What is Leaf Reading? @whatisleafreading - Tumblr Blog

We are more aware than ever before. More aware of victims of violence, or a natural disaster. More aware of insane wealth or grinding poverty. It gets beamed to us, regularly. We’re even more…

Yes! Big difference between hearing about something and living it. In theory I understand how an API is constructed, but I couldn’t build one. I doubt I could even recognize one in code.

I also know, in theory, how to create a musical loop from layered samples. I even tried it once. But have I composed a song and released it to the world? I didn’t even share my composition with my partner.

I love the reminder that it’s easy to live vicariously, but far more fulfilling to go try something out.

This is my favorite game. It doesn't involve a board, there are no cards and it's free to play. It works for two to six players. You can do it in a car or a plane, it works great for...

Sounds fun! Who wants to play Reverso Ghost?

A new paper is calling it a major public-health problem.

Recently I’ve noticed that my sleep doesn’t ever feel as “complete” and restorative as it used to. In fact I can’t remember any specific dream I’ve had recently, if I’ve had them at all.

Countless articles cite research about the importance of a good 7-8 hours of sleep, yet I still struggle to follow some basic ground rules.

This is probably a discussion that links back into the concept of habits, and of specific, incremental, realistic steps being the path to better habits.

Christine and I have talked about banning phones from our bedroom - might be time to fast forward on that.

#science of us #self #health and wellness #sleep #dreams

When TV first was adopted, it was a magical gift. The shows united our culture and the ads fueled a seemingly endless consumer boom. Today, though, marketers have turned television into an instrument of dissatisfaction. The shows alienate many, because...

Yup, it’s another reminder that TV, social media, and advertising make us less happy. But hey, some things need to be repeated.

Go outside. Talk to someone. Build something. Just shut off the noise once in a while. We’ll all be better off for it.

Pleasure is short-term, addictive and selfish. It's taken, not given. It works on dopamine. Happiness is long-term, additive and generous. It's giving, not taking. It works on serotonin. This is not merely simple semantics. It's a fundamental difference in our...

It’s been a while – sorry about that!

I haven’t fully digested the meaning and application of this post yet, probably because I’m hung up on figuring out what represents happiness to me. That’s a big question that I like to revisit regularly to make sure I’m still making the right big choices and broad moves.

As Seth says here, “pleasure” is pretty easy. I like pizza, grunge music, and beautiful cars (ugh, could I be any more of a stereotype?). They’re clear, tangible, and easy to aim for.

“Happiness,” however, is harder for me to pin down. Not only is it hard to answer “what makes me happy?”, but the strategy to achieve those things can be very complex and multi-faceted. For example, one thing that I believe makes me happy is a comfortable home to return to at the end of the day. That can mean anything from making enough money to afford my own place, to picking home locations, to to to. Another thing is human connection, which...well that can mean any number of things.

So step 1: figure out what really means something to you. Step 2: reflect on your life holistically in an attempt to figure out how to build a life that drives toward those things.

We have a holiday for it, but no good words. Belief in disbelief. The asymmetry between incredulity and credulity. The fact that too often we believe in the wrong stuff, follow the wrong leader and take the wrong medicine. In...

We should all aspire to be scientists.

From insurance to construction to Hollywood, the specter of automation looms for some surprising jobs.

Critical thinking and problem solving - get good at that. Fast.

#leadership

Employment has long provided an outsized source of meaning for those living in the Western world. But it doesn’t have to.

“The key to a meaningful life, it seems, is to think and do less about ourselves.“

Anecdotally, I’ve found that focusing on myself and my lifestyle only leads to compounding dissatisfaction as I continually seek incremental improvements. More satisfying by far is when I put nose to grindstone and come up with a new solution to a problem. Or spend a few hours learning something new.

#better #work life #top story

Low-skilled jobs aren’t the only ones at risk in this crazy world.

Crunching numbers is a great way to make decisions, but computers are WAY better at it. If you crunch numbers for a living, I suggest you expand your scope to include:

1. ...what happens before the numbers need to be crunched. Identify the most important questions that need answers.

2. ...what happens after the numbers are crunched. Learn to interpret the results, factor in other available information, and make good decisions.

If you don’t develop these critical thinking and strategic skills, there may be a shelf life on your career.

#growth #career #critical thinking #automation #technology

If you're trying to persuade someone to make an investment, buy some insurance or support a new plan, please consider that human beings are terrible at buying these things. What we're good at is 'now.' Right now. When we buy...

Persuasive writing 101 says that your pitch should start with the customer’s needs and goals, not your product, service, or features. This post adds another useful dimension.

Lots of content I've read lately relates to The Hard Work, and I'm so grateful for the reminder. I can always tell when I'm at risk of coasting, because my life begins to feel flat. When that happens, the best solution has always been to read more, work out more, and engage more with the people around me. It takes more energy, but the return on energy investment is tremendous. With the start of the new year, it's time to get off the candy diet. I've already finished one book, and figured out a solution to a professional problem I've been working on for a couple months. Cheers to The Hard Work. Let's do this.

