware that if I write about Estonia’s education system, the article likely won’t go viral. There are simply not enough people who’re interested in the topic to such depth.

If you’d like to attract a broad audience, contemplate the breadth of your writing by considering what other people might find interesting about your chosen topic. While the title should be as specific as possible, it should also appeal to a large audience.

How you can apply this:

When crafting your headline, answer these questions: Why would many readers care? Who is this relevant for? Is my topic broad enough?

These articles appeal to a broad audience:

While, in my case, Estonia’s education system can’t appeal to a broad audience, I can still write about education in a more inclusive way. People want to remember everything they read, and they’d also like to read books from which they can learn.

People only share specific kinds of articles

Would you share an article titled “How I Overcome My Emotional-Insecurity” on your LinkedIn or Facebook profile?

People only share stuff on the internet that makes them look smart or helpful.

If your article has the shareability quality, it’s more likely to go viral. Because if people share your work, more people will read it, and more people will share it.

How you can apply this:

Think about: Which angle is share-worthy for your readers in your article?

To make your readers look smart and/or helpful, craft headlines where you solve a specific problem for them. If the solution is useful, they’ll happily share it with their friends and colleagues.

You don’t need to solve the biggest life challenges of the readers. It’s enough if you can help them declutter their mailboxes.

These articles, for example, are broadly shared on the internet:

Don’t copy the past. Share your spiky point of view instead

The reason why re-using old headlines most of the time can’t work is the lack of novelty.

What went viral last year won’t be popular this year. People want to read stories from angles they’ve never seen before.

To avoid repeating what has been said before, add your spiky point of view to the title.

As Wes Kao explains, a spiky point of view is someone’s unique, slightly controversial perspective that others can disagree with. It lays outside of the mainstream and brings fresh ideas to the conversation.

You can think about your spiky point of view as the unique way you see the world.

How you can apply this:

To discover your spiky point of view, ask yourself:

  • What is something I strongly believe but others might disagree with?
  • What do most people like but I can’t stand?
  • What is something that I stand by but isn’t (yet) accepted by the society?

You could also use structures such as:

  • Most people think X, but it’s actually Y
  • How I got Y (desirable result in your industry) without Z (conventional advice)

These headings did a great job at adding novelty to the conversation:

Build on other people’s credibility

If readers recognise well-known names in a title, they’re more likely to click because those people already have expertise in their fields.

Readers didn’t know me when I had my first viral article, but they were for sure aware of Bill Gates. The advice came from him and not from me.

Yet, if you have a unique experience that can be useful for others, you can also add “self-proof” to your heading. Whether you built up a career, skipped coffee entirely, or just learned how to meditate and stuck to your practice for years, you can add self-proof to your work.

How you can apply this:

Rely on well-known names, or add self-proof if you’re an expert in the topic you write about.

To help your thinking, here are a few examples:

You’ll write great headlines if you do this one thing

People also click on a headline if it awakens emotions in them. Whether it’s curiosity, anger, or joy, if you can make others feel a certain way when they read your headings, you can also make them click.

This component is tricky, though. Be aware that half of your readers won’t like what you share if you’re controversial. Prepare that they won’t return and might leave angry comments under your work.

Feelings are powerful. Be aware of which emotions you want to transmit.

How you can apply this:

Use power and emotional words in your headings, such as:

Source: Coschedule

To give you some concrete examples, these articles awaken emotions:

What to Keep in Mind

Writing great headlines is complex. Unfortunately, you likely won’t get it intuitively right; you need to learn about titles, and then you need to practice writing them.

And headline practice requires a lot of practice. That’s why we spend an entire 1.5-hour live session on headline practice in my online writing course.

To refresh your memory, these are the six components that make people click a headline:

  1. Reader first
  2. Breadth
  3. Shareability
  4. Novelty
  5. Social proof
  6. Provoke emotions

Don’t feel overwhelmed. Even though it’s challenging, headline writing is also a skill you can master.

For a start, focus on 1–2 components depending on what you write about. You got this.

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How to Master the Most Important Yet Underrated Writing Skill

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Write headlines that make people click on your work

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

People don’t click on boring headlines.

You can have the best content ever; if your title isn’t convincing enough, it’ll never get the attention it might deserve. Too many great articles are lost because of a poor headline.

If you want yours to stand out, you must start practising headline writing.

I’ve recently written about what qualities great headlines have in common. But this article will be about how you can master the skill of headline writing. Because it’s not enough to understand what a great headline can look like. To improve, you need to learn how to craft them by yourself.

So here’s how.

The exact flow of your complete headline practice

At the beginning of my journey, my headlines sucked.

No wonder I didn’t have many readers.

But once I started to put more time into my headline practice, this is what happened:

Source: Screenshot from the Writing Online Accelerator Module 2

To get better in any skill, you need to practice it.

As Ayodeji Awosike put it:

I’ve written more than 15,000 headlines since I’ve started writing. Only one per cent of them are really good. Those one per cent of headlines I’ve written created 100 percent of my viral successes. Every single morning, I write down 10 ideas for headlines. […] I promise, if you don’t learn how to write good headlines, you’ll never have a career as a blogger. Never. So do I.

How and where to craft spiky headlines

There’s no secret sauce for headline writing: you need to put some work in.

From now on, try to craft ten headline variations for each article you write. This way, you train your mind to create headlines, and you’ll inevitably get better at it.

Implement 2–3 headline qualities into each of your titles.

In a nutshell, great headlines:

You can write your headlines on a sheet of paper, in Trello, in an excel sheet, or in any other place you feel comfortable. Opt for a tool you’ll want to rely on every single time you sit down to write.

I use RoamResearch for my headline practice. This is what it looks like.

Source: Screenshot from the Writing Online Accelerator Module 2

When you’re ready with your ten headline variations, choose the one you’d click on.

The thing is, the practice isn’t as easy as it sounds. You’ll get frustrated by not having enough headline variations. You might see that your titles suck. You might want to stop the practice. And your feelings are valid.

But practicing is the only way to improve. Writing ten headline variations for each article enables you to grow exponentially. While most people will write only ten headlines for ten articles, by that time, you’ll have written 100 titles.

Get more eyes on your work

If you’ve written many headlines and struggle to choose the best, you can ask for some help. Don’t hesitate to share your work with some friends, family members, and also fellow writers.

You can even organize a slack group for headline practice. In the Writing Online Accelerator, my students form groups even after the course and work together.

When I started to write, I did the work for myself. I wrote to fellow writers, and we started a Slack group for accountancy and writing practice. Every time I struggled with my headings, I asked my peers what they thought:

Source: Screenshot from the Writing Online Accelerator Module 2

The only tool you need to master headline writing

In the last step of your practice, you’d want to further improve the headline you’ve picked. You can do so by replacing words with synonyms or adding power words, such as genius, unexpected, mind-changing, and so on.

CoSchedule will help you with this. (No need to buy the full version).

The platform analyses your titles and gives you a score. Anything under the score of 70 needs more work. Above 70, you’re good to go.

All you need to do is copy-paste the headline of your choice to the “Write your headline here…” window. If you’re not yet content with the outcome, add the updated version of your heading to the same place and reanalyze it.

The free version of CoSchedule is more than enough. You don’t need to subscribe to the pro version.

To show you an example, the title below says, “This mind-changing concept shows it’s never too late to become your best self.” I’ve got a headline score of 74, which is good, but it can still be better.

An alternative, “This mind-changing discovery shows you’re never too old to become your best self,” already has a score of 75. With one more tweak, “This mind-changing discovery shows you’re never too old to become better,” the score is 76.

Yet, if you don’t like the version that has only a slightly higher score, you can still decide on a headline with a lower score, given that it’s above 70.

Source: Screenshot from the Writing Online Accelerator Module 2

Don’t stop here

Your writing starts with the headline. You convince people to click on your work with the headline. Then you hook them in with your introduction and main part.

But you encourage them to stay and come back for more with your Call-to-Action at the end of each article.

Yet most writers don’t have a CTA and don’t start building an email list from day 1. They lose hundreds of readers who’d be genuinely interested in their work.

In this free 5-week course, I exactly show you how you can set up your writing for audience growth.

Remember the essence

Writing great headlines takes time and practice.

To create outstanding titles, you’ll need to spend more quality time with your potential headlines.

You can apply this by getting a sheet and adding ten headline variations for each of your articles. The practice is hard. Whatever you feel, your emotions are valid.

If you want to take your practice one step further, ask for the opinion of others. You can do so in a slack group or via 1-on-1 messaging.

Improve and finalise the best title version with CoSchedule.

Without great headlines, you’ll have a hard time attracting readers.

But if you put in the work and practice, you’ll be ahead of 90% of the bloggers.

Ready to accelerate your writing journey and build an online audience?

Subscribe for a free 5-day course on how you can set up the single most important thing writers usually forget to attract a large audience online. With a total time investment of only 20 minutes.

How to Easily Find Your Writing Niche for Growing an Audience

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You can find it at this intersection.

Source: Canva

“How can I decide on my writing niche?” is a question a lot of people ask when they decide to start writing.

The thing is, you don’t decide on your niche.

You discover it through writing.

The beauty of starting a writing career is that you can start anywhere.

When I started, I wrote about relationships, SEO, and intuitive eating. At the beginning of my journey, I believed I’ll be writing articles about romantic relationships.

It wasn’t until 50 articles in that I discovered my niche. And once I stuck to my niche of learning and education, my audience grew exponentially.

So how do you find your writing niche for audience growth?

In essence, you need to find the intersection of what you’re curious about and what people want to read from you. The following lines reveal how you find answers to both.

Source: Screenshot from my course Writing Online Accelerator, Module 1

1) How to Discover What You Like Writing About

First, you want to experiment with as many topics as possible and monitor yourself.

When I started writing, I wrote about everything I felt curious about. Some articles felt challenging, while others seemed to flow naturally.

While I enjoy talking about relationship forms (I run a weekly German podcast with my partner), it turns out I hate writing about them. But if I hadn’t tested all the ideas, I wouldn’t have known now what I enjoy writing about.

How you can apply this:

Make an idea list with your answers to the following questions: What do you like to talk about? Where do you have work expertise? What topics evoke strong emotions inside of you? What are you curious about?

These questions can help you in the very beginning. Don’t forget you’ll only know what you enjoy writing about if you do the writing. Commit to testing and trying as many different fields as possible to gain clarity about your true writing interest.

2) How to Discover What People Like Reading from You

After you’ve written at least 20 articles on different topics, you can take a look at your statistics.

But not before.

In the beginning, focus on only two things — the number of your published articles and the hours you spent per article.

“Data doesn’t lie. But data is also a reflection of the external crowd, and not necessarily your internal compass.”

— Nicolas Cole

If you don’t already have many articles published, Medium stats (and for the record, any stats) won’t tell you a lot. You can’t derive meaningful data from five articles or a few hundred reads.

While some metrics are worth thinking about, others are negligible. The number of claps won’t tell you a lot. You also shouldn’t bother about the number of views or the number of your followers.

The metric “views” is a great indicator of the quality of your headlines. “Reads” show you how many people actually read your article after they’ve clicked on it. “Reading time” shows how much time people, on average spent reading our piece.

Source: Screenshot from my course Writing Online Accelerator, Module 6

How you can apply this:

Once you’ve published about 50–100 articles, look at the data. Your goal is to find patterns. Which headlines worked particularly well?

Filter your stories by views and reads. Are there any recurring topics in your most-read stories?

You don’t need to worry if your writing doesn’t appeal to a broad audience. You can write for a small niche until you pay attention to their needs and learn what they want to read from you.

What to Keep in Mind

Don’t worry if your niche isn’t straightforward for you. Most writers had no clue about their niches when they started, including me.

And that’s alright.

The beginning of the writing journey is a lot of experimenting. Don’t worry about your niche in the first year of your writing.

Try out the things that feel good to you. Experiment first, and analyze what people like reading from you only in a second step.

Above all, enjoy the writing process and reflect on how you feel while discovering different topics.

Ready to accelerate your writing journey and build an online audience?

Subscribe for a free 5-day course on how you can set up the single most important thing writers usually forget to attract a large audience online, with a total time investment of only 20 minutes.

I Used to Run out of Writing Ideas. This Repeatable 3-Step Process Helped.

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A straightforward approach to ideation so you never start with a blank page.

Eva Keiffenheim (Credits: Florentina Olareanu/Golden Hour Pictures)

Every great article starts with an idea. But while ideas are your entry ticket to writing, they can also be a barrier.

Lucky people feel overwhelmed by their abundance of ideas. Others find themselves uninspired, staring at the blank screen.

I was among the latter.

When I started writing online I was sure I’d soon run out of ideas. I feared I’d quickly use up the good ones. I felt uncreative and as if I had not much worth sharing.

It took me months to understand how wrong I was.

Creativity is practice. With the right process in place, you’ll never have to run out of ideas.

The following three-step process is my writing fuel. It has helped me publish more than 300 articles, and reach over two million readers. This structure can help you never again struggle with ideas.

1) What goes in will come out

Most writing consists of living your life and consuming content. Only some part of the process is actually sitting down, writing, and editing your work.

And most importantly, the former determines the latter. How you live your life informs your writing.

Most people mindlessly consume content. They scroll through the jungle of ever-growing content. Occasionally they’ll stumble upon interesting ideas, but mostly they consume trash.

On the internet, consuming trash content is the default option. Unless you work against it, you’ll find yourself in the doom of social media and daily news cycles.

A couple of years ago, I spent two hours a day scrolling through Facebook, reading through newspapers, or listening to news podcasts. It wasn’t until a smart friend told me to replace news consumption with reading books, that things changed.

Digging deeper than the often superficial social media posts will increase your understanding of the world. And it will also help you become a better writer.

By avoiding mediocre content and consuming the greatest inspirational resources, you’ll find yourself writing better articles. Because what goes in will come out.

How to apply this:

Which content are you regularly consuming that’s not adding value to your life? Replace it with better stuff.

Go beyond the content everyone else is reading. There are Goodreads, Gatesnotes, and so many other best-selling lists that suggest what you should be reading. Most of these lists contain books from authors with the best marketing strategy or the broadest social media reach.

If you look at human history, the chances are small that the greatest books were created in the past decade. The fundamental human problems seem to be the same in all ages: Justice, love, virtue, stability, and change itself.

Search, for example, through the appendix of Mortimer J. Adler’s classic How to Read a book. Alternatively, ask the smartest and most inspiring people you know which type of newsletters, books, or online articles they read and listen to.

I asked my students at the Writing Online Accelerator to add their most-inspiring resources to an inspiration board. (Click here to get the full board free).

Source: Screenshot from the Writing Online Accelerator Module 1

2) How to program your mind to come up with ideas

There’s a crucial thing to keep in mind when it comes to ideas: Don’t scare them away.

Be gentle on how you treat your ideas and monitor your thoughts.

If you label your ideas as ‘bad’ without noting them down, you hinder your ideation process. You don’t give your mind the safe space for the ‘good’ ideas to arise.

There’s no such thing as a ‘bad idea’. Here’s how to transform your thinking.

My idea is worthless =► Every idea is valuable.

Don’t judge your ideas while writing them down. Ideas are like raw diamonds, and you don’t know how they’ll turn out until you’ve written the article.

This has been written before. =► This has not been done by me.

Yes, your idea exists in some form on the internet. Unless you’re doing ground-breaking scientific research, many people have written about your idea. But don’t let that hold you back. You’re the best at living your life. You can add your unique perspective to the conversation.

I don’t have enough ideas. =► I have plenty of ideas.

In the beginning, you won’t have an abundance of ideas. But if you let yourself be inspired and treat your ideas well, they’ll arise. The more you create, the more creative you become. The best ideas and connections will arise once you flow into the writing process.

How to apply this:

Say yes to any idea that strikes your mind. Stop worrying whether other people have written about a topic.

You’ve not written about it yet, and that’s the only thing that matters. Don’t be scared to write about the same idea twice or thrice.

You’ll become more specific every time you write about it. Lastly, trust the process. You’ll have more ideas with every article you write.

“Most things have been done, but they have not yet been done by you.”

— Elizabeth Gilbert

3) Have one tool to capture your ideas

Once you’re aware of the ideation process, it’s time to capture and store your ideas.

There’s an insane amount of tools you can choose from. At the beginning of my journey, I used Trello. Then I switched to Notion and I experimented with an excel sheet. For a while, I settled for Milanote. Milanote was visually appealing to me, I could use it via my phone as well, and it is searchable.

In April 2022 I discovered xTiles. The platform combines all features I was looking for. It’s a mixture of note-taking and a whiteboard — as if Milanote and Notion had a baby.

My current idea board xTiles (Screenshot by author).

How to apply this:

Experiment, and choose a tool that feels good to you, and where you really going to capture all the ideas. It can be a google sheet, a journal, xTiles, Notion, or any other tool you like.

