The topic of assertiveness is very important to me. For much youth, I was largely under the impression that others should be able to divine my needs, and if they really cared about me, they would see that my needs
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Beware of the echo chamber
Digital media tend to put each of us into our own personal echo chambers. Algorithms analyze our preferences and use them to recommend content that we are likely to agree with. I have seen this reach ridiculous proportions where my
Read moreLearning a language – my approach
My partner and I have recently moved to France (see the article I wrote about my move), and while both of us have learned French in school, neither of us is really able to hold our own in that language.
Read moreProcrastination: Just get started – My big move to France
New tasks or experiences might seem daunting at first. A lot of this changes once one has a place to start and a rough plan. Telling you just to get started to deal with procrastination seems like ridiculous advice, but
Read moreHaving a better Slump?
No matter how hard I try to improve myself, I will keep falling into a slump every once in a while. This is probably normal, yet my current slumps are less slumpy than those I fell into years ago. Even
Read moreRemembering vs. Understanding
There is a fundamental difference between remembering something and understanding it. For me, mathematics is a great example of this. I can memorize a theorem without understanding its proof at all. This means I can maybe (barely) apply the general
Read moreWhy I value reading
Reading books is one of my favorite hobbies (see my article on why I read every day). This includes fiction as well as non-fiction. Both have their merits, and fiction is not only useful for entertainment purposes. Because of their
Read moreSpontaneity vs. Planning
I have always valued spontaneity in my life. Most of the time, I would decide on the spot how to spend my time. For most of my adolescence, this worked perfectly fine, but once my adult life became filled with
Read moreWhat is the right amount of stubbornness?
My last article was about becoming an expert at something. Writing that article made me think about stubbornness. To excel at something, one needs a good amount of stubbornness while being flexible enough to allow for improvements. Stubbornness in discussions
Read moreWhy everyone should strive to become an expert at something
Life is complicated. This is why we have evolved to prioritize what we perceive. The average human cannot access all the sensations and impressions of reality. This means that we have an easier time processing things that seem important to
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