Books I’ve Read, May Edition

If you are looking for something to read, you might find something interesting here. May The Great Mental Models, Shane Parrish (the first of a soon to be multivolume work. must read times a hundred. this book teaches you how to think. and how to do it well. have i said it’s a must read? you must read it.) Coraline, Neil Gaiman (must read. scarily charming.) April Keep Going, Austin Kleon (must read. new annual read. timely. beautiful quotes. hugely inspirational) ...

June 3, 2019 · Mario Jason Braganza

A Week of Python

Ok. Time to be a bit honest. As you folks know, I have been trying to learn programming using Python since June 2017, when I joined the 10th cohort of DGPLUG’s Summer Training. And time and again, I have failed. Not just with programming, but with most other projects I tried to do. At the end of my rope, I decided to just quit everything and considered (very seriously) a return to my old stressful career, thinking maybe that is all there is for me. ...

May 31, 2019 · Mario Jason Braganza

Your Very Own Superpower, Saying No

If you haven’t read James Clear’s blockbuster book on habits, you owe it to yourself to. It’s the best way to build habits and routines that are an intrinsic part of you. One of the best ways to a super productive you is, as James describes in this excerpted post, saying No. Ever think about the events you set in action when you just say yes as a reactive reflex? The Difference Between Yes and No The words “yes” and “no” get used in comparison to each other so often that it feels like they carry equal weight in conversation. In reality, they are not just opposite in meaning, but of entirely different magnitudes in commitment. ...

May 27, 2019 · Mario Jason Braganza

Test your vocabulary

Go see how large your vocabulary is! And don’t cheat! At least the first time :) Click here to take the test. This is me1. Subscribe to the newsletter already, will ya? Ok, I cheated. The original one was 40,000 so i took it again :P ↩︎

May 20, 2019 · Mario Jason Braganza

Being Wrong

Shane Parrish’s highlights from this gem of a Ted Talk by Kahthryn Schulz. … The first thing we usually do when someone disagrees with us is that we just assume they are ignorant. You know, they don’t have access to the same information we do and when we generously share that information with them, they are going to see the light and come on over to our team. When that doesn’t work. When it turns out those people have all the same information and they still don’t agree with us we move onto a second assumption. They’re idiots. They have all the right pieces of the puzzle and they are too moronic to put them together. ...

May 13, 2019 · Mario Jason Braganza

Writing as the Most Important Thing You Could Do Every Morning

From a Ryan Holiday post on journalling, “I don’t journal to “be productive.” I don’t do it to find great ideas, or to put down prose I can later publish. The pages aren’t intended for anyone but me. Morning pages are, as author Julia Cameron puts it, “spiritual windshield wipers.” It’s the most cost-effective therapy I’ve ever found. To quote her further…: ‘Once we get those muddy, maddening, confusing thoughts [nebulous worries, jitters, and preoccupations] on the page, we face our day with clearer eyes.’” ...

May 6, 2019 · Mario Jason Braganza