When choosing your tool, think about: Do you know how to use it? Do you like how it looks and feels? Will you use it every day?”

When you write down your ideas you communicate to your brain that it’s worthy to generate more ideas. If you have ideas and don’t follow them, you teach your brain you’re not doing anything with them. You’ll doubt your ideas more and more. So say yes to all ideas that come to my mind and capture them in a single place

Remember the essence

To never run out of ideas, you’ll need to:

  • Consume inspirational content
  • Treat your ideas well: there aren’t any bad ideas
  • Capture your thoughts: every time an idea comes to your mind, save it on your idea board

Ideas are the magical place where your writing starts. Steal my three-step process to always start in idea abundance.

Ready to accelerate your writing journey and build an online audience?

Subscribe for a free 5-day course on how you can set up the single most important thing writers usually forget to attract a large audience online. With a total time investment of only 20 minutes.

The Simple Hack for Audience Growth Many New Writers Miss out On

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How to set up your writing routine for attracting a large audience

Eva Keiffenheim — Credits: Emanuel Schi x Entrepreneurship Avenue

“What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?” is a question I get asked a lot.

And while many things come to my mind — how to write headlines, engaging introductions, or a clear idea-to-paper process — there’s one particular knowledge nugget that has changed my writing journey ever since.

I remember the advice as if it was yesterday because it seemed so hilarious and terribly wrong.

And that’s exactly why the tip was gold and the best writing advice I ever received. It’s the things you don’t know you don’t know that can make all the difference.

So let me share with you what my writing mentor shared with me early in my writing journey:

Start building your email list today.

Even if you just published your first article. Even if only five people subscribed to your Medium account. Trust me. Today is the right time to start your email list. One day your collection of your follower’s emails will become your biggest asset.

Because platforms, such as Medium or LinkedIn, change. Emails don’t. Your follower’s email address is their most permanent online identity. Once they sign up for your email list, you have the permission to reach out to them directly. You’re no longer dependent on algorithms.

Even if you have just published a few articles, asking your readers to sign up for your e-mail list is a must-do. Here’s how you can do it fast.

The exact steps you can take to set up your e-mail list in 20 minutes

Done is better than perfect. You don’t need to first compare all available mailing tools out there. You don’t even need to know what you’ll be sharing with your email subscribers.

You can export your list and set a topic later on. All you want to do early in your writing career is set up a minimum viable version.

Here’s a three-step process you can follow to have a first version ready in about twenty minutes of your time.

1) Pick an email provider and sign-up for it (5 minutes)

The list of mailing providers is vast and I wasted a lot of time comparing and trying different tools. But again, you’re not looking for the perfect solution but for the option that’s good enough.

I tried Mailchimp and Substack but ultimately chose Convertkit because it offers email design templates, a strong community, a lot of tutorials, and plenty of functions. Plus, it’s free for your first 2,000 subscribers. You can create your Convertkit account here.

Source: Screenshot from the Writing Online Accelerator Module 3

2) Choose a pre-built landing page on Convertkit (10 minutes)

It can be tempting to obsess over the design and “your brand.” But every minute you spend on design, you don’t spend writing. And you need to write to become a better writer.

So be pragmatic about the design and content. Keep in mind you can change that later when you’ve found your niche.

For now, the most important part is to have a landing page for collecting email addresses.

You don’t even need to state the frequency of your newsletter just yet. And you also don’t need to worry if you’re unsure about your newsletter’s content.

I didn’t send a single email until six months in. But when I knew what I wanted to write about, I sent out my first email to 400 subscribers.

So here’s how you create your landing page in 10 minutes, step-by-step.

Step 1: Choose a template from 50 pre-designed landing pages. The key purpose is to collect your readers’ email addresses. (3 min)

Step 2: Add your content. No worries if it’s only a “Wanna keep in touch? Subscribe for free!” one-liner. (2 min)

Step 3: If possible, add a picture of yourself to make your site more personal. (3 min)

Step 4 (Optional): Adjust the design: if you prefer another font, bolded or italics style, or another color, you can adjust that with Convertkit. (1 min)

Step 5: Link the landing page to the CTA that you put under each of your articles. (2 min)

The most important thing to keep in mind for setting up your landing page: Don’t get lost in the details. Set a timer for 10 minutes, and build your minimum viable version.

Here’s an example one of my students set up in the Writing Online Accelerator, Module 4.

The landing page of Maria Leis

Add a Call-to-Action underneath every article (5 minutes)

Even though you won’t see the benefits until your first written piece goes viral or semi-viral, this step is critically important.

If your article goes viral without a CTA that leads to your landing page for collecting emails, you’ll miss out on the most important opportunity to grow your subscriber base.

If I didn’t have a CTA when my first article went viral, I would have missed out on hundreds of people who were genuinely interested in my work.

Again, your CTA doesn’t need to be perfect yet.

Until 2021, my CTA was a generic “Want to connect? Subscribe to my email list.” If people like what they read, they’ll still subscribe.

Here are some stepping stones you can use to formulate your CTA:

  • “Want to improve X? My newsletter will help you create the Y you need to move towards a Z future.”
  • “Get access to exclusive X content. Subscribe to my free newsletter here.”
  • Want to stay in touch? Subscribe to my email list.

But a simple “Let’s connect!” or “Say hello here!” would also do the trick.

Don’t be afraid to start with a generic CTA. You can adjust your CTA after figuring out what you want to do with your list.

What to Keep in Mind

Platforms change. Emails don’t.

Many writers miss out on this vital growth tool. They don’t set it up early, and when they finally experience the long-desired growth, they miss out on hundreds of subscribers.

Don’t be among the people who miss out but build your email list from day one.

Follow these steps to set it up fast:

  1. Register on Convertkit
  2. Choose a landing page
  3. Add a Call-to-Action underneath each of your articles

Don’t wait until tomorrow. Even if it feels counterintuitive, set up your email list today.

Ready to accelerate your writing journey and build an online audience?

Subscribe for a free 5-day course on how you can set up the single most important thing writers usually forget to attract a large audience online. With a total time investment of only 20 minutes.

A Powerful Mental Shift to Lead a Happier Life

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How you can overcome confirmation bias and make better choices.

Photo by Daniele Levis Pelusi on Unsplash

“We laugh at people who still use Windows 95, yet we still cling to opinions that we formed in 1995,” psychology professor Adam Grant writes.

Cognitive scientists call this thinking pattern confirmation bias. Once you form a belief, you rarely question it again.

A 2016 study published by Cambridge University Press suggests the more intelligent you are (with intelligence equated to quantitative reasoning capacity), the harder you struggle to change your opinion.

Human brains love shortcuts to save mental energy. Evaluating disconfirming evidence takes up a lot of energy. So most people don’t do it.

And worse, most of the time, they don’t even realize their close-mindedness. As a result, they make important life choices based on outdated beliefs.

Why is it that most of us are bad at updating our worldview? And how can we overcome the psychological bias most people remain unaware of?

This bias lets you see what you expect to see

It’s a summer evening in 2017, and the first time I enter a yoga studio. The air smells woody, and the dimmed lights make the room look cosy.

Yet, my inner world is as far from cosy as it can get.

I look at the other model-esque people on their mats. With matching outfits and perfect bodies, they look freshly printed from an Instagram feed.

I feel uncomfortable and insecure. My downward facing dog must look like a crumpled grasshopper. The teacher glances at me, and I can tell he’s hiding a smirk. The hour-long class becomes inner torture.

I step out of the studio, deciding that was my first and last yoga experience.

I knew it! You are lucky to have a flexible body, or you aren’t.

What I didn’t realize back then is how confirmation bias tricked my mind.

I looked for evidence that confirmed my insecurities and beliefs about yoga.

I filtered out any information that contradicted my worldview.

I didn’t notice other people’s imperfections, their struggles, or the teacher’s supportive glance.

Confirmation bias is our tendency to search for, interpret, and favour information that is aligned with our pre-existing beliefs.

“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.”

— Robertson Davies

How confirmation bias affects your life

A person feels lazy during a home office day. He opens his LinkedIn, sees everyone else’s work achievement posts, and thinks, “I knew it. I’m such a lazy loser.”

Another person is on the train home from a day hike with her mum. She opens LinkedIn, sees the same posts, and thinks, “I can tell these people are not happy. I’m so grateful I chose to work less and spend more time with my family.”

Confirmation bias means we look at the same information and perceive it differently. We interpret facts, so it fits into our current understanding of the world.

“Whether you go through life believing that people are inherently good or people are inherently bad, you will find daily proof to support your case,” Rolf Dobelli writes in The Art of Thinking Clearly.

Confirmation bias affects your perception of reality, most of the time without you noticing it.

“The confirmation bias is so fundamental to your development and your reality that you might not even realize it is happening. We look for evidence that supports our beliefs and opinions about the world but excludes those that run contrary to our own.”

— Sia Mohajer

How you can overcome confirmation bias to make better choices

No single magic formula can uncloud your perception. But the following tools can help you overcome confirmation bias.

Build a challenge network

Connect with people you disagree with. Adam Grant says you should build a “challenge network” rather than a support network.

You do need both. Keep cheerleaders in your network, but also look for thoughtful critics. Tell your coworkers and friends you value honesty over consent.

You can also build a virtual challenge network, for example, through Allsides, a website that features information from all sides of the political spectrum.

Ask the right questions

Don’t ask questions to get validation, but ask questions you have no answers to. Dare to ask the questions that reveal your knowledge gaps.

If a person’s opinion doesn’t make sense to you, it’s because you’ve not understood the root of their belief. Keep on asking to get the full context.

While ego-boosting questions feel more comfortable, learner’s questions help you expand your understanding.

Foster intellectual humility

Remain aware of what you don’t know. What are your areas of ignorance and fixed beliefs your hold?

When you read a book or an article, ask yourself: “Which sections did I automatically agree with? Which parts did I ignore? What if I thought the opposite?”

Build your identity through character traits rather than opinions

Value personal character traits, not opinions. Label yourself as a curious, humble learner searching for knowledge instead of labelling yourself as an expert in a specific topic.

This mindset shift gives you the freedom to disagree with your former self.

Changing your opinion when presented with evidence or arguments is one of the most valuable skills you can have in the 21st century.

Confirmation bias is a natural part of how our brain works, and the goal isn’t to completely overcome it. And yet, being aware of it will help you make better life choices.

Want to feel inspired and become smarter about how you learn?

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I Asked a Guy Who Studied 20 Languages About the Best Way to Learn

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How you can become a better language learner.

Photo by Fernando @cferdophotography on Unsplash

Mathias Barra is a polyglot. He has studied about 20 languages and is fluent in six.

But Mathias didn’t grow up bilingual. Nor was he a natural talent. “In Spanish classes at school, I didn’t listen at all,” he told me last week.

How can you transform from an average student into a polyglot? And what are the best approaches to learning languages?

The interview is well worth your time, but if you’re in a rush, skip to the key point summary at the end.

Mathias, how many languages do you speak?

I’ve studied about 20 languages, and I feel comfortable in six languages. In order of proficiency, these six languages are French, English, Japanese, Spanish, Korean, and Chinese.

So what about the other 11 languages?

I typically don’t list them as I don’t have the comfort level as in these other six. For example, I’ve been learning German for a while now, but I don’t consider myself able to hold a fluent conversation. I use your podcast as a listening practice.

How did you become a polyglot? What’s your learning approach?

This has changed over the years, as my goals have also changed.

My first language was English. I learned it in school. But I wasn’t a good language student. I took Spanish and Latin classes but didn’t listen or learn.

I had this friend who was fluent in English. And I asked him, „How did you do it?“ And he told me he learned English through pure exposure to tons of TV shows. So I did that for a year, and I watched hundreds and hundreds of hours of English. First, with French subtitles and after two months, with English subtitles. Then, I disabled them completely.

For Spanish, I had classes in high school. I was pretty bad at it. At one point, I did a six-month internship in Spain. This allowed me to transform the bit of knowledge I had from high school into active knowledge. ​While in Barcelona, I also learned Catalan.

Japanese was the language I approached in the most organized way. I learned it out of pure interest. I studied a bit on my own and had two years of evening classes. I studied 300 characters in about a month and took a university exam. I also studied grammar patterns, watched anime and Japanese dramas, and read as much as possible in Japanese.

At the same time, I studied Korean. After about two months, I took intermediate evening classes. I started way behind everybody, but I watched a lot of Korean stuff. I studied with different textbooks and went to Korea for two months, which unlocked everything.

And I learned Chinese mainly by working on an Assimil book, a collection of books with bilingual texts and not much grammar. I watched tons of Chinese TV shows and movies, especially the Voice of China with subtitles in Chinese. And after three months, I had my very first Chinese conversation without any problem.

You said you like studying grammar. How do you do it? Can you be specific?

This has evolved over the years, and I’ve not always done it like this. I now focus on patterns I actually want to know.

I usually go through standard constructions, for example, the language word order. Is it Subject Object Verb or Subject Verb Object?

I learned standard sentence structures such as I want to, I think, I could, I can, I should, and so on. And I learn a few keywords, such as FANBOYS (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So).

Then, I use technical elaboration to make these sentences my own. I take one simple sentence and expand it. Here’s how it goes.

  • I go to Germany
  • I go to Germany next month
  • I go to Germany next month because I study German
  • I go to Germany next month because I like German and I want to study German

I elaborate with as many grammar patterns as I can.

Once I’m satisfied with a very long paragraph, I take another topic and reuse the same grammar patterns with new vocabulary, so I can really cement the knowledge of those grammar patterns.

So when you do this, do you have a textbook or Google Translate next to you? Or do you recall things from your memory?

It’s pretty much a bit of everything you said and depends on my proficiency. If I have a comfortable level in the language I try to do it all by heart with no support.

Google Translate is not always right, so I sometimes also use a platform called HiNative to ask native speakers whether my paragraph is right or wrong.

Mathias uses HiNative to get answers from native speakers. Source: HiNative Landing Page

Which tools do you use to learn a new language or to improve existing skills?

On HiNative I ask questions such as „Hey, is this correct?“ Or „Can you pronounce that sentence for me or check whether my pronunciation is correct?“

And then, I use Anki, a computerized flashcard program. I use it not for single words but to focus on context. For example, I make sentence cards or cloze-deletion cards.

Then I still use Journaly, a platform that allows you to type a text that natives correct.

And then there’s radio.garden to listen to any radio in the world. I use that to have background sounds of the language I’m studying at the moment.

What I like on top of these tools is Slowly, a language tandem exchange that sends replies in the time a letter would take.

Collect stamps from across the globe through language tandems. Source: Screenshot from Slowly.

If we look at language learning from a meta-perspective, what’s the best approach? Immersion, active conversation practice, learning vocabulary by heart?

Before you start, you need to be clear about your timeline. By when do you want to have achieved which type of skills?

Many people online rush into language learning. But I think it’s better to take your time. The most important thing is to find some activities that you actually enjoy in the language.

The best way to study languages is not to limit it to study time, but to make it part of your life, for example, through exposure.

Learn basic Grammar and practice with a tutor or a partner through iTalki. You can also record yourself for HiNative to get some feedback. And you can use Speechling to work on listening comprehension.

In essence, there’s no single best way to study languages. I approach every language I learn differently. In Thai, for example, I rely on written stuff while in German I use more audio input.

The most important thing is to find some activities that you actually enjoy in the language.

Can you share examples of how you integrate language learning into your daily life?

I don’t have a routine for language learning anymore. It’s part of whatever I do. For example, whenever I watch something on Netflix, I always use Language Reactor. The free browser extension adds dual language subtitles and a pop-up dictionary.

Watch Netflix with double subtitles. (Source: Screenshot of Language Reactor)

I also have background music from Radio.garden or listen to a podcast. Right before our call today, I listened to a Chinese podcast.

I also hang a lot of stuff on my walls and keep looking at specific words. And I write my diary entries in Korean.

I put my phone in a different language. Right now, it’s German.

And I regularly chat with friends in their native language, which helps me practice without actively trying.

I recently started studying two languages at a time, rather than one. In this way, you can alternate whether you want to do A or C. While progress is slower, you can alternate between the language you feel like learning.

I don’t have a routine for language learning anymore. It’s part of whatever I do.

How do you prevent yourself from forgetting a language?

First of all, I accept that I’ll forget stuff. But I regularly review my Anki decks, keep talking to friends in foreign languages, or schedule intense study periods for certain languages.

For example, last year, I had an intensive Spanish period where I binged, watched a Mexican TV show in Spanish with Spanish subtitles and read a Spanish book.

What are the most common mistakes you see most people making when learning languages?

The worst mistake is that most people rely upon Duolingo as the only method. The app is great because it makes language learning more approachable. But too many people think it’s enough.

