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The Inner Work of Change: Book Notes on Transitions
Sitting down at my desk in early 2024, I opened my laptop. As I began typing out my reflections of the past few years, I felt amazed at how much had changed for me and my wife. Our lives are barely recognizable compared with what they were four years ago!…
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On Disconfirming Information: The Value of Changing Your Mind
One day, I walked into my college decision science class and found my seat. Opening the class, the professor declared, “Disconfirming information is the most valuable kind of information!” And he encouraged us to seek it out every chance we can. I felt intrigued. Disconfirming information, he explained, is information…
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On Weekly Reviews: Living Out My Values
For the past decade, I’ve engaged in a weekly review to foster personal growth. Initially unstructured, I adopted a friend’s detailed tracking method, using a spreadsheet to monitor metrics like sleep, social interactions, and stress. My practice includes brief daily updates and extensive weekend reflections, focusing on aligning my actions…
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On Operational Efficiency: The Phoenix Project Notes
After working in the software industry for 15 years, I realized that I knew surprisingly little about how companies deliver cloud software. To better understand what it takes to develop and deploy software in the cloud, I recently read The Phoenix Project, which a colleague recommended. I was surprised at…
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On Credit Card Game: Maximizing Rewards
I’ve been working on improving my credit card rewards strategy under the guidance of a friend. By managing four key factors—percentage cash back, credit card spend, introductory rewards, and minimizing annual fees—I’ve learned to maximize savings. Although it requires some effort initially, these strategies can help save hundreds or even…
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On Crispness: Distilling the Message
In my quest to become a better communicator, I’ve been practicing being more crisp. I was inspired by an excellent talk on crispness by Kellogg prof Craig Wortmann. As someone who’s never been accused of being overly concise, I found Wortmann’s ideas to be useful in changing my mindset. I’ll…
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On Morning Routines: Building Momentum Early
For the past ten years, I’ve been obsessively honing my morning routine. That may sound strange because we all repeat similar activities as we start our mornings, be it showering, eating breakfast, or watching morning TV. However, I began to think about my mornings differently ten years ago after hearing…
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On Waste and Its Elimination: Notes on Toyota Production System
I’ve only just read Toyota Production System, written by its inventor Taiichi Ohno, despite admiring Toyota’s world-class operational rigor for many years. The Toyota Production System (TPS) is the company’s comprehensive manufacturing philosophy and methodology, which aims at improving efficiency, eliminating waste, and producing high quality output. While I found…
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On Every Day Carry: Utility, Minimalism, and Discipline
Over the past 10 years, I’ve become fascinated by the idea of “every day carry” (EDC). The concept is as it sounds: a review of what things people carry with them every day. I stumbled across this concept years ago while browsing Reddit on a lazy Saturday morning. Reading the…
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On Remaining Open to Our Ever-Changing Roles as “Teacher” and “Student”
During my recent re-reading of the Tao Te Ching, one of the core texts of Taoism, a passage about teachers and students that I previously missed now caught my attention. The ancient Chinese religion and philosophy of Taoism aims to understand “The Way,” or the rhythms of the universe. I’m…