An iPhone 6S with 64 GB of space, which I bought in October 2016, used, for less than 400€.
Before that, I had an iPhone 5S, 16 GB, which I had used for three years, until it broke.
Read MoreCategory: Technology
Return On Time: Why No Income Is Passive
You know how sometimes, within a few seconds, an idea you had taken as true for decades is shattered to pieces? For example, when I was little, my dad told me the glass windows in churches were thicker at the bottom, because glass was actually a liquid. Just last week I told this to a friend. Well, two minutes ago, this false belief burst.
Some of these urban myths are more pervasive than others. Occasionally, even more people will fall for the lie than stumble into the truth. I think passive income might be one of those extreme cases.
Today, we’ll debunk this concept, and replace it with a better one.
How To Make More Time For Concentrating By Pausing Your Inbox
The human mind mostly wants to continue whatever path it’s on. Once you’re in flow, your brain wants to focus, continue to zone in on the task at hand and really exercise those Jedi powers.
As soon as you make the decision to do something, it’s all downhill from there. Here’s how David Rock, author of Your Brain At Work, describes it in Psychology Today:
Once you take an action, an energetic loop commences that makes it harder to stop that action.
[…]
Most motor or mental acts also generate their own momentum. Decide to get out of your chair and the relevant brain regions, as well as dozens of muscles, are all activated. Blood starts pumping and energy moves around. To stop getting out of your chair once you start will take more focus and effort than to decide not to get up when you first have the urge.
The problem is that the same method of gaining momentum also applies when we move away from a task, towards a distraction. From an evolutionary standpoint, it’s not so much unnatural to focus, as it is natural to break that focus whenever something potentially dangerous or rewarding pops up.
Read MoreThe One Life Hack I Think Everyone Should Know
Keep your phone out of sight. I’ll say that again, very slowly, because it might not make sense at first.
Keep. Your phone. Out. Of. Sight.
The difference between this…
…and this…
…is an increase in your productivity with a magnitude of at least 5x-10x.
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Alan Turing: The Man Who Changed History Twice in a Single Moment
The first time I heard Alan Turing’s name was in a computer science class where we studied different kinds of basic machines and how they work. One of them was called a Turing machine. Alan invented it.
In modern academia, the focus lies on the theoretical model behind the machine, but this is what his implementation looked like:
It looks big and clunky and mysterious, but on the inside, you can imagine it a bit like this:
A Turing machine really only does a few things:
- It moves a tape back and forward. The tape has symbols on it, each written down in a single cell.
- The machine reads these symbols, one at a time.
- Then, it decides what outputs to generate based on the inputs it receives.
- Finally, it writes the output on the tape and moves on to the next cell.
Despite its seeming simplicity, the Turing machine changed the course of history unlike any other invention ever made. The moment Alan Turing got his theoretical model to work inside a real-world machine is one of the greatest moments in the history of mankind.
Here’s why.
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14 Warnings From Trust Me, I’m Lying
I’m a writer. As such, I’ve always written to the best of my ability and with the purest of intentions. You might think that’s the most natural thing in the world, but just recently I learned that many writers don’t consider these two items – which are really just the right thing to do – part of their job description.
As part of my quest to learn more about writers, who inspire me, I decided this year I would get all books from one author I like, read them in chronological order, and look at how they and their style have evolved. I started with Ryan Holiday.
Liquid Sleep: How To Get More Out Of Life By Staying Up Longer
Last June I bought a Garmin Vivosmart HR activity tracker, primarily for two reasons:
- My daily step count is visually present to me at all times, which makes me more likely to get those 10,000 steps.
- If I sit for longer than an hour, it vibrates and nags me to get up and move. Since sitting is the new smoking, I think moving regularly might be more important than moving a lot.
While I happily would’ve shelled out 125 € for just those two features alone, there are a few other perks to wearing one of these around the clock. One of them is sleep tracking.
What I’m about to say as a result of it is not going to be popular and it’s definitely not politically correct. At the very least though, it’s food for thought.
For the past five months, I’ve been sleeping less and I think it’s the right choice. Let’s put that into context.
How to Come Up With REAL Startup Ideas
“Fruit salad!”
I had to blink a couple times. She couldn’t possibly be serious, could she?
“What do you mean, ‘fruit salad?’”
“I want to create a fruit salad brand. The best one ever! You know, I want to become the Hershey’s of fruit salad!”
My roommate and I were attending a startup event at a reputable VC fund in Munich. Free food, free booze and more hot air than in Richard Branson’s balloon, most of which came straight from the founders’ mouths.
Read MoreWhat Trends Are We Likely To See in Ad Tech in 2017?
Friction-free impulse buying on mobile devices.
The web browser is already disappearing on mobile phones, as more and more apps allow cross-platform browsing.
Not having to switch to another app or go to your browser to complete a purchase after seeing an ad will spike impulse buys, because it will eventually reduce friction to zero (or rather one tap with your finger).
Read More3 Things You Can Do Right Now To Increase Your Productivity
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” — Albus Dumbledore
1. Have a collection bucket.
In the Harry Potter series, Dumbledore has a “pensieve” in his office. He uses it to return to thoughts and memories, which he pulls out of his head using his wand to file them away for another day.
Distracting thoughts probably cost the world trillions of dollars in lost productivity each year. They’re in your head, but very real.
I find the best thing I can do is to pull them out and store them somewhere. David Allen calls this a “collection bucket” in GTD.
Just have a notebook or use the notes app on your phone, and whenever you think of something distracting you want to remember or get back to later, put it there. Review the bucket regularly. I try to empty mine every Friday.
For example, if you remember you have to buy milk in the middle of a task, put it there and the thought will stop nagging you instantly.
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