And the other mistake is learning a list of common words. It’s not useful. You might not need many of the words and don’t learn with context. Even if you know all the words but don’t know how conjugation or clauses or genders work — how are you going to make sense of all of it?

It’s better to construct your own sentences. Write the word down that you want to know and practice with it. That’s what makes your studying time more useful.

Duolingo is one of the reasons so many people fail to learn a foreign language.

— Mathias Barra

Thanks for your time Mathias. How can people learn more from you?

I write and publish on Medium (Mathias Barra). And I run the average polyglot newsletter on Substack where I write seven bullet points about language learning and cultural differences each week. And I tweet regularly.

Key Takeaways

While there’s no single best way to learn a language, mixing methods does help (hint: Duolingo is not enough). Tools that can help include HiNative, Journaly, Anki, Slowly, iTalki, and Speechling.

Combine studying on your own and in structured settings, such as online communities on Discord or iTalki. Learn grammar by elaborating on standard constructions.

Find activities that you actually enjoy in the language and make it part of your life, for example, through:

  • watching a Netflix series with subtitles, Mathias uses the Language Reactor extension)
  • reading a book in the language you’re learning, Mathias loves easy readers
  • listening to radio shows or podcasts in the language you’re learning, for example, on radio.garden
  • switch your phone settings to another language
  • write your diary in the language you’re learning

Whatever you decide to do or not do, enjoy your language learning journey.

Want to feel inspired and become smarter about how you learn?

Subscribe free to my Learn Letter. Each Wednesday, you’ll get proven tools and resources that elevate your love for learning.

How to Write Great Flashcards so You Can Remember Anything You Want

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Computerized flashcard programs make memory a choice.

Photo by David Cassolato from Pexels

How often have you read something thinking, “I should remember this,” only to forget it a couple of hours later?

Don’t blame your memory. Forgetting is part of how our brains work.

And contrary to common belief, our brains work not too different from each other (hint: learning styles don’t exist).

Recent advances in cognitive psychology, educational psychology, and neuroscience reveal how humans learn.

Here’s what our brains have in common and how you can make the most of it.

How to prime your memory to remember anything

Memory works in three stages: encoding, consolidation/retention, and retrieval. And you need to utilize all three stages to remember anything your want forever.

If you encode something, for example, through watching an online course but don’t practice retention and retrieval, you won’t be able to recall it when needed.

If you hear or read something just once, let’s say by reading a book or watching an online course, you’ll very likely forget it a couple of days later.

That’s the reason why most people can’t recall something from a book they read a while ago when they’d need it.

But you can hack your memory by interrupting your forgetting curve.

Forgetting Curves with and without spaced practice. (Source: Hannah Lenitz for Eva Keiffenheim).

Encoding knowledge into your memory works best when you reproduce the same piece of information from your mind over increasing time intervals.

And it’s easy. Brilliant minds have come up with software and workflows that help you interrupt your forgetting exactly when you should.

Computerized flashcard programs, such as Anki or Neuracache, help you learn anything by heart forever. In my TEDx talk on mastering learning, I talk about the power of these programs.

You apply the effective learning strategy of self-testing and the software manages your forgetting curve for maximum retention.

“One-shot learning is not enough. Routinization frees up our prefrontal and parietal circuits, allowing them to attend to other activities. The most effective strategy is to space out learning: a little bit every day.”

— Stanislas Dehaene

If you can answer a question correctly, the time interval between reviews gradually expands. So a one-day gap between reviews becomes two days, then six days, and so on. The idea is that the information is becoming more firmly embedded in your memory, and so requires less frequent review.

Soon you’ll only need to test yourself on information for a few seconds once every one and a half years. Scientist Michael Nielsen has used this system to memorize 20,000 cards and estimates he only needs about 5 minutes of total review time for one piece of information over the entire 20 years.

In essence: spaced repetition memory systems make memory a choice.

But why would you want to remember something forever? There are use-cases that go way beyond exams.

Use cases for hacking your memory

You can learn and all countries of the world and impress your former geography teacher.

But you could also choose some of the following cases and make flashcards really useful for you.

Here’s what I currently use my memory system for:

  • Relationships, remembering birthdays, preferences, or experiences. When is Torben’s birthday? What’s Anna’s favourite meal?
  • Hobbies, memorizing anything that’s useful for you. What are the first three steps for beatmatching? What direction do my elbows point when doing barbell squats? What should I pay attention to in the cobra yoga pose?
  • Job-related information, for example from relevant papers, conferences, or conversations. What were my three biggest learnings from the Education Futures conference in Salzburg? What are the three actions for shifting power in education transformation?
  • Habit Stacking, anything you want to do after another habit. When do I practice Anki cards? Which mac command do I use when searching my browser history?
  • Random stuff such as favourite places or memory from a holiday, pokemon names, or reflections from your yearly review.

While there are many pre-written decks, you can now see why writing cards yourself is even more meaningful.

“Cards are fundamental building blocks of the mnemonic medium, and card-writing is better thought of as an open-ended skill. Do it poorly, and the mnemonic medium works poorly. Do it superbly well, and the mnemonic medium can work very well indeed. By developing the card-writing skill it’s possible to expand the possibilities of the medium.”

— Andy Matuschack and Michael Nielsen

Four rules for writing great flashcards

Creating the cards by yourself is an important part of understanding and committing.

Here are five rules you want to keep in mind when creating flashcards.

1) Decide whether it’s relevant

It’s tempting to memorize everything you read in books, but you really want to keep it relevant.

Create flashcards for anything that’s worth about five minutes of your lifetime. Because that’s the expected lifetime review time. Michael Nielsen has applied this system for four years and he says it takes < 5 minutes to learn something… forever.

The goal of remembering everything you want is not a self-serving purpose. You ultimately want to apply your knowledge in your day-to-day life; for your job, relationships, or decision-making.

If you try to learn something you don’t care about, you’ll soon stop learning altogether. So choose the stuff you really care about.

“Memorisation is really important, but you have to memorise the right things”

— Daisy Christodoulou
2) Keep the cards really simple.

One of the biggest mistakes new flashcards writers make is creating too dense flashcards.

Simpler is better — stick to the minimum information required, instead of overloading a card.

Here’s an example:

Source: SuperMemo — Twenty rules of formulating knowledge

The simpler the easier it’s to remember it and the more flexible you are in its application. However, keep in mind to always add the basics before you dive into the specifics.

Name the main theories of learning (behaviorism, cognitive, constructivism, humanism, and connectivism) before you go into the details of them.

3) Add personal context

Remember the first memory stage? Encoding works best when you add personal context and meaning to it.

Use your own words to describe a concept rather than copy and come up with personal examples to make learning easier for you.

4) Include real-world retrieval cues

Remember the second and third memory stage? Sorry to do this, but you know you remember best when you recall something from your memory.

So consolidation/retention and retrieval are as crucial as encoding.

There’s a difference between the availability and accessibility of knowledge.

Even if a piece of information is encoded and consolidated, you might have trouble retrieving it (known as the tip of the tongue phenomena).

To memorize flashcards in a way that you can apply them in your life, you want to add retrieval cues.

You can do that by asking questions that are similar to your real-world situations.

For example, instead of asking, what’s the mac shortcut for retrieving your chrome search history, I asked “When researching an article I haven’t saved yet on my Mac, which chrome shortcut do I use to browse through my search history?”

In Conclusion

Spaced repetition memory systems, such as creating flashcards with Anki, make memory a choice. You can remember anything you want, forever.

The goal of fact-learning is not to learn just one random fact — it is to learn thousands, which taken together, form a schema that helps you solve problems, think critically, and make sense of the world.

“Anki isn’t just a tool for memorizing simple facts. It’s a tool for understanding almost anything.”

— Michael Nielson
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Steepen Your Learning Curve with Deliberate Practice

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The four pillars for achieving mastery.

Photo by Colin Lloyd on Unsplash

The 10,000-hour rule is a harmful myth.

Malcolm Gladwell argued in ‘Outliers,’ if a person practices a skill for 10,000 hours, they will become a world-class master in that field.

While this simple rule sounds appealing, it’s wrong in several ways.

Ericsson, a scientist among the study’s authors that Gladwell popularized, debunks this learning myth:

  1. Ten thousand hours was an average. Most world-class performers practiced less or more before they achieved mastery.
  2. Nothing in the study implied almost anyone could become an expert in a given field by practicing ten thousand hours.
  3. Gladwell didn’t distinguish how the hours were used. If your practice is ineffective or flawed, even 10,000 hours won’t help you become a master.

Luckily, there’s a better model you can use to replace the misleading 10,000-hour rule — deliberate practice. Here’s how it works and how you can use the method to steepen your learning curve.

The four pillars of deliberate practice (Source: Eva Keiffenheim).

In essence, deliberate practice means actively practicing a skill while intending to improve your performance. “This distinction between deliberate practice aimed at a particular goal and generic practice is crucial because not every type of practice leads to the improved ability,” Ericsson writes.

The authors of ‘Make it Stick’ further specify: “If doing something repeatedly might be considered practice, deliberate practice is a different animal: it’s goal-directed, often solitary, and consists of repeated striving to reach beyond your current level of performance.”

So here’s how you can make your practice deliberate.

1) Define a Specific Learning Goal

Before you dive into practicing, consider which goal you want to achieve. Break down your ultimate goal into sub-steps, similar to skill trees.

If you want to become a better guitar player, decide what to focus on. The rhythm? Ear training? Barre chords? Riffs?

By breaking down your desired activity to one specific goal, you’re setting the groundwork for deliberate practice. One clear outcome is a thousand times better than overarching terms such as “succeed” or “get better.”

If you’re unsure where to start, get inspired by Danny Forest’s excellent exploration of Skill Trees. Here’s a beautiful visualization he created for playing the Ukulele for Beginners.

Source: Danny Forest

2) Commit to Absolute Focus

“Where your attention goes, your energy flows,” somebody wise once said. Absolute focus is the most valuable skill of our century. But it requires training.

In Cal Newport’s words, absolute focus means: “professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that pushes your cognitive capabilities to their limit.”

The key term here is ‘distraction-free.’

Whenever you practice, flight mode your phone and put it in a different room. Turn your computer off. Set a timer for your desired practice time and focus on nothing else.

Distraction-free environments are the crucial factor to unlock deliberate practice. “In tranquil silence, you can do deep work — the real work,” a fellow Medium writer rhymed.

“‘Just keep working at it, and you’ll get there,’ is wrong. The right sort of practice carried out over a sufficient period of time leads to improvement. Nothing else.”

— Karl Anders Ericsson

3) Get Immediate Feedback

Practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes permanent. You can repeat a specific behavior indefinitely without getting better at it. All you do is manifest the existing technique.

If you practice soccer with the same ineffective dribbling technique, you’ll never improve. To get better, you need to know what exactly you’re striving for and become aware of your shortcomings.

Feedback is the cornerstone element for deliberate practice.

You’ll understand how the desired skill works and what you need to do to get there. Feedback helps you manifest the correct revisions rather than repeating ineffective behavior.

There are a couple of ways you can use to get immediate feedback:

  • Self-record a video of you practicing a specific skill (e.g., playing an instrument, doing a sports technique) and compare it to an expert’s video.
  • Hire a coach or trainer who has mastered the practice you’re aiming to achieve.
  • Use learning software that provides you with immediate feedback. For example, language learning tools such as Lingvist or Memrise, or programming learning software such as Codecademy, have in-built feedback mechanisms.

4) Aim for Desired Difficulty

Whenever you practice, you want to challenge yourself a bit further than the last time. Desirable difficulty means putting in a considerable but desirable amount of effort into your practice.

“In the short term, conditions that make learning more challenging — such as generating words instead of passively reading them, varying conditions of practice, transferring knowledge to new situations, or learning to solve multiple types of math problems at once — might slow down performance. However, there is a yield in long-term retention,” a Stanford article says.

To steepen your learning curve, practice a bit outside your comfort zone. While additional challenge makes your practice less enjoyable, it will become more effective.

“There is a place, right on the edge of your ability, where you learn best and fastest. It’s called the sweet spot.…The underlying pattern is the same: Seek out ways to stretch yourself. Play on the edges of your competence. As Albert Einstein said, “One must develop an instinct for what one can just barely achieve through one’s greatest efforts.”

The key word is ‘barely.’”

— Daniel Coyle in ‘ The Little Book of Talent’

In Conclusion

Not every practice needs to be deliberate. You can learn a new skill just for fun and doodle around. Hobbies without clear goals or a coach inside your comfort zone can be a source of joy and fulfillment.

But if you’re looking for a way on how to learn a new skill faster, keep the four pillars of deliberate practice in mind:

  1. Specify your goal into a sub-goa.
  2. Schedule distraction-free focused practice.
  3. Find a way to get immediate feedback.
  4. Push yourself outside your comfort and inside your learning zone.

Want to feel inspired and improve your learning?

Subscribe free to The Learn Letter. I read a book and 50 articles a week, and each Wednesday, you’ll receive the best in your inbox. This newsletter will make you find tools and resources that help you on your path to health, wealth, and wisdom.

Five Common Beliefs About Learning That Are Actually Learning Myths

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Stop following them to save precious time and energy.

Created by the author via Canva.

In 2013, I studied for weeks for an undergrad test. Yet, I failed.

Research from different studies shows up to eighty percent of students never learn how to learn effectively. Even long after school and university, people waste time and energy with ineffective learning practices.

In the past five years, I’ve worked as a full-time teacher, completed a course on meta-learning, read 20 books on the science of learning. Each week I publish The Learn Letter — a newsletter that examines the best ideas around lifelong learning.

Again and again, I stumble upon beliefs around learning that are actually wrong.

Misunderstandings about learning waste your time. After reading this article, you’ll understand which common beliefs are learning myths so you can become a better learner.

1) Your brain capacity is limited

Some people fear lifelong learning can overload their brains. But, contrary to common belief, your brain is never full.

Learning is a virtuous circle. The more you learn, the more you can remember.

In this paper on the science of learning, scientists explain why storing information in your memory creates brain capacity. Rather than a library with limited shelves, your brain works like a growing tree.

The more knowledge you store, the more branches grow and connect. Instead of using brain space, learning creates additional opportunities for linkages and storage.

A research group around neuroscientist Henry Roediger and psychologist Mark McDaniel spent ten years bridging the gap between cognitive science and educational science. In their book, they explain:

“Learning depends on prior learning, the more we learn, the more possible connections we create for further learning.”

Remember Instead:

Your brain capacity is unlimited. The more you know, the easier you can hang up new information in your memory tree.

2) Rereading is an effective learning strategy

One of the most common learning myths is believing that reexposing yourself to something will burn the content into your memory.

Rereading feels productive because concepts sound familiar. But this feeling is an illusion of knowledge.

Roediger and McDaniel explain: “Rereading has three strikes against it. It is time-consuming. It doesn’t result in durable memory. And it often involves a kind of unwitting self-deception, as growing familiarity with the text comes to feel like mastery with the content.”

“Don’t assume you’re doing something wrong if learning feels hard.”

Remember Instead:

Rereading doesn’t lead to better retention. Effective methods include spaced repetition, interleaving, elaboration, self-testing, and free recall.

3) People learn better following their learning styles

Are you a visual or a verbal learner? While you might have preferences about the learning material, they don’t improve recall or retention.

No solid evidence from controlled experiments says that teaching in the preferred learning style improves learning.

“Tailoring instruction as suggested by the learning style approach can potentially have negative consequences for the learner,” psychologists explain in an evidence-based blog post.

Remember Instead:

The richer the learning material and the combination of styles, the better. The wider your mix of methods, the greater your learning success.

4) Rich environments enhance childrens’ brain

In ‘Understanding How We Learn,’ researchers looked for evidence for misunderstandings in learning. They examined 12 empirical papers with almost 15000 participants in 15 countries.

One of the biggest misconceptions about learning they found was the belief environments rich in stimuli improve the brains of pre-school children.

One reason why so many people wrongly believe this might be the following story of a misused teenager. Genie was locked by her father for 13-years. She was socially isolated. When she was found, she didn’t know how to talk.

True sensory deprivation can indeed lead to decreased learning. But under normal circumstances, the reality is enough for brain development. The researchers conclude:

“Even without decorated classrooms, children encounter sufficient information to enable their brains to develop normally.“

Remember Instead:

Children don’t need a stimuli-rich environment for healthy brain development.

5) 10,000 Hours of Practice Lead to Mastery

In 2008, Malcolm Gladwell introduced the ten-thousand-hour rule in his book ‘Outliers.’ He argued that it’d take 10,000 hours of practice to become a master in any field.

While this simple rule sounds appealing, it’s wrong in several ways.

Ericsson, one of the study’s authors that Gladwell used as the scientific foundation for his rule, debunks this learning myth. Ericsson lists several reasons why the rule is flawed:

  • There is nothing special or magical about ten thousand hours. A lot of world-class performers practiced less or more before they achieved mastery. Ten thousand hours was an average.
  • Gladwell didn’t distinguish how the hours were used (e.g., deliberate practice vs. ineffective practice).
  • Nothing in the study implied almost anyone could become an expert in a given field by practicing ten thousand hours.

