Language: English

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies… The man who never reads lives only one.” — George R.R. Martin

While the statement may be exaggerated, there’s some truth in it.

It’s true, in my opinion, that if you read you expand your horizon, you find out about new things, you experience the world in ways others can only … dream. :)

Reading can do wonders for one’s education.

I don’t believe in a one-fits-all scenario. Other ways of art consumption can bring good results.

Also, there’s a difference between consumption and creation.

There’s one thing to read 100 books in a year and another thing to write 300 blog posts a year.

There’s one thing to read a blog and another one to keep a journal.

There’s one thing to read an article and another one to post a tweet.

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„Being pleasant and having a good attitude is a simple way to become luckier.

Opportunities come through people, and people are more likely to bring opportunities to people they like.

It’s hard to win if your attitude adds friction to every interpersonal experience.” – James Clear (Newsletter)

I used to be grumpier than today, to express things like „I don’t like this”, „I think this could be made better”, „You should focus on”.

While it’s nice for me to set boundaries, some people can get offended pretty easily.

How did I find out of this? By offending them, easily. :)

I now try to be pleasant, although I still am grumpy to some degree. Old habits die hard.

Attitude is key, also. Optimistic, cheerful, eager to work – they all matter.

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„The biggest risk to productivity is always the same: working on the wrong thing.” – James Clear (Newsletter)

I love this piece of advice!

Yes, it’s good to be successful, it’s great getting results.

But if you focus on the wrong things, that won’t help much.

The solution? Always try and find the right KPIs, don’t focus only on being successful with them.

I previously wrote about this.

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abcdef_hijklmnopqrstuvwxyz⁷ (they/them) – @burnonblackhome:
Most ppl think being poor means you’re in a shanty with no TV, no phone, only a jar of pickles in the fridge… Because the reality of what poverty looks like might hit too close to home.

This is so true. Poverty is not making the ends meet, but sometimes this can be closer to you, the reader, than you may want it.

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After Tokyo, we should bring the Olympic charade to an end | David Goldblatt | The Guardian:
„Ask the Finns, who abandoned the state-sponsored pursuit of medals and spent the money instead on active transport and accessible facilities. They barely win anything any more, but they have the most active and healthy old people in the world. In Britain we have a sack of gold and an obesity crisis.”

Focusing on results, just for the sake of results, is a wrong way of solving problems.

The best option? Work on the long run.

Don’t find an arbitrary goal, focus on long term.

A book on this subject: Amazon.com: How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life eBook : Adams, Scott: Kindle Store.

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I read recently a quote in the line of (very approximate quote, and I couldn’t find the original writer of it:

If you have trouble teaching some person something, that’s because you haven’t explained it kind enough.

That’s so true! A lot of times I blame, whenever I have issue explaining something, the technical aspects – I wasn’t good enough, smart enough. But it’s mostly related to kindness, to the happiness of sharing, to the joy of presenting something.

If I say something in a kind voice, if I care, then likely I will get some feedback, people will ask questions, I’ll get a glimpse on why the person didn’t learn that well.

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I’ve known persons that started businesses and had success with them.

At a cost, though – the happiness and peace of mind of their employees.

You can have an employer that is a pleasant person, knows how to be attractive, but when they get in a situation of power, they have no hesitation if showing their power.

I don’t especially admire those kinds of persons.

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