Before this year ends, let me suggest a daydreaming exercise. Enjoy the longest nights of the year and prepare for the next year. Realign your goals and your values. Most importantly enjoy a peaceful night. You deserve it. More reading here, here, here, here, and here. The miracle of revival Somehow the week around the longest …
The Epicurean way
The opposite of the stoic way is the Epicurean way. It is an equally powerful and still relevant position. Rather than focusing on doing the right thing in face of adversity, it may be easier to avoid unpleasant situations. Sure, this requires more knowledge and creativity, but I think it is totally worth the effort. …
Drafting the story of your life
At 45 I finally started to write my autobiography. Is it reasonable? What questions I should ask myself? What can you learn from me? More reading here, here, here, here, and here. Dante When Dante Alighieri wrote his books, he was 35 years old. The first section, the Inferno begins with the words “Midway upon the …
Muda and elimination of wastefulness
Japanese culture is minimalistic and elegant. What can we learn from it, and how can we implement the best sides of this culture? How can we waste less and gain more from our learning activities? I will try to apply Toyota’s philosophy to accelerated learning. Muda (Japanese term) Muda is the Japanese word for waste …
MindfulMess and creativity
I have my fair share of typos. When you read fast and write fast, typos happen. Some typos are really stupid. Others make you think… This is so-called “out of the box creativity”. We stumble upon something cool by mistake but are mindful enough to use it. I wrote MindfulMess instead of mindfulness, and this …
More than 20 senses: the real extrasensory perception
Extrasensory perception is real. Sort of. We have more than 20 real senses and project imagination as yet more senses. Our senses and extra senses often cause more discomfort than pleasure. And yet we get deeper insights and creative breakthroughs. More than 20 senses When I was a child, the schools taught just 5 senses, …
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Can we really understand our future self?
One of the visualization exercises we promote is talking to your “future self”. We discuss the most pressing subjects with the person we hope to become one day. This is not the person we eventually become! Today’s reading selection is here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Best possible future self I quote the …
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What mummified monks can tell about our values
What do we want in life? Can a dead body be more successful than a living man? Are our values strange or maybe perverted? It is tempting to move very fast in the wrong direction. This is the epitome of success without happiness or livelihood. Who are the mummified monks? One of the strangest things …
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Ramanujan, math intuition and the voice of the goddess
Intuition takes many forms, but what is it exactly? Why do genius scientists talk about mysterious forces? Do we really need the supernatural or there are more plausible explanations? Can we train it? The story of the goddess Ramanujan was one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century. He wrote down several astonishing results …
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Superlearner story: Ron, the other side of success
The students that finished the speedreading training are coming back for the next tier of skills. What are they looking for and how can we help? The other side of success Today I had an interesting meeting with my friend. Actually, he was one of my first students. He still does not have enough hours …
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