Remember Instead:

10,000 hours of practice don’t guarantee world-class performance. The additional practice would lead to further improvement even if you crossed the 10,000-hour mark.

Final Words

Learning is a journey, not a destination. This meta-study on learning, memory, and metacognitive processes has shown that most learners hold outdated beliefs and commit errors that can even impair their learning effectiveness rather than enhance.

Reading more than 20 books on learning, I’ve noticed a recurring pattern: it’s less important what kind of brain you have — what matters is how you use it. To learn more effectively, here’s what to remember:

  • Learning is a virtuous circle, and your brain capacity is unlimited.
  • Spaced repetition and free recall are more effective than rereading.
  • Learning in your preferred style doesn’t lead to better cognition. Mix the methods instead.
  • Children don’t need a stimuli-rich environment for healthy brain development.
  • The 10,000 rule is a lie. How you practice is equally important to how much you practice.

This Learning Hack Helps You Remember More From Any Book You Read

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How writing book reviews fuels your learning.

Library in Vienna’s University of Economics and Business (Martino Pietropoli/Unsplash)

Reading gives you access to the smartest brains on earth. Learning from the greatest people is the fastest way to become healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Yet, reading per se doesn’t make you a better person. You can read 52 books a year without changing at all.

I’ve read about 20 books on learning in the past four years, and I’ve noticed a recurring pattern: it’s less important what kind of brain you have — what matters is how you use it.

I love my Zettelkasten and RoamResearch. But chatting with my newsletter subscribers, I understood that it’s tough to maintain these systems unless you’re a writer who can spend an hour a day reflecting on the books you read.

The best personal knowledge management systems are useless unless applied. Using the following learning hack can help you make the most of the books without wasting your time.

Why Writing Book Reviews Fuel Your Learning

We only recently started to understand how learning works. Learning science is a new field that combines the knowledge of neuroscience and social and cognitive psychology.

Books have been around for a long before learning science.

What we know now is that learning is a three-step process: acquisition, retention, and retrieval. In the acquisition phase, we link new information to existing knowledge; in the retention phase, we store it, and in the retrieval phase, we get information out of our memory.

Books were invented before these insights. It was Schopenhauer who already stated in the 1850s: “When we read, another person thinks for us: we merely repeat his mental process.”

You don’t read a page and shelf it in your mental library. Instead, your brain stores new information in terms of its meaning to existing memory.

To remember what you read, you not only need to know it but also to know how it relates to what you already know. You can add this layer of meaning by interpreting, connecting, interrelating, or elaborating.

Elaborating means you explain and describe an idea in your own words.

Learning researchers Roediger and McDaniel write: “Elaboration is the process of giving new material meaning by expressing it in your own words and connecting it with what you already know.”

Elaborative rehearsal encodes information into your long-term memory more effectively. The more details and the stronger you connect new knowledge to what you already know, the better because you’ll be generating more cues. And the more cues they have, the easier you can retrieve your knowledge.

„Elaboration is thought to be one of the best ways to increase learning and memory among many memory theorists,” scientists write in the evidence-based book ‘Understanding How We Learn.’

Book reviews are an elaboration practice for reading. Spending 5-minutes every time after you finish a book with writing them will help you store and retain more from what you read.

“A good book can teach you about the world and about yourself. You learn more than how to read better; you also learn more about life. You become wiser. Not just more knowledgeable — books that provide nothing but information can produce that result. But wiser, in the sense that you are more deeply aware of the great and enduring truths of human life.”

― Mortimer J. Adler in How to Read a Book

How to write book reviews for maximum learning

The more you elaborate or try to understand something, the more likely you‘ll keep this new information in your long-term memory.

When you use book reviews as a learning hack, you don’t focus on the quality of writing (eloquence, succinctness, conciseness) or the quality of the content (originality, editing, research, quoting).

Instead, you answer meta-questions that invite you to recall what you read from your memory and store it in relation to its meaning. Here are a few questions you might want to answer every time you finish a book.

  • How would you summarize the content in three sentences?
  • What do you find interesting about this book? Which parts surprised you? Which arguments altered your understanding?
  • How does the content relate to what you know? Does it contradict or confirm something you previously read?
  • When would you like to stumble upon the ideas in the book again?
  • Which concepts or ideas from the book do you want to apply in your life? When and where will you use these insights?

You don’t need to answer every single one. Keep the prompts that work for you, and screw the rest.

When you write a book summary, you have to filter relevant information, organize it, and articulate it using your own vocabulary. Don’t transcribe the author’s words but try to summarize, synthesize, and analyze. That way, you will remember much more from what you read.

Where to publish your book reviews

Many people I know don’t share their work in public because they’re scared other people judge them. I shared this fear. Around 200 articles later, I know the upsides far outweigh any risk.

Since I publish my work on Medium and in The Learn Letter, I learn faster, meet interesting people, and job proposals from projects that fascinate me.

So if you dare, publish your book reviews online. You can share them on Amazon, Goodreads, Medium, your blog, or a digital garden.

Once you write book reviews, you not only help other people but also yourself.

You will be able to explain complex ideas during dinner conversations, recall interesting concepts and ideas when you need them, and create your personal library.

Want to feel inspired and improve your learning?

Subscribe free to The Learn Letter. I read a book and 50 articles a week, and each Wednesday, you’ll receive the best in your inbox. This newsletter will make you find tools and resources that help you on your path to health, wealth, and wisdom.

Three Books That Prevent You from Forgetting Cruel History

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“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” — George Santayana

Photo by Frederick Wallace on Unsplash

Last week I visited Auschwitz, the largest of the German Nazi concentration camps and extermination centers.

Looking at the piles of hair, I felt anger, sadness, and shame. I think about most parts of my countries recent history in disgust. I lack the words to talk about the Nazi time.

As a German, ignoring the past hundred years seems easier than facing them. Yet, I feel a responsibility to call these atrocities to our minds. So, here are three books to not forget our past.

1) Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

At the age of 39, Viktor Frankl was sent to a concentration camp. During imprisonment, he lost his brother, mother, and wife.

His memoir depicts the daily camp life and how the cruelties affected the mental state of its inmates who endure dehumanizing conditions. With the odds of 1 in 20, Frankl survives Auschwitz.

The book is hard to bear as it contains descriptions with graphic detail. When reading, you witness what concentration camp inmates have gone through.

“Human kindness can be found in all groups (camp guard or prisoner), even those which as a whole wit would be easy to condemn. “ — Viktor Frankl

2) The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

This book is about Bruno, a young son of a Nazi officer, who lives in a house near Auschwitz. On his daily strolls, he meets another young boy behind a fence who turns out to be a Jew, imprisoned in the concentration camp.

One day, the Jewish boy asks his German friend for help to find his father. Bruno puts on a “Striped Pyjama” to disguise himself as one of the prisoners and enters the campground. Both boys will die in the gas chambers.

When I read this book as a teenager, I cried for hours. It made me care about history more than any high school lesson. Yet, there are flaws and plot holes about this story that you might want to consider before you decide whether to read it.

A 9-year-old boy would not survive over a year in a Nazi camp. After arriving on a cattle train to Auschwitz-Birkenau, officers sent children to the gas chamber.

This Holocaust survivor wrote about the book: “I was once myself a boy in striped pajamas and am a survivor of six German concentration camps. This book is so ignorant of historical facts about concentration camps that it kicks the history of the Holocaust right in the teeth.”

“What exactly was the difference? He wondered to himself. And who decided which people wore the striped pajamas and which people wore the uniforms?” 
— John Boyne

3) The Choice by Dr. Edith Eger

At age 16, the Nazis came to Edith Eger’s Hungarian hometown. They deported the Jewish family to an internment center, then to Auschwitz. Upon arrival, Joseph Mengele sent her parents to the gas chamber.

Edith Eger and her sister Magda survived multiple death camps. In 1945, American Troops found them barely alive in a pile of corpses on the camp’s liberation.

The book consists of four sections: prison, escape, freedom and healing. It’s a mixture of the holocaust, a personal memoir, and psychology.

She works through her terrible experience in Auschwitz and takes us through a journey of her healing. By drawing on her patients’ personal cases, she derives wise and powerful life lessons.

Unlike the previous two stories, Dr. Edith Eger’s historical description is uplifting. While Frankl’s ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ carries profundity and a deep understanding of human psychology, Dr. Edith Eger, who has been 20 years younger than Frankl and one of his students, adds warmth and life experience.

‘The Choice’ is one of the most inspiring books I have ever read.

“We don’t know where we’re going, we don’t know what’s going to happen, but no one can take away from you what you put in your own mind.” — Dr. Edith Eger

Want to improve your learning?

Subscribe free to The Learn Letter. I read a book and 50 articles a week, and each Wednesday, you’ll receive the best in your inbox. This newsletter will make you find tools and resources that help you on your path to health, wealth, and wisdom.

This Quick Mental Model Can Improve How You Navigate Life

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Understanding entropy changed the way I think.

Photo by DesignClass on Unsplash

“With every birthday, life gets more complicated,” my wise friend said last Sunday. When I asked why he replied:

“When I was a child, I thought the world made more sense the older you get. But with every year, the world becomes more complex. Life feels like a growing puzzle while you’re struggling to put the pieces into the right places.”

His words lingered with me long after the weekend. Does life get messier the older we get?

Murphy’s law says, “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” But once you research further, you find a deeper truth.

While pieces might just fall into the right places, most of the time, they don’t. And that’s not bad luck.

This quick read will help you regain trust and support a calmer and happier life.

What You Should Know About Entropy

According to Dan Brown entropy is just a fancy way to say things fall apart. I disagree. Entropy is more than that.

Imagine you open a big puzzle and dump the pieces on your floor. What are the chances every piece will fall into the right places?

Theoretically, it’s possible. But the likelihood is close to zero. Unless you hit the jackpot probability, the pieces won’t fall in perfect order.

There’s a single state where everything falls in order but nearly infinite states in disorder. Congrats — you just grasped entropy’s quintessence.

Entropy is a measure of disorder and randomness for even smaller units than your puzzle pieces.

Physicist Ludwig Boltzmann says entropy is a measure of the number of possible arrangements of atoms and molecules of a system, that comply with the macroscopic condition of the system.

Entropy is about probabilities. And as time moves forward, more possibilities emerge.

The second law of thermodynamics confirms what my wise friend felt: entropy will always increase over time. Life gets more chaotic when you grow older.

“The increase of disorder or entropy is what distinguishes the past from the future, giving a direction to time.”

— Stephen Hawking

Believing life gets less messy with age is a waste of energy. The English scientist Arthur Eddington said: “ If your theory is found to be against the Second Law of Thermodynamics, I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation.”

Now you know about entropy’s existence. But what does it mean for you?

What This Universal Law Means for Your Life

You can’t go back in time. You can’t reverse entropy and reduce complexity, uncertainty, and chaos. Entropy is present in every aspect of life.

Here’s a helpful metaphor by Tom Stoppard: “When you stir your rice pudding, Septimus, the spoonful of jam spreads itself round making red trails like the picture of a meteor in my astronomical atlas. But if you stir backward, the jam will not come together again. Indeed, the pudding does not notice and continues to turn pink just as before.”

For every step you take, most scenarios won’t bring you to your desired destination. Nevertheless, you can’t go back in time and reverse it.

A tidy room gets dirty; your computer breaks, your relationship ends, you lose a piece of your life’s puzzle. In all of these cases, life isn’t against you. It’s entropy at its best.

The question isn’t how to stop entropy. It’s how you navigate through life despite its existence.

“The ultimate purpose of life, mind, and human striving: to deploy energy and information to fight back the tide of entropy and carve out refuges of beneficial order.”

— Steven Pinker

How You Can Use Entropy to Your Advantage

Adopt John Green’s mindset: “Everything that comes together falls apart. Everything. The chair I’m sitting on. It was built, and so it will fall apart. I’m going to fall apart, probably before this chair. And you’re going to fall apart.

The cells and organs and systems that make you — they came together, grew together, and so must fall apart. The Buddha knew one thing science didn’t prove for millennia after his death: Entropy increases. Things fall apart.”

Don’t expect things to stay the way they are. Don’t feel like life’s against you when things become chaotic or complex.

Any disorder or chaos isn’t your personal mistake. It’s the universe’s default. Any order is unnatural, temporary, and subject to change.

Sounds scary? When you imagine the opposite, you see it shouldn’t. In a world without entropy, everything would always stay the same. Rooms wouldn’t get dirty, things wouldn’t break and people wouldn’t change.

Life would become predictable.

In a world without entropy, creativity and innovation wouldn’t exist.

Whether you run a business, have kids, or look for meaning in life —the next time you face a problem, know that life doesn’t work against you.

Once you know disorder is the default, you can decide how and where you want to use your energy to create stability.

Use attention and care to foster your relationship, clean your house so it won’t get messier, build an emergency fund so you’re forearmed against unpleasant surprises. Use energy to create your desired state of order.

Final Thoughts

My friend was right. Things get more complicated. With every birthday, the degree of disorder and randomness increases. Statistically, more things turn out different than your version of “right.”

But life doesn’t conspire against you. It’s only entropy doing its job.

This mental model helped me reach my goals and stop being so hard on myself. I hope it does the same for you.

Want to join a community of lifelong learners? Subscribe free to The Learn Letter. Each Wednesday, you’ll receive the best in your inbox. My newsletter will make you find tools and resources that help you on your path to health, wealth, and wisdom.

3 Binge-Worthy Books for Life-Long Learners

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These resources can help you expand your brain.

Created by the author via Canva.

“Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life,” Mortimer J. Adler said. I disagree.

Books don’t magically make you live the good life. You can read a book a week without changing at all.

Reading doesn’t help you per se — it’s reading the right books that can make all the difference.

No life skill can earn you greater dividends than learning how to learn. After reading more than 30 books on learning, these three are my favorite picks on meta-learning.

Every single one will help you understand how your brain learns. By doing so, you’ll make better decisions and find yourself on your journey to wisdom.

1) Make it Stick

Did you know rereading and highlighting are the most popular yet the least productive learning strategies?

Revisiting concepts and ideas might feel like learning because you recognize some of them. But you’re not learning. You’re trapped in an illusion of knowledge.

Mastering a text is different from recalling or remembering what you read.

“People commonly believe that if you expose yourself to something enough times, you can burn it into memory,” the authors write.

They also why it’s not worth it: “Rereading has three strikes against it. It is time-consuming. It doesn’t result in durable memory. And it often involves a kind of unwitting self-deception, as growing familiarity with the text comes to feel like mastery with the content.”

I used to think learning should feel easy. Slow and difficult meant unproductive. Turns out I was wrong.

Effective learning must feel hard: “Learning is deeper and more durable when it’s effortful. Learning that’s easy is like writing in sand, here today and gone tomorrow.”

‘Make it Stick’ doesn’t stop after dismantling learning myths.

The research group around neuroscientist Henry Roediger and psychologist Mark McDaniel spent ten years exploring learning strategies. Their goal was to bridge the gap between cognitive science and educational science.

Here are some powerful concepts from the book explores:

  • Your brain’s capacity is unlimited. Contrary to common belief, our brains are never full. The more we learn, the more we can remember. Learning is a virtuous circle. The more cues we have, the easier it is to encode new information to these cues. As long as you connect further information to existing brain branches, you can store much more than you think.
  • To learn, you first need to forget. I always thought forgetting is a character’s flaw. But it isn’t. Forgetting is necessary for new learning. That’s why spaced repetition is among the most effective learning strategies. You allow forgetting to occur and thereby strengthen your memory.
  • The power of reflection. Reflecting leads to stronger learning. To reflect, you need to retrieve, connect, and visualize earlier memories. Often, you mentally practice what you’d do the next time differently. That’s why regular thinking breaks are so valuable.

Last but not least, ‘Make it Stick’ summarizes six evidence-based, application-ready strategies that help you learn better and store new knowledge in your long-term memory.

The six strategies include retrieval practice (recall something you’ve learned in the past from your memory), spaced repetition (repeat the same piece of information across increasing intervals), interleaving (alternating before each practice is complete), elaboration (rephrasing new knowledge and connecting it with existing insights), reflection (synthesize, abstract, and articulate key lessons taught by experience), self-testing & calibration (answer a question or solve a problem before looking at the answer and identify knowledge gaps).

“Mastery, especially of complex ideas, skills and processes, is a quest. Don’t assume you’re doing something wrong if learning feels hard.”

2) The New Science of Learning

This book should be mandatory for students, teachers, and anyone who wants to learn. It’s based on state-of-the-art science about how the human brain learns. It will help you make learning more effective and teaches how you can retain knowledge and skills for a lifetime.

