5 Things I Consumed Last Week (routine)🐜
on money, building a second brain, shaving the yak, pluto and puddles
Dear reader,
There are some weeks when I have no time to read and end up writing in a hurry but then there are days when I have accumulated enough stuff on Monday itself, and this is one of them. Things that will charge your mind.
The cover picture is from my daily routine of having a pour over coffee everyday. What’s one thing you religiously do everyday to kick start your day?
Note: If my emails end up in the ‘promotions’ tab, please move them to the inbox so you don’t miss out.
When The Money’s Just Too Damn Good (Newsletter)
It’s ironical how I came cross this essay while searching for an employment opportunity. Written by Nat on his newsletter Infinite Play, it made me question a lot of things. He talks about his journey as a writer who maneuvered through other career options just to earn enough but in the end it boils down to your calling and what you really want in life.
I have been maneuvering the same way for quite some time now, I never chose writing but I picked on it to go with the flow and it does excite me but if I die tomorrow will I regret not cooking enough or not writing enough, I guess the former.
It would be hypocrite of me to say that I changed my decisions after reading this, but reminders are always good. If there’s one thing that you should read from this issue, it is this!
Sometimes, when we're terrified of embracing our true calling, we'll pursue a shadow calling instead. That shadow career is a metaphor for our real career. Its shape is similar, its contours feel tantalizingly the same. But a shadow career entails no real risk. If we fail at a shadow career, the consequences are meaningless to us.
Confronting my Productivity Guru - Tiago Forte (Podcast)
On his podcast Deep Dive, Ali Abdaal speaks to his productivity guru Tiago. I have been following Tiago on his newsletter and his initiative ‘Building the second brain’.
Building a “second brain” is about creating a system – outside your physical skin-and-bone bodily boundaries – for storing, organising, and eventually transforming information.
Honestly his idea is nothing extra-ordinary or life changing but it’s a good prompt to organise information better. Be it in an app or note-taking or commonplace books, whatever works best. Tiago talks about his journey from being a teacher to designing a course on information compartmentalization, note taking and much more.
Don’t Shave That Yak (Short Article)
Let’s look at this real-world example.
You want to bake an apple pie, so you head to the kitchen.
In the hallway, you notice some paint chipping on the wall.
So you walk to the hardware store for some paint.
On the way, you pass a bakery and stop in for a cupcake.
While eating the cupcake, you feel a pain in your mouth. It’s that cavity that you’ve been putting off.
You pick up your phone to call the dentist to make an appointment, but you see a notification from your friend Cher, who’s having a party.
You don’t want to show up empty-handed, so you stop for a bottle of wine. …
You get the picture. What ever happened to that apple pie?
Yak shaving refers to a task, that leads you to perform another related task and so on, and so on — all distracting you from your original goal.
As a freelancer/writer working on numerous projects the past few months, I get very easily distracted to finish a few small tasks even when they form a minuscule part of the ultimate goal, need to stop shaving the yak!
Thanks to Matt D’Avella’s newsletter for this recommendation.
Pluto Shits on the Universe (Commentary on Poetry)
Why a lot of people don’t read poetry is because they don’t understand it and it’s a lot of flowery language.
While I haven’t researched enough but intelligent commentary on poetry is a rare find. I discovered Poetly a few months back and I am been a huge fan since then.
I read Fatima Asghar’s ‘If They Come For Us’ last year which nakedly captures the experiences of being a young Pakistani Muslim woman in America.
This issue about Pluto and chaos, about the time when Pluto was removed from the list of planets. It’s jittering!
On how 'puddle theory' helps me do what I'm putting off (Article)
The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time. — Mary Oliver
I have been on a long term schedule for a long time in my life but now it has shifted to micro things, breaking down tasks and keeping the momentum, trying to get done puddle by puddle and that’s what this theory is all about.
We may never get to perfect, but bit by bit, micro-goal by micro-goal, puddle by puddle, we wade through what was once overwhelming.
Catch you next week!
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You can write to me on bhumikasankhla12@gmail.com. or connect with me on IG at _i__cook or use the comment section!
With love and gratitude,
The Hummingbird🌺