It's easy to dream of a strategy or a set of tactics that will make your forward motion feel less like an uphill slog. A perpetual motion machine of progress. These are few and far between. The single most important...

This resonates with me today. I used to spend a lot of time thinking that I could design my way out of work stress with better people, process, and workflows. But that’s not true. Better workflows do make things a little easier, but all it achieves is freeing up time and energy to tackle the next problem. Most areas of life don’t really have a clear finish line (except death, I suppose), so it becomes most important to build up your energy supply.

There’s another article I read once for which the thesis is, essentially: “Everyone focuses on time management, but what we should be focusing on is energy management.”

And we all know the ways to get there: sleep better, eat better, go outside more, be more active, think more optimistically, socialize, and read more books. As with most good things, changing your momentum is the hard part, but it’s worth it.

Manage your energy - what could you do to have more of it?

A million things happened to you today. The second bite of your lunch. The red light on the third block of your commute... Tomorrow, you'll remember almost none of them. And the concept that you'd remember something that happened to...

This is a really important point, and I’m willing to bet you’ll miss it on first read, so let me try to make it clearer:

Whatever happens to you, or whatever you experience, you have two versions of the event:

1. At a factual level, what happened (”Someone cut in front of me in traffic.”)

2. Your story of what happened (”A really inconsiderate person cut me off.” or “Someone who was really stressed out needed to get through. I hope their day got better.”)

For number 2, you can pick your story, regardless of your initial reaction.

In the example above, my gut reaction is that the person is a jerk, and that we’ve all got somewhere to be, so what gives them the right to push and shove?

But once I get over my reaction, I can tell myself the second version, that this person is having a worse day than me, and I’m lucky that I won’t be fired for showing up five minutes late to work. Not only is that story more forgiving of the other driver, but it reinforces my appreciation for the life I have.

Tell yourself (and others) more positive stories, and over time you’ll find that your gut reaction is more positive as well. I promise you’ll be happier for it.

If you’ve missed the first three, you can read the ...

“Getting up from that couch and go straight into running will take a lot of energy to overcome the inertia. It seems almost impossible. But if you’re already walking, it will be much easier as you are already in motion. My goal is to be walking at all times."

Exactly.

There may be a literal truth underlying the common-sense intuition that happiness and sadness are contagious. A new study on the spread of emotions through social networks shows that these feelings circulate in patterns analogous to what’s seen from epidemiological models of disease. Earlier studies raised the possibility, but had not mapped social networks against…

In short: negative people spread negativity, and happy, positive people spread positivity.

I’ve believed this for some time based on personal experience, but it’s nice to see some scientifically-backed proof. One of my personal goals is to remain an incubator of positivity, and to generally dissuade or avoid those around me who wreak of negativity.

And that all sounds great, except there’s a little bit of a paradox we all deal with: if you’re working hard to spread positivity to negative people, at what point are you spending too much on someone who refuses to take their change into their own hands? I’ve walked away from my share of people who simply cannot (or will not) overcome their conditioned inclination towards negativity. It’s a practiced art to know when to walk away, but know that there is a point where it’s necessary for your own well-being.

And to those who worry that they’re on the negative side of things: it’s ok to take some time to find your way to positivity. I’ve been feeling pretty negative since last Tuesday, but I knew that the only way to turn the ship around was to make choices that enabled me to do it for myself (for me, part of it was as simple as asking my wife for a hug - amazing what a good hug will do).

What if the fear and malaise and anger isn't merely being reported by cable news... What if it's being caused by cable news? What if ubiquitous video accompanied by frightening and freaked out talking heads is actually, finally, changing our...

I’ve said this before, but one of the most important skills in today’s world of unlimited information is the ability to evaluate and filter. The Internet and other media are full of great information mixed with a lot more useless, counter-productive junk. And so much of our media focuses on the problem, not so much on solving it.

Accepting what you read or watch with little to no critical evaluation is a recipe for a miserable, insane life. And that’s a shame, because the truth of our world is much brighter and more optimistic than most sources would have you believe. Focus on critical thinking, and learning to distinguish between noise and useful information, then take the useful stuff and do something with it. Learn, grow, and solve problems.

And stop watching cable news. You won’t be less informed, you’ll be less upset.

#growth #happiness #filter #media #productivity

Hitting the gym can save you more than $500 a year.

I think this is fairly obvious, but here’s some data to support the fact that investing in exercise generally has a net-positive ROI.

And remember, exercise doesn’t have to be a gym. Go for a walk, a hike, rock climbing, bike ride, or set up a game of dodgeball.

#health #exercise #fitness

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

What is Leaf Reading?