Similar to the ‘Make it Stick,’ the authors reveal common ineffective learning methods. The authors agree on many levels: “New learning requires a considerable amount of practice and a meaningful connection to other information in order to become a more permanent part of memory.”

To learn effectively, you need to use new information to form meaningful connections to other information. That’s why a multi-dimensional learning experience that involves many senses is effective.

Listen, talk, read, write, and think about the new material at hand to make learning more effective. The more work your brain does, the more connections you establish. And as you know, more connections increase the chances that you remember what you learn.

But it’s not only the learning itself that can improve your memory:

  • Sleep. During sleep, your brain cells shrink, and fluid can wash the toxins out. Sleep is your brain’s way of keeping itself clean and healthy. While sleeping, you strengthen the learning of your day.
  • Movement. Various studies attest to the importance of exercise for learning ability. Move your body to learn better.
  • Environment. A distracted brain can’t study. Prepare your environment for maximum focus. Go to a study room, turn off your phone, and eliminate any other distraction.

“Learning and memory have two key components: the learned object itself and the retrieval cue to find the learned object.”

3) How to Take Smart Notes

Do you finish a book or an article and think you’ve found great insights but don’t know what to do with them?

I read a lot, but I struggled to manage the input and my ideas for creative output. While writing an article, I often remembered I read something related but couldn’t find the source.

As Ahrens writes: “Having read more does not automatically mean having more ideas.”

Taking smart notes is the fast track to improve your productivity and creativity. Yet, most note-taking systems are ineffective.

This is one of the books that has forever changed the way I learn. Before, I didn’t know the difference between note-taking, note-making, and note-hierarchies.

‘How to Take Smart Notes’ transformed the way I store and manage what I read. It helped me realize a learning workflow can turn into a virtuous circle.

The idea is not to hoard knowledge but to develop ideas, arguments, and discussions, and the method he describes is called the slipbox.

Niklas Luhmann, a social scientist, invented the slipbox. He wrote 73 books and almost 400 research articles on various topics during his life, including politics, art, ecology, media, law, and the economy.

When someone asked him how he published so much, Luhmann replied, “I’m not thinking everything on my own. Much of it happens in my Zettelkasten. My productivity is largely explained by the Zettelkasten method”.

The slipbox is a fantastic learning tool as it forces us to use all the strategies known for effective learning.

When you read the book, you’ll marvel at sentences like: “We learn something not only when we connect it to prior knowledge and try to understand its broader implications (elaboration), but also when we try to retrieve it at different times (spacing) in different contexts (variation), ideally with the help of chance (contextual interference) and with a deliberate effort (retrieval).”

I love how Sönke Ahrens describes Luhmann’s Zettelkasten method and embeds it into the science of learning. It’s like “Make it Stick” applied to note-taking. This book will forever change the way you take notes.

“To seek as many opportunities to learn as possible is the most reliable long-term growth strategy.”

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If Knowledge Is Power, Knowing What You Don’t Know Is Wisdom

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Adam Grant’s principles can change the way you think.

Created by the author via Canva.

“When was the last time you changed your mind about something?” I send to all new online dating matches. I want to test whether they foster a flexible, curious mind.

Changing your opinion when presented with evidence or arguments is one of the most valuable skills you can have in the 21st century. In fact, it’s so relevant, well-known psychologist Adam Grant dedicated an entire book about it.

Bill and Melinda Gates say ‘Think Again’ is a must-read. If you’re willing to expanding your mind, you can learn a lot from this book. The following insights can improve your ability to rethink and change your mind.

Embrace Your Second Thoughts

“You can’t change your opinion all the time,” my parents used to say whenever I liked something that I previously disliked. “It makes you weak.” So whenever I changed my mind, I felt guilty.

Society values character traits such as decisiveness and having a strong opinion. It gives a sense of control and stability. But this thinking is flawed.

If I could talk to my younger self, I’d say changing your mind isn’t a bad character trait. It means you’ve got a flexible mind and are open to learning.

When you don’t allow for rethinking your opinions and updating your beliefs, you stagnate. You’ll stop challenging your ideas and numb yourself through life.

“Decisiveness is overrated,” Adam Grant writes, “but I reserve the right to change my mind.”

“We laugh at people who still use Windows 95, yet we still cling to opinions that we formed in 1995.”

The Smarter You Are, The Harder You Might Fail

In our world of information overload, your intelligence isn’t all that matters. In fact, your heightened ability to learn and think can be counterproductive. Recent research suggests the smarter you are, the harder it is to update your beliefs.

Most smart people lack intellectual humility — they’re unaware of what they don’t know. Here’s an example.

When you just read a few books in your life, you’re likely aware of what you don’t know. But once you’ve read a good deal, you become ignorant. You might be too confident, too sure, and less aware of the things you don’t know.

That’s why I love antilibraries, a collection of unread books. Antilibraries represent unknowledge. They’re a great cure for overconfidence and ignorance.

“You will never read all those books,” friends say when they look at my want-to-read list. They’re right. The list grows by two books every day. Even though I read two books a week, I will only read very few of them.

But that’s the point. My antilibrary is a constant reminder of what I don’t know. It helps me stay curious and humble.

If you want to learn something new, you first need the humility to see what you don’t know.

“If knowledge is power, knowing what we don’t know is wisdom.”

The True Purpose of Learning

Grant tells the story of Spanx founder Sara Blakely. While she knew she could turn her idea en idea for footless pantyhose into reality, she doubted having the right tools for it.

Blakely relied on her beginner’s mindset and learned as much as possible about prototyping and patent law. What made her successful was her confidence in learning anything she would need.

It’s your mindset, your views on your intelligence, and your abilities that determine how much you learn.

Researcher Carol Dweck highlights the differences between the two types of thinking. Even though her model falls prey to the binary bias, her categorization can help us understand the distinct mindsets.

People with fixed mindsets believe intelligence is a fixed trait. In contrast, individuals with growth mindsets, such as Sara Blakely, see intelligence as something that grows by acquiring knowledge and skills.

“The purpose of learning isn’t to affirm our beliefs; it’s to evolve our beliefs.”

The Potential Power of Imposter Syndrom

Many people bought into the story that you can become successful despite your doubts. But what if your doubts drive success?

Basima Tewfik led a study to explore this idea. She invited med students who were about to start their clinical rotations two times. On their first visit, the students answered a survey on impostor syndrome. They were, for example, asked how often they think stuff like “I am not as qualified as others think I am.”

A week later, she invited these med students to inspect patients (who were played by actors). Similar to their professional reality, the students diagnosed diseases and suggested treatments.

Twefik tracked whether the students made the right diagnoses and how they handled their patients.

Guess what: the students with stronger imposter syndrome did significantly better — they scored higher on empathy, respect, professionalism, and communication.

This evidence is new and has not yet been replicated among other studies. But we might have been wrong about judging impost syndrome as a weakness.

“Feeling like an impostor can make us better learners. Having some doubts about our knowledge and skills takes us off a pedestal, encouraging us to seek out insights from others.”

Final Thoughts

Philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote almost a century ago, “the fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.”

To not operate among the stupid, keep in mind to:

  • update your beliefs when presented with evidence and new arguments
  • remaining aware of what you don’t know
  • looking for ways to learn and evolve your beliefs
  • use your doubts to seek out insight from others

By valuing curiosity, learning, and mental flexibility, you will not only win my heart but also live a happier and wiser life.

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Feynman’s Favorite Problems Will Help You Discover Meaning in Life

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And how I use a Roamkasten to work with mine.

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With 24 hours a day and limited days before you die, you’re facing a trade-off between how you spend and not spend your time.

Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman was well aware of this dichotomy, and he developed a framework that helped him navigate through life.

If you ever wondered whether you’re using your time for the right things, this timeless idea will help you direct your attention to what matters most.

Richard Feynman’s Mental Framework

While most people find problems inconvenient, Feynman took a fresh approach. Through his lens, problems can give your life meaning and purpose. He once wrote:

“My approach to problem-solving is to carry around a dozen interesting problems, and a dozen interesting solutions to unrelated problems, and eventually, I’ll be able to make connections. […].

You have to keep a dozen of your favorite problems constantly present in your mind, although by and large they will lay in a dormant state.”

What Feynman intuitively described, learning scientists now call the diffuse modes. Without actively thinking, your subconsciousness works on problems.

It not only helped Feynman become a highly respected physicist but also other world-class performers, such as Stephen King.

King says he found the best ideas for his novels during diffuse mode thinking: “These were all situations which occurred to me while showering, while driving, while taking my daily walk and which I eventually turned into books. [..] It’s that sudden flash of insight when you see how everything connects.”

Once you know your favorite problems, you don’t need to work on them constantly. Your mind will look for answers while you’re focusing on something else.

In essence, your favorite problems are questions that help you get into an explorer mindset. When you read through other people’s ideas, you’ll unconsciously make connections to your favorite problems. Day by day, you’ll make progress on finding solutions.

“Every time you hear a new trick or a new result, test it against each of your twelve problems to see whether it helps. Every once in a while there will be a hit, and people will say, ‘How did he do it? He must be a genius!’”

— Richard Feynman

How to Find Your Favorite Problems

Your favorite problems can be anything — related to your work life, scientific questions, your love life, your health, wealth, or humanity as a whole.

The only important thing is to settle on problems you can contribute to. In a letter from 1966, Feynman wrote to his former student Koichi Manom:

“The worthwhile problems are the ones you can really solve or help solve, the ones you can really contribute something to. […] No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it.”

To find twelve worthwhile problems for your life, consider the following questions:

  • What are you curious about?
  • What have you always pursued?
  • What puzzles you about life and society?
  • Which problems you can’t stop thinking about?

Most of your favorite problems won’t have a single solution. The goal is not to be done with them. Your questions will stay with you or evolve, sometimes for years or even decades.

How I Work With My 12 Favorite Problems

To serve as guiding principles for your life, you’ll want to revisit your questions regularly.

I work with my problems by using a Zettelkasten with Roam. The Zettelkasten was invented by socioligist Niklas Luhmann. Thanks to the method, he published 70 books and 500 scholarly articles.

I’ve been using a digitized version of Luhmann’s system for four months. I can already see how it’s improving my writing, thinking and helping me find answers to my 12 favorite problems.

Understanding and implementing the system takes about five to ten hours, but here’s the quintessence of Zettelkasten’s notes hierarchy:

  • Fleeting Notes
    Fleeting notes are ideas that pop into your mind as you go through your day. They can be really short, just like one word. You don’t need to organize them.
  • Literature Notes: 
    You capture literature notes from the content you consume. It’s your bullet-point summary from other people’s ideas. I create these notes for all books, podcasts, articles, or videos I find valuable.
  • Permanent Notes: 
    When you create permanent notes, you think for yourself. In contrast to literature notes, you don’t summarize somebody else’s thoughts. You don’t just copy ideas but develop, remix, and contradict them. You create arguments and discussions.

My 12 favorite problems serve as a filter for my permanent notes. Whenever I develop my opinion, I think about how it relates to my favorite problems.

Here’s a snapshot of my current permanent notes page on my first favorite problem — How can I help education evolve so it ignites kid’s curiosity and creates a lifelong love of learning?

Permanent notes in Roamkasten for my first favorite problem. (Source: Author).

By using your favorite problems as guiding questions for your permanent notes, you will start to get answers. Plus, you’ll revisit your questions regularly.

In Conclusion

Writing your interests as a dozen questions will help you clarify what you’re truly after and making better decisions.

By keeping a list of problems, you can decide what you want to read, watch, or listen to. Feynman’s framework can work as a system of filters and turn consumption into contribution.

All you need to do is write down your 12 favorite problems and keep them in the back of your head, e.g., through integrating them in your Zettelkasten.

As you capture information to find answers to your favorite problems, you will start to see patterns of interest and find more meaning in life.

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Ethos, Pathos, and Logos Can Help You Win Any Argument

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How Aristotle’s rhetoric helps you get what you want.

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When was the last time you tried to persuade someone? Whether you’re pitching your business, convincing your kid to do their homework, or negotiating a better deal — persuasion is all around us.

And while most people assume that their either naturally bad or good at it, winning arguments is a skill you can learn. What follows are the most valuable principles I learned in my first year of philosophy studies.

Around 2300 years ago, Aristotle wrote about the three drivers of persuasion: ethos, logos, and pathos. Most rhetoricians regard his work as “the most important single work on persuasion ever written.”

Here’s what these three appeals mean and how you can use them to master the art of persuasion.

“Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. The first kind depends on the personal character of the speaker [ethos]; the second on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind [pathos]; the third on the proof, provided by the words of the speech itself [logos].” — Aristotle

Ethos: Your Attributes and Credibility

Let’s assume two non-menstruating men want to sell you a menstruation product. As a menstruating person, would you trust them?

Probably not. (When this happened in the German version of Shark Tank a few weeks ago, the guys went out of business soon after that.)

If your audience doesn’t find you trustworthy, likable, or knowledgeable, your words don’t matter. When trying to change someone’s opinion, you have to be credible.

Ethos, a Greek word meaning character, is the verbal equivalent of all your degrees and years of working experience.

As a speaker, your character should reflect your credibility. According to Aristotle, this can happen through phronesis (useful skills & practical wisdom), erete (virtue & goodwill), and eunoia (goodwill towards the audience)

How you can do it:

Give examples of why listeners should trust you. Do you have relevant credentials or experience? If so, talk about it early on.

Your appearance can also improve your ethos. Dress professionally and use your clearest and most confident voice.

Lastly, listen to the other side. Show empathy and really try to understand. When you do, stress your common ground before you get into the next part.

Pathos: Your Words’ Emotional Dimension

Humans connect with emotions, not facts. That’s why emotions have the power to change opinions. Your audience is likelier to believe what you say when they care.

Pathos means a speaker should deliver their message in the right emotional environment. In Aristotle’s words, speakers should be “putting the hearer into a certain frame of mind.”

But doing it is easier said than done. According to the philosopher, understanding the goals of your listeners is essential for deciding which emotion you want to evoke.

How you can do it:

First, learn as much as you can about your audience. What do they care about? What triggers them? What are their hopes, their fears?

Once you know, add the emotional dimension to your message — through storytelling, striking pictures, or emotionally charged words.

Logos: Your Message’s Logic and Presentation

If your argument doesn’t make sense, has no supportive evidence, or a coherent structure, persuasion is out of reach.

A good argument follows the rules of composition. Logos appeals to the argument’s sense and rationality.

“If ethos is the ground on which your argument stands, logos is what drives it forward: it is the stuff of your arguments, the way one point proceeds to another as if to show that the conclusion to which you are aiming is not only the right one but so necessary and reasonable as to be more or less the only one.”

— Sam Leith

How you can do it:

Whenever possible, substantiate your arguments with logic or evidence. Do your homework before you’re trying to convince someone.

Aristotle had an extra tip for using logos effectively. Your reveal will be even more convincing by encouraging your listeners to reach their own conclusion (moments before you come to the same one).

In Conclusion

One of the best ways to get better at winning arguments is by borrowing this concept that stood the test of time.

Good arguments rely on one or two of these appeals, but the most effective ones use all three.

Knowing ethos, logos, and pathos is one of the most useful ways to change your listeners’ opinion. But there’s more: knowing them will also help you identify weak or manipulative arguments.

If you really want to become a better persuaded, these are the three steps you want to remember:

  • Ethos — establishing your authority to make an argument.
  • Logos — making a logical point.
  • Pathos — connect with your audience emotionally.

These principles are powerful. Use them wisely. The most brilliant people I know keep an open mind, listen and change their opinions when proved wrong.

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A Former Facebook VP Shares Lessons to Manage Your Team Better

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Ideas that can help every entrepreneur achieve more.

Photo by John Ray Ebora from Pexels

Most management books are self-help fluff by people who’ve never done what they’re preaching. So when a fellow founder recommended Julie Zhuo’s The Making of A Manager, I didn’t expect much.

Turns out I was wrong.

Zhuo’s book is a bible for entrepreneurs who want to help their team achieve better outcomes. I wish I’d read this book before founding my first company. Reading it would have helped me avoid many pitfalls.

What follows are the top four lessons from the book with actionable questions on how to use them.

Use these 3 pillars for stellar 1-on-1 meetings

These meetings are an essential lever to building healthy relationships with your team. Zhuo recommends doing a weekly 1-on-1 with every person that reports directly to you.

These 30-minutes should feel a bit awkward — because that’s how you realize you’re in the meaningful zone. Strong relationships don’t arise from superficial small talk. Instead, talk about mistakes, confront tensions, and share your fears and hope.

But meaningful conversations don’t arise naturally. You need to prepare, or as Zhuo writes:

“It’s rare that an amazing conversation springs forth when nobody has a plan for what to talk about. I tell my reports that I want our time together to be valuable, so we should focus on what’s most important for them.”

