from Gnome to Goliath

How to Win the Competition for Knowledge

Knowledge is the modern arena and mental models are the modern weapons. The prize is wining the competition, becoming successful.

Whether you like it or not, most of you are competing for knowledge. The professions where there is no need to constantly acquire new knowledge are limited, not really valued, and not well-paid, even though some are still essential. Change is rapid, all-encompassing, and … inevitable. Knowledge (and the ability to learn) is a superpower.

I recently read Jim Kwik’s book Unlimited (link to Goodreads). Below I have digested the book into six steps that will help you enable your mind for unlimited knowledge.

Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.
Henry Ford

What is the Goal of Meditation?

There are three main benefits of meditation – separate the Self from you, gain insight into impermanence, and make the present your friend.

Today I am going to talk about meditation. And more specifically what the goal of meditation is. I understand that adding the words meditation and goal in the same sentence will make a lot of people who are deep in this subject cringe. I understand! This article is for those analytical minds who want to try meditation because it will provide a benefit.

I recently read 10% Happier (link to Goodreads), written exactly by one of these analytical minds – Dan Harris. In this book he outlines his journey from a devout sceptic to a dedicated follower.

In this article, I am not going to teach out how to mediate. I am just going to show you the three benefits I find for myself when meditating.

How to create a routine of habits for winning?

Whether you like it or not, your life runs mostly on habits. In this article, I will show you a way to define positive habits for winning.

Today I am going to explore one of my favourite topics – habits. In this article I will walk you through the steps I took to create a winning habit for winning at my favourite sports – tennis.

In 2019, after I moved to a new neighbourhood, I joined a local tennis club. I have always been into tennis, but it is so hard to keep playing the sport when you are moving all around the world. But this time, I was set upon becoming part of the community. I signed up for all events, which included playing as a sub in the C-team for the local inter-county doubles league. Now, three years later, I am member of the board and I continue to play on the C-team team.

Playing tennis competitively, even as an amateur, is very different than playing tennis for fun. In 2021, inspired by reading about Michael Phelps (in the book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg – link to Goodreads), I created a small routine for myself to repeat before every point. It worked! This year, as soon as the inter-county started, I happened to be reading another book on the same subject (Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg – link to Goodreads) and I decided to create a full match-wide routine for playing tennis.

Here, I will show you how I did it. I hope that you will be able to extract the learnings and apply it to your personal life.

How to Explain Project Management to Grade 1

Project management is like creating a plan to build a lego set in stages with different teams building the separate parts.

Today I am going to try to explain project management to my kid’s class of Grade 1 students. This is part of their social studies class and I am sure you could only imagine a few fields more boring that project management (at least for kids, I love my job). I have been preparing for three weeks and I feel stressed out, because these brilliant young kids ask tough questions. Like, for example, why did I pick this job, what I like the most and so on.

I remember when I started preparing the presentation, I had the idea to actually publish the outcome as a post. I am not expecting that any of you is actually a six-year-old, but I hope that you will enjoy the story that I have prepared for them.

By the end of the article, I hope that you will have a framework for simplifying future similar conversations. Ana go-to resource for sharing more information about projects, milestones, reports, and testing with your children.

How to Improve Your Decision Skills

When faced with a tough decision, calculate the expected value of each of the options, approximate dollar value and feelings with utils.

Today I am going to discuss the art of making a good decision. Especially when you need to consider alternatives which have both monetary and non-monetary impact. Just like last week, this article is inspired by the book “How Not to Be Wrong” by Jordan Ellenberg (link to Goodreads).

When my spouse and I need to travel back to Europe, we have same debate – how early we should be at the airport so that we don’t miss our flight. When flying there, I am always rooting for getting there as late as possible. And she wants us to be at the airport four hours before the flight. When we are flying back, our roles flip. What can I say … too many relatives, too many responsibilities, less relax time.

But how can you decide? Is there a mental model for solving this situation?