On reciprocity, breakthroughs, and finding meaning

5. APR. 2024

You don't need fancy productivity "hacks" to get things done.

​This is all you need.​

All right, here's a bit of inspiration for you this week.

1. On reciprocity

"Humans have a natural urge to reciprocate. If you hold the door for someone, they will hold it for you when given a chance. It’s an unspoken law of being human that holds up even in interviews and interrogations."

— Joshua Mason, Five Ways Skilled Interviewers Get the Information They Need​

2. On success

"Success is not about being better than someone else. It’s about not giving up when things are not going your way, and striving to improve so you can do better than what you did yesterday."

— Jenny Lim, How To Give Yourself A Writer’s Lift (When No One Else Will)​

3. On breakthroughs

"Every breakthrough is at first laughable and ridiculous. In fact if it did not start out laughable and ridiculous, it is not a breakthrough."

— Kevin Kelly

4. On online education

​

David Perell @david_perell Online education inverts the learning process. In school, you start with the basics and expand towards curiosity. But on the Internet, you start with curiosity and expand towards the basics. 5:50 PM • Aug 2, 2021 246 Retweets 1381 Likes Read 35 replies

​

​
This reminded me of a quote once said by Einstein:

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education"

5. On finding meaning

"The algorithm might offer a curated world, but it’s in these real-life moments, shared with loved ones, that we discover the messy, beautiful truth of what it means to be human."

"Take a deep breath, silence the notifications, and step into the messy, beautiful reality that awaits."

— Amal Kitab, Finding Meaning in an Algorithmic World​

The more we pay attention to the notification sound from our phones. The less we pay attention to the physical world around us.

Final thoughts

Thank for your feedback on last week's survey. I appreciate it! I'll work on improving the newsletter

If you're looking for my longer pieces, check them out on Medium or my website. I'll sometimes highlight specific ones here too.

Also, the newsletter will take a week off while I'm on a family trip but will be back the following week.

If you enjoyed the issue, please share it with someone you might think it will inspire. 🌱

If you aren't subscribed yet, you can do it here.
​

Until next time,

Stay inspired!

Sharmarke
​
P.S. This is not your average Joe​

​

​
​Unsubscribe · Preferences​