When you prepare, think about your report’s top priorities. How can you help? Moreover, list the feedback that will help your co-worker succeed. Lastly, sharpen your understanding of what ‘great’ looks like.

The main goal of these 1-on-1 meetings is to help your report. What would help them be more successful in what they’re doing? Don’t look for status updates but focus on topics that are hard to discuss in a larger group. Once you’re in the 1-on-1, three pillars will make them valuable.

Identify:

  • What’s top of mind for you right now?
  • What priorities do you think about this week?
  • What’s the best use of our time today?

Understand:

  • What does your ideal outcome look like?
  • What’s hard for you in getting to that outcome?
  • What do you really care about?
  • What do you think is the best course of action?
  • What’s the worst-case scenario you’re worried about?”

Support:

  • How can I help you?
  • What can I do to make you more successful?
  • What was the most useful part of our conversation today?”

Appreciation can work as fuel. Make sure also to reinforce good behavior. Kind words about your co-worker’s unique strengths will help both of you achieve your goals. You know you’ve held a great 1-on-1 if your team member found it highly useful.

Transform average meetings into great ones

Even as an entrepreneur, most meetings suck. They’re part of any work culture, no matter how small or large your company might be. Yet, most meetings are highly unproductive.

“Meetings are a blight of big companies and almost always get worse over time. [..] walk out of a meeting or drop off a call as soon as it’s obvious you aren’t adding value. It is not rude to leave; it is rude to make someone stay and waste their time”

— Elon Musk in an email to his staff

While most of us can’t simply walk out of meetings, we can be more respectful of each other’s time. Zhuo’s tips transform average meetings into great ones.

Great meetings should be simple and straightforward. They have a clear purpose and lead to clear outcomes. But having a meeting agenda is not enough. Besides, you need a picture of the desired outcome.

If you schedule a meeting to make a joint decision, make sure every attendee can give their opinion (either through speaking, commenting, or voting). Focus on making the time valuable for everyone involved but don’t get lost in details.

In my team’s last meeting, I put “decide on communication tool for teamwork” on the list. I estimated 10 minutes for this discussion. Yet, two co-workers held strong opinions about the different tools, and it became clear that we wouldn’t reach an agreement. At the same time, the other four team members involved were indifferent.

Instead of letting this discussion take up the entire meeting time, I asked the two for a brief get-together after the meeting. By removing anything from the agenda that didn’t concern all of the attendees, your co-workers will know you respect their time.

Another way to make your meetings more valuable is by being vulnerable. A way to foster opposing opinions is by acknowledging that you don’t know everything, Zhuo writes.

Acknowledging your shortcomings with your team will foster a growth mindset. Dare to say when you don’t know an answer and ask for your team’s ideas. Apologize when you made a mistake. Share your learning goals with your team.

Lastly, think about which meetings can be replaced by a call, an email, or a shared document? When Zhuo realized her weekly stand-ups were repetitive, she replaced the meeting with a weekly e-mail.

Use reflection to manage yourself better

The key to managing yourself is understanding your strengths and weaknesses. And a great way to do this is by reflecting — the active decision to think about your past. Or, as researchers put it:

“Reflection is the intentional attempt to synthesize, abstract, and articulate the key lessons taught by experience.”

We don’t have to be visibly active to learn. Progress starts with self-awareness. If we aren’t aware of a problem, we can’t improve.

I do a yearly reflection every December and another every month, but Zhuo’s input inspired me to do it more regularly. Here’s a checklist of questions you can ask (and my answer to them):

  • How would the people who know and like you describe you in three words?
    inspiring, thoughtful, empathetic
  • Which three qualities are you really proud of?
    open-minded, generous, mindful
  • When you remember your last success, what were the traits that enabled you to succeed?
    getting-things-done mentality, reflection, vision
  • Which positive feedback have you received most commonly from your co-workers or chef?
    growth mindset, motivating, efficient
  • Whenever your worst inner critic sits on your shoulder, what does she yell at you for?
    wanting to make it right for everybody, holding back my opinion, not trying hard enough
  • If you could ask a fairy for three gifts you don’t have yet — what would you ask for?
    persuasiveness, patience, courage
  • What are the things that trigger you?
    people with overconfidence and inflated egos, not being accountable, the ideas other people don’t appreciate my work
  • What are the three most common pieces of advice from your team or boss on who you can improve?
    dare to disagree with popular opinions, share achievements with others, be less direct

If you’re unsure about your strengths and weaknesses, ask the people around you for feedback. Once you have your answers, you can work best with the resources you have.

In the words of American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer John Dewey:

“We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.”

Moving Forward

As with all business advice, pick the lessons that best help you in your situation. Focus on the principles that make a difference in your company.

  • Use the three pillars of identifying, understanding, and supporting to make every 1-on-1 meaningful.
  • Transform average meetings into great ones by removing the ones you don’t need and welcoming contradicting opinions.
  • Get better at managing yourself by using reflection as a learning tool.

Without application and action, the best advice is worthless. If you, however, apply one principle at a time, you’ll realize how these small decisions accumulate and lead to changes in your company.

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7 Questions to Ask Yourself If You Seek More Meaning in Your Life

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Start by defining what a great day means to you.

Photo by Kun Fotografi from Pexels

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

― Howard Thurman

Do you ever lie in bed thinking you ticked off so many to-dos but still didn’t have a great day?

If you don’t really feel alive, it’s likely because you focus on the wrong things. And the most dangerous thing is to measure your day based on the level of your productivity.

Doing a lot of exciting work is good. But being too busy to feel alive isn’t.

Stop numbing your mind with work. Here are seven better metrics to judge your life. Using some of them will transform your days from good to great.

1.) Did you do something meaningful?

For a long time, I believed the only purpose of life was happiness. What other reason is there to go through life’s ups and downs if not to be happy?

But chasing happiness is the fast-track to an unhappy life. Happiness isn’t something you can catch. That’s why neither things nor achievements can make you happy.

The first time I felt long-lasting happiness was after meditating for ten days, eleven hours a day.

Because happiness is the freedom from desire, you can let go of desire when you detach from what you think you need.

Apart from meditation, there’s another way to let go of desire and feel happiness: stop making life only about yourself. Ralph Waldo Emerson said:

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

You don’t need to work at an NGO to do useful, honorable work. You can find it in tiny actions such as:

  • Create a meaningful gift for a person you love.
  • Take your parents on a day trip.
  • When somebody says they’re having trouble with something, find a way to help.
  • Write an article about something you learned and share it with a group.
  • Go food shopping for a neighbor that’s in need.
  • Do something at work that’s outside of your responsibility.

Now you might argue that these things bring you away from what you want to achieve. That you will waste time and not be productive. But this over-optimization is what prevents you from feeling alive.

Life is no chase. There’s nothing to catch. If you want to feel alive and happy, do something meaningful and compassionate.

2.) Did you spend time in nature?

It’s easy to get lost in front of our screens. When we feel busy, we feel like making progress.

Yet, our laptops will never make us happy. You won’t find a single person on a deathbed mumbling, “I wish I spent more time on the internet.”

Don’t focus on the laptop life. Focus on the natural life. Hours spent outside, surrounded by water and forest, is the best thing you can do.

Japanese scientists have proven the health-promoting effects of the forest in several studies. Just looking at the forest lowers your blood pressure, slows your pulse, and decreases the concentration of the stress hormone cortisol.

Nature makes people healthy all by itself. The rustling of the leaves, the scents of the trees, birdsong, and the splashing of the streams heal people and strengthen their health.

“Natural stimuli are fascinating,” says Dr. Anja Göritz, professor of psychology in an interview with the German Times, “They captivate people and attract their attention. The mind is pleasantly occupied.”

To move your day from good to great, spend time outdoors. Go for a walk after lunch. Plan a weekend trip to the next national park. Make camping trips during summer. Start measuring your days by the time spent outside.

3.) Did you learn something you didn’t know before?

Knowledge is power. That’s why learning can improve any life. Yet, only very few people make learning an ongoing habit.

Reading is the easiest way to learn every day. Books expand your mind. They make you discover truths about the world and yourself. Page by page, they help you live a happier life.

Use your curiosity as a guide. How much do your days engage your curiosity? If the answer is “not much,” consider changing something.

This study followed aging individuals while tracking their curiosity levels. They found that people with high levels of curiosity were more likely to live five years longer.

Plus, curiosity drives discoveries. There’s strong evidence curiosity makes you better remember new knowledge. The more curious you are about a topic, the more it’ll stick with you.

So, read outside of your typical field. Say less and ask more and better questions. Spend time with children. Let curiosity guide you to learn something new.

4.) Did you feel your mind-body connection?

My boyfriend has worked out almost every morning for five years. Before COVID, he jumped out of bed at 5:50 AM and biked to the gym. Now he exercises at home. He doesn’t listen to music. He’s fully present in his body.

I always admired his willpower. But he says he doesn’t need willpower anymore. Once you feel your mind-body connection, you want to feel the connection between your brain and your body.

My boyfriend in October 2020. (Picture by Victoria)

And while I’m not yet where he is, doing yoga every morning helps me grasp what he’s talking about. When I connect with my body through movement, the day gets a new quality.

Throughout centuries, philosophers and scientists have hypothesized about the mind-body connection. There’s no consensus yet. We have been left with what many refer to as the mind-body problem: What is the relationship between mind and body?

And while neither philosophy nor modern science has given a clear answer, I just witnessed how it can transform my days from good to great.

5.) Did you sharpen your mind?

The body is one part of the equation. The mind is the other half. Yet, most people don’t prioritize mental health. They chase around, trying hard to take care of the world and, meanwhile, forget to take care of their mind.

“If you take care of your mind, you take care of the world.”

— Arianna Huffington

Meditation is the most effective way to take care of your mind. Mind training tackles different topics such as dealing with a monkey mind, letting go of fear and anxiety, and returning to the present moment after distraction.

Scientists attest to the manifold benefits of meditation. This meta-analysis with more than 1,200 adults found meditation can decrease anxiety. Another study discovered that individuals who completed a meditation exercise had fewer negative thoughts when seeing negative images than the control group.

Meditating is one of the most powerful habits you can build.

Your meditation muscle will grow day by day. By seeing your thoughts as thoughts and letting them go as they arise, you’ll let go of inner chatter. As Mark Twain said, “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”

6.) Did you have time to think for yourself?

Whenever I have a spare moment, I try to fill it. I listen to podcasts, read books, have a conversation with my beautiful boyfriend, answer messages, or hop to the next task in my bullet journal.

And while these activities can be enjoyable and add energy to my life, they have a marginal return on thinking utility. After a certain point, every additional minute of doing decreases the ability to think for yourself.

When we’re so busy doing, we don’t spend single second thinking. Entire days go by without a single deep thought. At the end of your life, you realize you’ve lived the life of others.

An easy fix is to eliminate distractions that take away your time. Get an alarm clock and ban your phone from your bedroom. Leave your phone turned off until lunch. Disable all notifications and use your time to think and connect the dots.

7.) Did you spend undivided attention with fellow humans?

Two friends met at a party. It clicked; over a few months, they enjoyed their time together — until she fell back into her old beliefs. She prioritized her physics research and became a sloppy communicator. At one point, he ended it.

Many people struggle to put their relationships first. Ryan Holiday found great words for this:

“Many relationships and moments of inner peace were sacrificed on the altar of achievement.”

During quarantine, many people have first felt the true benefit of relationships. Human connections give us energy, a sense of belonging, joy, and a feeling of oneness.

Researchers confirm what we instinctively feel. Robert Waldinger, psychiatrist and former professor at Harvard Medical School, shared in a TED Talk how relationships are the most important ingredient for a healthy, happy life.

This is probably the most important point of the entire article. Because if you don’t get your relationships right, having great days is almost unattainable.

Every hour working is an hour without friends and family. Eric Barker cites a study where one of the top five regrets of people on their deathbed is “I wish I didn’t work so hard.”

Care for your friends. Trait working time for people time. A great day for me always includes deep human connection.

All You Need to Know

Now, most people on this planet don’t have the luxury of transforming their days from good to great. But as you’re reading this, you belong to the privileged people who do have a choice.

Start by defining what a great day means to you. Consider using some of the above metrics as inspiration:

  1. Did you do something meaningful?
  2. Did you spend time in nature?
  3. Did you learn something you didn’t know before?
  4. Did you feel your mind-body connection?
  5. Did you sharpen your mind?
  6. Did you spend undivided attention with fellow humans?
  7. Did you have time to think for yourself?

Don’t make these things other achievement items on your to-do list. Pick what you like and screw the rest.

Making time for some of these things is one of the greatest gifts you can give to your future self. Repeat it often enough, and you’ll find yourself lying in bed being grateful for all the great days in your life.

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19 Things You Should Say ‘No’ to for a Happier 2021

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How to become the person you want to be in life and business.

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

Most people think happiness is a skill, something you can build and train with the right habits.

And while this is partly right, there’s a deeper truth about living a life full of meaning that a lot of people miss: Improving your happiness and well-being is often about what you do less of, not more of.

Often I don’t feel happy for the things I do, but for what I don’t do. Last year, I said ‘no’ more often. I focused my time and energy on things and relationships that mattered most. I became self-employed, spent weeks with my parents, and proposed to my boyfriend. 2020 has been one of the happiest years of my life.

What follows are 19 things that I said no to. Not everything will apply to you. But eliminating some of these can improve your happiness and well-being in 2021.

1. Say No to Distractive Environments

1.1 Your phone in your bedroom.

Get an alarm clock and stop waking up to your smartphone’s alarm. When you sleep with your phone in another room, you don’t need to exert your willpower first thing in the morning. You’ll start your days with a clear mind.

“Because it’s my life and it’s ticking away every second. I want to be there for it, not staring at a screen.”

— Ryan Holiday

1.2 Social media on your phone.

Social media’s persuasive design distracts you and takes away your time without active consent. I bet there’s no single person on this planet who will be lying on death bed wishing they spent more time with their phones.

Researchers continue to link social media usage to mental and physical illnesses like back pain, depression, anxiety, and even suicide-related thoughts. If you’re trying to live a happier, healthier life, deleting your social media apps is a great start.

1.3 Phone notifications.

Turn off all alerts. Your lock screen should almost always be blank. If you turn off notifications by default, you won’t see any red circles that nudge you into more screen time. That way, you stop conditioning your mind for distraction.

“What we choose to focus on and what we choose to ignore, play in defining the quality of our life.”

— Cal Newport

1.4 Distractions on your computer during deep work sessions.

LinkedIn? Block. Slack? Block. Online Games? Block. Unblock these sites once you finished your deep work block. You’ll be surprised how much more you can achieve in less time. The equation for knowledge work is as follows:

High-Quality Work Produced = (Time Spent) x (Intensity of Focus)

1.5 Consuming the news.

A 2017 report by the American Psychological Association showed 95% of American adults follow the news regularly, even though more than 50% of them say it causes them stress. Delete your news apps. Stop reading the news. If you still want to know what’s going on in the world, start reading books.

“Are you distracted by breaking news? Then take some leisure time to learn something good, and stop bouncing around.”

— Marcus Aurelius

2. Say No to Destructive Habits

2.1 Finishing mediocre books.

Not all books are created equal, and most books aren’t worth your time. You don’t have to finish every book you start. Instead, read the books that make you want to read more.

“Life is too short to read a bad book.”

— James Joyce

2.2 Consistently working more than 40 hours a week.

It’s nice if you love your work and don’t mind working a lot. But numbing your mind with work is your fast-track to an unhappy life. Life is best enjoyed in balance.

We all have 24 hours a day. People who spend most of their awake time working don’t have much energy left for their health, relationships, and play.

”The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”

— Henry David Thoreau

2.3 Sugar.

Sugar is the biggest culprit for chronic inflammation today. Going sugar-free first feels like recovering from drug addiction (because sugar is a drug). Say no to sugar for a week, and you’ll feel the positive effects on your mood.

2.4 Doing what everybody else is doing.

Don’t read what everybody else is reading. Don’t believe what all of your friends are saying. Foster a healthy criticism and think for yourself. Sapere Aude! — Have the courage to use your own reason.

2.5 Quitting too early.

Everything sucks at first, but only a few things suck forever. The Dip teaches us that there is a time of struggle between start and success when we should either aim for excellence or strategically stop.

Never quit something with great long-term potential just because you can’t deal with it right now. Follow through with your side hustle. Publish 100 articles before you quit and reap your thoughts compound interest.

3. Eliminate Toxic Relationships

3.1 People (mostly men; sorry bro) with big egos.

I was one of the women who learned to sit patiently and smile. But once I learned about patriarchal culture’s influence on women’s behavior, I quit mansplaining situations.

Financial analyst Laura Rittenhouse evaluated leaders and how their companies performed. Eric Barker, citing her findings:

“Want to know which CEOS will run their company into the ground? Count how many times they use the word “I” in their annual letter to shareholders. […] Me, me, me means death, death, death for corporations.”

3.2 Bad listeners.

You are the master of your life. Choose whom to surround yourself with. When someone doesn’t listen to you, you don’t need to continue listening to them. Relationships are mutual.

“Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she had laid an asteroid.”

— Mark Twain

3.3 Other people’s agenda.

The world isn’t as simple as just givers and takers. But if you give to everyone who asks, you won’t have much left for your own pursuits. Follow Melinda Gate’s mum, who always said to Melinda as she was growing up:

“If you don’t set your own agenda, somebody else will.”

If you don’t fill your calendar with important things, other people will do it. Say no to things that don’t align with your goals.

3.4 Naysayers and maybes.

All decisions in life should be a clear yes or no. Stop saying, maybe. If you feel hesitation towards meeting a group of people, say no.

Follow Mark Manson and Derek Sivers with their crystal clear, yes, and no’s, and watch your satisfaction levels rise.

4 Quit Harmful Mindsets

4.1 Using negative self-talk to motivate yourself.

If I had to pick one single thing you should let go of, it’d be this one. Once I stopped judging myself (thanks, Brené), quitting destructive behavior became easy.

You don’t need to be hard on yourself to achieve what you want in life. Psychologist Nick Wignall writes, “People are successful despite their negative self-talk, not because of it.”

4.2 Complaining when you can change things.

Complainers curse cold weather while they can wear warmer clothes. They complain about bad teachers while they can change their learning path. They grumble about their negative friends while they can change their relationships.

Complaining is choosing victimhood while we still have a choice. Or, as Holocaust survivor and brilliant writer Dr. Edith Eger put it:

“No one can make you a victim, but you.”

4.3 Downplaying your strengths.

Don’t excuse yourself for your personal strengths. You’re capable of almost anything. Carol Dweck says: “If you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

Don’t apologize for things you can’t do. Replace “Sorry, I can’t” with “How can I?”

“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses”

— George Washington Carver

4.4 Focusing on results.

Lasting progress isn’t about being consistently great; it’s about being great at being consistent.

Focusing on the results will make you impatient. Ultimately, you’ll give up. Don’t focus on the outcome. Focus on the process.

4.5 Wasting your time on perfection.

Perfection is destructive. It has nothing to do with self-improvement. Perfection is, at its core, is about trying to earn approval.

Let it go. Make your deadlines tighter, and don’t work on your stuff after your time runs out. Aim for consistency instead of perfection.

“Perfection is the enemy of progress.” — Winston Churchill

Remember improving your happiness and well-being is often about what you don’t do. Saying no feels hard at first. But it will get easier every time you do it.

Ultimately you realize saying no is a skill you can learn. Once you dare to say ‘no,’ all that follows becomes easier and easier.

So, what are you waiting for? You can do it.

“You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage — pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically, to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. The enemy of the “best” is often the “good.”

― Stephen Covey

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Avoiding These 6 Things Will Help You Tell Stories People Want to Hear

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How to create a cinema for the mind.

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

Humans connect with emotions, not facts. So the best way to put your ideas in the world is by telling stories.

Yet, many people don’t know how to captivate an audience. They recite a list of events, get lost in abstractions, or take away the surprise before even starting.

As a result, the audience feels bored and doesn’t listen. Instead of wondering where a story will take them, all they care about is when it will finally end.

My dad is the best storyteller I know, but I didn’t inherit his skills. My stories sucked. And while I was convinced you can learn most things in life, I thought storytelling had more to do with innate talent than learnable traits.

Turns out I was wrong.

Storytelling is a skill you can learn. After completing a TED masterclass, studying Matthew Dicks, and practicing in public, I discovered a pattern most bad storytellers have in common.

1) They recite events in chronological order

When asked about their vacation, we all know people who give a list of locations and activities. “Well, our first stop was in a beautiful hotel in Paris, where we went to Louvre and blah, blah, blah.”

Listeners don’t want to hear meaningless lists. I’m sorry for all of my friends who had to listen to my backpack stops through South America and whether I liked the hostels.

The problem is: People can’t connect with things. Instead, they connect with emotions and moments of insight and transformation.

What to do:

Think about a blockbuster moment: A transformational insight that forever changed the way you think about a specific topic.

One single incident in a seemingly meaningless setting can mean so much more than the best holiday scenery. People connect with stories they can associate with, not with the stuff that has never happened to them.

Don’t talk about a Machupicchu marathon, but share the moment where you found trust in humanity because a stranger returned a lost wallet. Don’t share details about hotel facilities but about the moment you felt homesick because you realized relationships matter most.

To find these meaningful moments, ask yourself: When did you feel angry, loved, surprised, moved, or in awe? Then, recreate the build-up towards the emotion.

Great storytellers guide through the transformation from one feeling to another. The best stories reflect change over time.

2) They tell stories about their heroic self

Would you rather hear about how a failed exam and bad breakup led to chronic depression and my six-month escape to India or about the time I sent only one application and landed my dream job?

Me too. Perfectionism is boring. Nobody wants to hear about the time something ran down smoothly. Especially not if the story has a bragging undertone.

Ego-centeredness leads to bad stories. We don’t want to hear a flawless hero’s journey. We want to see other people struggle as we do. World-class storyteller Matthew Dicks wrote:

“Failure is more engaging than success.”

What to do:

Dare to be vulnerable because this is what moves listeners emotionally. We love to listen to people who truthfully share their struggles. Honesty is freaking attractive.

Share the times you’ve failed and your lessons learned. The times you desperately wanted to achieve something, but you didn’t.

Being honest with each other allows us to strengthen our social bonds and form deep, meaningful connections.

3) Bad storytellers don’t know when to be quiet

Dr. Brené Brown once wrote we should be as passionate about listening as we are about wanting to be heard.

Many of us feel the urge to say something, to at least share their opinion, but hardly anyone is ready to listen.

Bad storytellers don’t pay attention to the space they occupy. They don’t realize when they’ve said too much. They don’t sense when it’s time to be quiet.

Whenever I listen to a person who loves his own voice just a little bit too much, I think of this quote by Mark Twain:

“Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg crackles as if she has laid an astroid.”

What to do:

Ask questions but don’t listen to reply. Instead, listen to understand. You connect with others when they feel heard and valued.

Don’t bother about what other people think about you. Instead, use your energy to be the best listener in the room.

Whenever you’re in doubt whether you’re saying too much and listening too little, pause and be quiet.

4) They forget to create a cinema for the mind

An audience wants to connect visually, but bad storytellers don’t give any visual information. They get lost in abstractions and don’t act as a person who is physically moving through space.

The bigger the abstraction, the harder it is for an audience to connect. While sentences like ‘certainty is the enemy of growth’ and ‘how you do anything is how you do everything’ work on paper, they don’t work in stories.

People can’t identify with concepts. They’re not relatable, and in stories, they lead to boredom. Just like Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

What to do:

Matthew Dicks sums it up:

“The simplest stories about the smallest moments in our life are often the most compelling.”

Rather than focusing on the big concept and blurring the overall takeaway, aim for details and specificity.

And don’t get lost in the land of nothingness. Great stories are a cinema for the mind. They contain details that make a scene highly sensory—information about the setting, physical location, feelings, events.

A physical location in every scene helps your audience create a vivid picture in their mind.

5) They kill any surprises

Let me tell you about the time I felt outraged and almost left my startup. Wow. I killed any surprise. So do starter phrases like:

  • “You won’t believe it.”
  • “You can’t imagine what happened to me.”
  • “Yesterday, I met the most interesting person ever.”

Stories live by unexpected twists. That’s what makes them interesting in the first place. But if you predict the outcome and raise the expectation bar, your story can only disappoint.

What to do:

Don’t start with a summary. There’s no need to give a disclaimer or summary. Start with the story.

The best place to start your story is by starting at the end’s opposite. Want to tell a story about regaining trust in humanity? Start with a scene when you had the least trust. Thereby, you reinforce the change that happened in you.

And if you need a thesis statement, put it at the end. Because surprise is what creates emotions. Again, Matthew Dicks, who makes his audience laugh hard before he makes them cry:

“You need to build surprise into your stories. There must be moments of unexpectedness so that your audience can experience an emotional response to your story.”

6) They repeat what has been said before

Bad storytellers are often unoriginal. Margarete Stokowski gives a perfect example: It’s like shouting through a megaphone: “We all have to think for ourselves!” And a crowd of a thousand people repeats: “We all have to think for ourselves!”

It’s the tenth article about Elon Musk’s first-order thinking. It’s people who quote Kant’s “Have the courage to use your own reason,” and then happily continue giving more and more quotes.

Bad storytellers repeat what has been said a thousand times. They cling to stories and beliefs that aren’t contradictory or bear any controversy.

What to do:

Take a stance and a statement. Support a thesis. It’s easier to not have an opinion than it is to have one. Don’t be the one who doesn’t have one. Be the one who does.

Use other people’s ideas as a stepping stone. Copy thoughts, but then add a twist and make them about your view of the world. Use your experiences to create a unique story out of them.

If a friend went through a story you would love to share, tell your story’s angle. Don’t ever copy something just because you feel people will like it.

“Be quoatable. Your job is not to recycle but to create something new.”

— Matthew Dicks

All You Need to Know

Great storytellers aren’t born that way. They become great by following these rules:

  1. Don’t give time-stamp listicles of events and facts. Instead, build your story around one emotionally transforming moment.
  2. Don’t make any story about your best self. Show vulnerability and imperfection. Talk about the lessons you learned along the way.
  3. Don’t take too much space. Allow others to take the stage and listen carefully.
  4. Don’t get lost in abstractions. Be as specific as you can, include physical locations, and create a cinematic mind experience.
  5. Don’t take away the surprise. If you need a thesis statement, use it in the end, not in the beginning.
  6. Don’t repeat what has been said before. Dare to be original.

In the end, people don’t make decisions based on numbers or facts — it’s stories that make all the difference. No matter where you are in life, storytelling can help you achieve your goals.

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Philosophical Books that Can Still Improve Your Life Today

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Stop buying from bestseller lists.

Photo by BERK OZDEMIR from Pexels

If you look at humanity’s timeline —what are the chances that the truly great books have been written in the past 20 years? Approximately zero, right.

Still, many people buy the latest books instead of the greatest. Here’s what that leads to:

“A public that will leave unread writings of the noblest and rarest of minds (…), merely because these writings have been printed today and are still wet from the press.” — Schopenhauer

Common problems have been the same throughout all centuries: happiness, morality, power, justice, and love. That’s why the wisdom from great philosophers is still so applicable.

Here are eight books from great minds that you don’t find on current best-seller lists.

1. Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

Even though the title sounds complex, reading the Tao Te Ching is easy. The book helps us understand Taoism, which literally means ‘the way.’

Like Stoicism, Taoism also focuses on simplicity. But it also contains human values like patience and compassion. Stoicism is Jordan Peterson, Taoism is Brené Brown. I much more prefer the latter.

When you read through the 160-page short book written in 4th century BC, you feel trust and self-compassion rushing through you. Here’s one of my favorite quotes:

“Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.”― Lao Tzu

2. Zhuangzi by Zhuangzi

If Tao Te Ching explains Taoism’s theoretical concepts, this book is its workbook. It shows us how to put Toaism into practice.

Zhuangzi gives us applicable guidance, like “A path is made by walking on it” or, “Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness.” In sum, the book is a how-to guide for living a simple and natural but full and flourishing life.

It’s an ancient and even wiser version of Naval Ravikant and a great read for anyone who wants to bring more happiness and wisdom to their life.

3. Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle

The main goal of Nicomachean Ethics is learning to achieve eudaimonia, a Greek term with deep meaning. Philosophers say there’s no accurate translation for eudaimonia. But if we had to find a word, it’s happiness.

To achieve this kind of happiness, a person must first reach a state of inner balance. And to achieve personal harmony, there are two things you should do:

  1. Investing in your education, reasoning, and thinking.
  2. Cultivating important character virtues.

In the book, Aristotle explains how to build a virtuous character. First, by learning the difference between virtuous and not virtuous actions. Second, by creating habits that allow you to form a good character.

That’s how Aristotle goes one step further than James Clear. Before he tells you how to form habits, Aristotle gives you a decision guide for future actions.

4. Five Dialogues of Plato

When I started studying philosophy last fall, reading Plato was one of the first reading assignments. Different characters debate topics like justice, death, and virtue. They mostly try to find a conclusion (even though they can’t always find one).

What I love about Plato is his philosophy in dialogue form. The dialogue makes reading interesting.

The asking protagonists are the reader’s voice. They ask questions you will have. And this book contains 5 of the most important Platonic dialogues.

“Are you not ashamed of your eagerness to possess as much wealth, reputation, and honors as possible, while you do not care for nor give thought to wisdom or truth, or the best possible state of your soul?” — Plato

5. What is Enlightenment? by Immanuel Kant

Now, this isn’t really a book but an essay. But Kant is hard to read. And better to read a hard-digestible essay than not to read Kant’s work. It still contains the quintessence of his writings.

Kant popularized the idea that we should trust no authority except our own reason. He would sigh when looking at all the coaches, self-help books, and online courses that suggest how to live your life.

He’d say: Use your own reasoning and, by all means, dare to be wise.

So, this essay is excellent for anyone struggling with trusting their own beliefs. For writers who feel scared to form opinions. And for insecure overachievers.

Kant’s words are a great reminder of whom to trust making any decision in life — you.

6. Penseés by Blaise Pascal

The Penseés is a collection of philosophical fragments, notes, and essays. Pascal explores the contradictions of human nature from a psychological, social, theological, and metaphysical perspective.

While this collection is slightly pessimistic and tries to convince atheists of God’s existence, it’s still worth the read. You will realize the fundamental human problems were the same in 1670 as in 2021.

“Man’s condition: Inconstancy, boredom, anxiety. But take away their distractions and you will see them wither from boredom.” — Blaise Pascal

7. The Complete Essays by Michel de Montaigne

Just like Bill Gates, Michel was one of the wealthiest men of his time. And just like Bill, Michel appreciated ‘thinking time.’

Yet, Michel’s thinking time far exceeded Bill’s think week. He isolated himself for 9 entire years to find what it means to be human.

Frankly, his essay’s topics seem random. They cover wide arrays and range from friendships to the imagination, to laughing, and more.

Reading his essays is not too difficult. But the sum (1344 pages) is daunting. If you decide to get this book, here is a selection of his most-discussed essays. Yet, when you choose, remember to use your own reason (see 5).

  • On Friendship
  • To philosophize is to learn how to die
  • Apology for Raymond Sebond
  • On Experience
  • On Solitude

8. The Letters of Abelard and Heloise by Betty Radice

What I dislike about most booklists is they don’t include female authors. Yet, I didn’t know that finding ancient female writing is a true research project.

Héloïse was a philosopher of love and friendship. Plus, she was important for the establishment of women in science. Her controversial thoughts about genre and marriage influenced the development of modern feminism.

Héloïse, a 12th-century woman raised in a convent, expressed her sexuality with such openness our generations can learn from.

“No one’s real worth is measured by his property or power: Fortune belongs to one category of things and virtue to another.” — Héloïse

In Summary

Learning from the greatest thinkers who have ever existed doesn’t need to feel like a burden. On the contrary — it can be fun and worthwhile.

Your life, your reading list. Use your own mind and pick the ones that resonate with you. Then, screw the rest. When in doubt, remember Schopenhauer’s suggestion:

“Only read for a limited and definite time exclusively the works of great minds, those who surpass other men of all times and countries, and whom the voice of fame points to as such. These alone really educate and instruct.”

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The Apeiron Blog — Big Questions, Made Simple.

We know that Philosophy can seem complicated at times. To make things simple, we compile together the best articles, news, reading lists — and other free resources to guide you on your journey. To continue with us, follow us on Medium and sign up to our free mailing list.

Arthur Schopenhauer’s 3 Ideas Will Improve the Way You Read

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Timeless advice on how to make the most of your books.

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels

Books carry the wisdom of the smartest people who ever existed. Through reading, you find yourself on the surefire way to become happy, healthy, and wise.

Yet, books per se don’t make you a better person.

You can read every day without changing at all. It’s what and how you read that will improve your life’s quality and enhance your mind.

I’ve read a book a week for more than three years and always look for ways to improve my reading practice. Recently, I stumbled upon Arthur Schopenhauer’s essay on reading and books.

Schopenhauer was a philosopher whose writing on morality and psychology has influenced Einstein, Nietzsche, and Freud, among others. Here are his powerful reading insights and how to apply them:

1) Stop Reading Passively

In 1851, Schopenhauer got something right most people still ignore. Books are the arena of someone else’s thoughts, not our own. He writes:

“When we read, another person thinks for us: we merely repeat his mental process.”

Human brains don’t work like recording devices. You don’t absorb information and knowledge by reading. Relying on highlighting, rereading, or, worst of all, passive reading is highly ineffective.

For my first 80 books or so, I was a passive reader. Whenever a conversation revolved around something I read, I could never remember much. I thought forgetting is a personal character flaw.

But it isn’t. Instead, it’s the way we read that’s flawed.

To get the most from books, we need to think for ourselves while reading. Active reading is the way we acquire and retain knowledge.

How to apply it:

Before opening your next book, take a pen to your hand. Scribble your thoughts on the margins and connect what you learn with what you already know.

While reading, think about questions like:

  • How can you link the words to your own experiences?
  • How can you use the author’s thesis to explain something else?
  • Do you have any memory that proves or contradicts what you read?

You store new information in terms of its meaning to our existing memory. To remember new information, you not only need to know it but also to know how it relates to what you already know.

And by scribbling down your own thoughts, you’re doing what cognitive scientists call elaborative rehearsal. You associate new information with what you already know.

Soon you’ll realize that taking notes not only helps you to concentrate but also to remember what you read. That’s how you transform yourself into an active reader.

2) Not Every Book is Worth Your Time

Books aren’t created equal. When looking at current best-seller lists, what Schopenhauer wrote some hundred years ago feels right on point:

“Nine-tenths of the whole of our present literature aims solely at taking a few shillings out of the public’s pocket, and to accomplish this, author, publisher, and reviewer have joined forces.”

A book’s sales numbers don’t say much about its quality. Best-selling authors are primarily great marketers.

When you look at human history, the fundamental human problems are the same in all ages: Justice, happiness, power, love, and change.

And through books, you can connect with people who mastered these areas centuries before. So why bother with the short-cycle of current books?

Again, Schopenhauer:

“A public that will leave unread writings of the noblest and rarest of minds, of all times and all countries, for the sake of reading the writings of commonplace persons which appear daily, and breed every year in countless numbers like flies; merely because these writings have been printed today and are still wet from the press.”

How to apply it:

Knowing what you want to read is essential, but so is its inversion — knowing what you don’t want to read.

Statistically, the chances are small that the best books are written in the current decade. So, look beyond best-seller lists to choose the books you read.

If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking. Instead, follow A.B. Schlegel’s advice, who had also been a guiding star for Schopenhauer:

“Read the old ones, the real old ones. What the new ones say about them doesn’t mean much.”

I love to find ‘the real old ones’ through Mortimer J. Adler’s book recommendations, starting page 175.

3) Develop Your System of Thought

Schopenhauer’s last advice concerns the way we systemize reading:

“Every one has aims, but very few have anything approaching a system of thought. This is why such people do not take an objective interest in anything, and why they learn nothing from what they read: they remember nothing about it.”

Knowledge isn’t power unless it’s applied. And to apply what we read, we must first remember what we learned.

Schopenhauer got right what Harvard scientists confirmed some hundred years later:

“It is only by reflection that one can assimilate what one has read if one reads straight ahead without pondering over it later, what has been read does not take root, but is for the most part lost.”

When we don’t pause to think and to contemplate, we keep circling in a limited sphere at a higher velocity. We can read a book a week to 10x our productivity and still lose the most important life lessons.

Like Mortimer J. Adler said: “In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.”

How to apply it:

Don’t focus on the number of books you read, but on your reading depth.

Use your margin notes to create a summary. Keep it brief and use your own words. Depending on your preference, here’s what you can do with it:

  • Keep your summaries analog in your journal.
  • Post them publically on GoodReads, Bookshlf, or your blog.
  • Create your personal knowledge database in Notion or Roam.

Summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing a book might feel like slowing you down. But the opposite is true. Learning works best when it feels slow and difficult.

The One Thing Schopenhauer Was Wrong About

While most of his advice is timeless, he holds one flawed assumption. In his words:

“One can overload and choke the mind by giving it too much nourishment.”

You can never over nourish your brain. The opposite is true. The more you learn, the easier it’ll be to remember. As cognitive scientists write in this paper:

“Our capacity for storing to-be-learned information or procedures is essentially unlimited. In fact, storing information in human memory appears to create capacity — that is, opportunities for additional linkages and storage — rather than use it up.”

Retrieval, the process of accessing your memory, is cue dependent. This means the more mental links you’re generating during stage one, the acquisition phase, the easier you can access and use your knowledge.

The more connected information we already have, the easier we learn.

Conclusion

Acting on Schopenhauer’s insights isn’t complex, long, or exhausting.

On the contrary: These principles make reading fun and worthwhile and help you get the most from books.

  • Become an active reader by taking notes while you read.
  • Know what not to read. Don’t waste your time on mediocre books.
  • Systemize your thinking by creating a personal knowledge base.

Instead of feeling discouraged by all the ideas about what you could do to improve your reading, enjoy experimenting at your own pace. Keep the ideas that work for you and screw the rest.

Choose one or two new principles until you find a pattern that helps you on your journey to health, wealth, and wisdom.

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These Money Lessons by Morgan Housel Are Helping to Make Me a Better Investor

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Five mindset shifts to help you reach financial freedom

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

Did you know that $81.5 billion of Warren Buffet’s $84.5 billion net worth came after his 65th birthday?

I didn’t until I started reading Morgan Housel’s finance blog.

Morgan earned credibility through his former finance column at The Wall Street Journal. But what’s even better is that Morgan practices what he preaches. He’s transparent about every step he takes and passes along precious advice.

In his new book, he shares timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness. Here are the ones that stuck with me. If applied, they can turn you into a better investor.

1.) Your Behavior Matters More than Your Financial Hard Skills

Until halfway through my economics studies, I avoided personal finance. Yes, I aced through my math-heavy exams. But knowing how to invest your own money?

I thought you’d have to be a genius.

Derivates, hedging, and exchange-traded funds sounded like Chinese. A beautiful language I’d never be able to learn.

As a life-long learner, I hear you sigh. Of course, with the right mindset and tools, you can learn anything in life.

When I picked up my first personal finance books, I started learning that making your money work for you is actually pretty simple. Morgan writes:

“Financial success is not a hard science. It’s a soft skill, where how you behave is more important than what you know.”

Once you understand the basics, like knowing your net worth, building an emergency fund, and the power of compound interest, behavior matters more than hard skills.

Psychological biases, like impulsive purchases, often have a far greater effect on financial success than understanding another portfolio theorem.

2.) Only You Can Determine When You Have Enough

I loved the following anecdote from the book as it shows the difference between being greedy and living in abundance.

At a billionaire’s party, Kurt Vonnegut teases his conversational partner Joseph Heller. He says the host earned more money on a single day than the author had made with his popular book Catch-22. Heller replies: “Yes, but I have something he will never have. Enough.”

How much money do you need to feel you’ve got enough? When can you truly feel satisfied and free from greed?

Abundance is a choice. You’re the one who determines whether you have enough. In Morgan’s words:

“The hardest financial skill is getting the goalpost to stop moving.”

If you keep chasing more and more, you’ll waste your life. You’ll always feel you’re missing out on something.

When I became self-employed last summer, I defined my monthly minimum ($2K) and dream ($10K) income for a 35-hour workweek. In my fifth month of self-employment, I hit my income goal.

And yet, I moved my goalpost without realizing it. I kept trying to earn even more, put in more hours, said yes to more projects. With every additional working hour, I dropped another healthy habit.

Work and money have a diminishing marginal utility. From a certain point, more isn’t better but worse.

Once I pass the 35-hour threshold, every additional working hour decreases my joie de vivre. I move less, laugh less, and feel less. In the long-run, no additional income is worth this price.

Enoughness is a choice. Only you can get your goalpost to stop moving.

3.) Freedom is the Ultimate Form of Wealth

Why do you want to make a ton of money?

Do you want a specific car or luxurious clothing? Or are you past material status symbols and chasing new experiences, like traveling the world? Maybe you already found contentment in the presence and want to earn more to pay for your kid’s education or your mum’s retirement.

When you keep exploring your reasoning and peel down the outer layers, many people discover a fundamental core underneath.

The key motivation to become wealthy is the ultimate freedom.

Freedom means doing what you want whenever you want. Freedom means surrounding yourself with the people you want for as long as you want. As Morgan put it:

“Controlling your time is the highest dividend money pays. Use money to gain control over your time, because not having control of your time is a powerful and universal drag on happiness.”

You no longer have to say “yes” when you feel like saying “no.” You can pick the projects you truly want without thinking about monetary rewards.

That’s also what Naval Ravikant means when he says that you should optimize for independence rather than pay whenever you can in life.

4.) Shut Up and Wait

$81.5 billion of Warren Buffet’s $84.5 billion net worth came after his 65th birthday. One of the richest people alive used the power of compounding interest to grow his money.

This piece of advice is so powerful yet often neglected. To become a better investor, you don’t need to consume financial news a few hours a day. Instead, it’s about remaining passive and wait it out.

If we look at long time horizons, we see nothing but economic growth. And that’s why the benefits of compounding are available for everyone who manages to stick to the same strategy.

Because all you need to do to benefit from compounding interest is keeping your money invested and wait it out. Good returns sustained over an uninterrupted period of time will ultimately win.

Billionaire Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet’s long-term business partner, sums it up nicely:

“Understanding both the power of compound interest and the difficulty of getting it is the heart and soul of understanding a lot of things.”

5.) Wealth is Income Not Spent

What would you do if you became a millionaire overnight? Most people answer this question by listing all the things they‘d buy. Soon they wouldn’t be millionaires any longer.

The math is simple. If you own a million but spend all of it on consumer goods, nothing will be left to pay the dividends.

Becoming wealthy isn’t solely about how much you make. It’s also about how much you save.

Earning $1200 or $8200 a month won’t increase your net worth if you’re spending all of it on food, clothes, beauty products, cars, furniture, hairdressers, insurances, phones, and travel.

By spending 100%, you will never accumulate wealth unless someone else is saving for you. If you own a million but spend all of it on consumer goods, you’ll soon be broke. Wealthy people remain wealthy because they don’t spend their money, they save it.

Wealth is invisible. It’s income you didn’t spend. As Morgan states:

“Wealth is an option not yet taken to buy something later.”

Bonus Tip: Don’t Trust Mutual Fund Portfolio Managers

Did you know that most wealth managers are salespeople? I didn’t.

That’s why I almost trusted a mutual fund manager when he told me about his investment opportunities. In my uninformed mind, 1% sounded pretty cheap. But it isn’t. Over time a 1% fee can reduce your returns by around 30%.

Morgan Housel likely agrees with Rami Sethi, who writes,

“If you are reading this and you’re paying over 1% in fees, I’m going to kill you. Get smart. You should be paying 0.1 to 0.3%.”

Fund managers and many other financial experts earn money per product they sell. And because they earn commissions, you’ll understand why they likely direct you to expensive mutual funds.

The financial times published an article revealing that half of all U.S. mutual fund portfolio managers do not invest a cent of their own money in their funds. So, better do the maths before investing in an overpriced product.

The Bottom Line

If you just remember one thing from the Psychology of Money, it should be the following: Inspirational lessons on investing and acting according to them aren’t the same thing.

Whenever you read through valuable investing advice, you have two options: Let it pass like a swift moment of inspiration, or ask yourself how to apply that insight in your decision making.

So, if you’re serious about becoming a better investor, pick your favorite lesson and change your behavior. Because ultimately, you are in charge of creating the life you want to live.

Do you want to join our tribe of life-long learners? Sign up here.

How to Learn Like Someone Who Aced the MIT Challenge

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The four principles of ultralearning.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

In 2014, Scott H. Young embarked on a controversial project.

He completed the MIT undergraduate computer science curriculum at 4x speed. Instead of the typical four years, he passed all final exams in less than 12 months.

Some people praise his results as the ultralearning experience.

Others are more skeptical as Scott transformed his MIT challenge into lucrative blogs and books. Here’s a question some people ask:

Is Scott a sneaky marketer or one of the most efficient life-long learners?

And while I’ll share my opinion at the end of this article, the answer doesn’t really matter. What matters is what we can learn from his learning journey.

These are Scott’s tips on how to become an ultralearner and quadruple your learning efficiency.

Use directness to improve learning effectiveness

Learning in formal settings is often ineffective because it’s distant from the actual application. Let’s take an example.

Imagine you’re a frequent flier. Before every start, you watch the video of a flight attendant putting on the life vest. You watch the video again and again.

But as this study shows, actually putting on the inflatable life vest a single time would be more valuable than repeatedly watching another person doing it. You acquire true mastery by performing the procedure yourself.

Social climber Dale Carnegie used to say knowledge isn’t power until it’s applied. And it’s true.

Don’t spend your time on tasks far away from your end goal. If you want to write online articles, don’t spend time watching a masterclass on how to write a book. Foster a bias towards direct action.

The directness principle is a powerful way to make learning more efficient.

How to do it:

What’s your end goal behind learning?

Let’s say you want to learn writing. What do you want to use it for? Is it for writing a novel? Then start learning to write by writing a novel. Is it for earning an extra income? Then start studying submission guidelines for paid online platforms and pitch your articles there.

Whatever you learn, focus on your true end-goal and pick a practice that’s as close to it as possible.

Feynman’s technique helps you remember anything

Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman (1918–1988) was an expert for remembering what he learned — by teaching.

Teaching is the most effective way to embed information in your mind. Plus, it’s an easy way to check whether you’ve remembered what you learned.

Because before you teach, you have to take several steps: filter relevant information, organize this information, and use your own vocabulary to paraphrase the concepts.

Feynman mastered this process like no other. The people of his time knew him for explaining the most complex processes in the simplest language. They nicknamed Feynman “The Great Explainer.”

Bill Gates was so inspired by his pedagogy that he even named Feynman “the greatest teacher I never had.”

How to do it:

The Feynman Technique consists of three simple steps:

  1. Summarize whatever you want to learn on a blank page.
  2. Explain what you learned in plain, simple language as if you were talking to a child.
  3. Identify your knowledge gaps and revisit the concepts whenever you’re stuck circle back to your knowledge source.
  4. Reread what you forgot to mention and add it to your explanation.

By following this technique, your learning by ‘first principles’ instead of superficial memorization.

“The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks.”

— Mortimer J. Adler

Create a meta-learning map

No life skill can earn you greater dividends than learning how to learn. Yet, most people don’t know how to master meta-learning.

Meanwhile, taking responsibility for your learning is one of the most important undertakings you can manage.

Your meta-learning map serves as a knowledge tree for your practice and will help you learn better. Scott Young, the author of ultralearning, says a meta-learning map should contain three key items:

  • Concepts: Anything that needs to be understood.
  • Facts: Anything that needs to be memorized.
  • Procedures: Anything that needs to be practiced.

How to do it:

Make a learning map before you dive into any specific skill.

If you want to write paid articles, don’t start by practicing headlines. Instead, list all the things you need to acquire, like style, editing, storytelling, research, headlines, and a solid idea-to-paper process.

Unsure how to start the map? Find people who mastered the skill you want to learn and ask them about their learning paths.

Do you want to publish a bestselling non-fiction novel? Craft personal, short e-mails and send them to Malcolm Gladwell, Brené Brown, Nicolas Cole, James Clear, and all the other successful authors. Ask them about the core skills they needed to master. Then, start drafting your own map.

Unlock the power of self-testing

Many people feel traumatized when they think of formal test settings. But testing can be a powerful tool to improve the way we learn.

Because self-testing helps us overcome the illusion of knowledge and shows us whether we truly mastered the subject at hand. Plus, self-testing helps to identify knowledge gaps and brings weak areas to the light.

Even if you don’t get the right answer, the process facilitates remembering the correct answer. In almost all cases, it’s better to solve a problem than memorizing a solution.

Use the testing process to learn more as you go along. Always test yourself before you feel confident and push yourself to recall information, not just review it.

How to do it:

My favorite testing techniques include flashcards with a built-in spaced repetition feature (like Anki for anything, readwise for books, podcasts, highlights, or lingvist for languages).

Apart from flashcards, you can also use free recall. After reading something, try to write down everything you can remember, then use the source material to fill the gaps you missed. After your session, sit down with a piece of blank paper. Challenge yourself to list everything you can remember from what you’ve learned in as much detail as possible.

A third alternative includes the question-book method. Here you write down questions that test the content and answer these questions whenever you revisit the source. Ali Abdaal explains the active recall method in one of his learning videos.

Did Scott Young really finish the MIT curriculum?

Yes and no.

Yes, because he achieved his goal of ‘just wanting to learn more about Computer Science.’

No, because he self-graded his exams, skipped advanced course modules, and replaced peer-projects with less intense modules.

There are plenty of discussions that shed more light on Young’s underlying assumptions. And meanwhile, he also shared a critical reflection on his learning path.

But there’s a more important lesson here: With the right tools, learning any new skill is possible.

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