Blog - Page 2 of 21 - 7 Takeaways

A peaceful scene where an individual is reflecting on life. In the foreground, the person sits on a bench overlooking a serene landscape of rolling hills, trees, and a bright sky. Birds fly gently in the distance, and a flowing river adds to the tranquility. The figure's face is content, looking up towards the sky.

Tell Me How to Be Happy – 7 Takeaways No. 200

Happy Happy. Leave me alone. Curiosity FTW. Books FTW. Being unshakeable. Serendiptiy + curiosity = inspiration. Understanding the enemy.

A greeting card with the phrase 'Thoughts & Prayers' written in clear, bold letters on the front. The card is discarded in a metallic garbage can.

Aiding and Abetting Violence – 7 Takeaways No. 199

Thoughts & prayers. The tragedy of inconvenience. Stay flexible. You’re not there, yet. Thinking versus disinformation. Balance need not be. Degrading the language. Cancel culture.

A woodcutting-style illustration featuring a large speech bubble in the center that says 'Yes!' surrounded by smaller speech bubbles. The smaller speech bubbles contain words like 'yes', 'of course', 'I agree', and similar phrases of agreement.

Trapped in Digital Echo Chambers – 7 Takeaways No. 198

Fighting misinformation. Quiet kindness. Digital echo chambers. Be the example. Speaking truth. Creativity. What a coincidence!

A 19th century British newspaper-style woodcut image depicting two people awkwardly approaching each other as if unsure whether to hug.

Hug, Kiss, Or Shake Hands – 7 Takeaways No. 197

Awkward! Story telling is everywhere. Parenting. Stop waiting. Chances are astronomically small. Just do something. Acting in real life.

A detailed woodcutting-style image of a fountain spewing millions of pennies into the air.

No One Uses the Pennies We Mint – 7 Takeaways No. 196

Having an opinion. Moral decline, not. Men & women. Do you even need a purpose? Own the place. The silly penny. Jack of all trades.

Taking Care of One Another – 7 Takeaways No. 195

Deliberate listening. Cynicism v. hopefulness; fight! Hard things are hard. Taking care of each other. Lessons at level 90. Neotoddlers – an appropriate new word. Read more than the headline, OK?

An individual on a city street shoveling a nine-foot-high pile of horse manure, depicted in the style of a 19th-century newspaper illustration.

Nine Feet of Feces – 7 Takeaways No. 194

Use your phone to read. Possible piles of poop. Fiction matters. Learning from failure. Making life choices. Critical reading skills. Boring.

A group of people walking past a traditional library. All the people are looking down at their phones, absorbed in their screens, while the library behind them stands mostly unnoticed. The library building is grand and classic, with large columns and a sign that clearly identifies it as a library. The people are dressed in modern, casual clothing, and their attention is entirely on their smartphones. The scene is set in daylight, with a slightly melancholic tone, highlighting the contrast between the focus on digital devices and the neglect of traditional reading spaces.

Reading Is Not As Necessary As It Once Was – 7 Takeaways No. 193

Mud-colored glasses. Playing in the street. Connections are complicated (and important). Telling yourself stories. Dare to see stupid. Does reading matter? (YES!) Taking risks.

A chimpanzee standing upright on its hind legs, with a confident expression, throwing a shiny metallic dart with a bright green flight at a wooden dartboard hung on a rustic, earth-toned concrete wall in the distance, the board's surface worn and scratched, surrounded by a subtle gradient of shadows, with the chimpanzee's fur a mix of dark brown and lighter tan hues, its facial features defined by a prominent forehead, almond-shaped eyes, and a small nose, its skin tone a warm, golden brown, the entire scene illuminated by a soft, natural light with a hint of warmth, capturing the dynamic movement of the dart in mid-air and the chimpanzee's focused intensity, with a shallow depth of field to blur the background and emphasize the subject.

Poorer Predictions Than Dart-throwing Monkeys – 7 Takeaways No. 192

Confidence means little. We’re all just making it up as we go. New technology is scary. Depression is scary. Being wrong is scary. Phone calls are scary. Personal change is scary.

A stereotypical 30-year-old man in his parents' basement, sitting at a computer and yelling at it. The basement is cluttered with old furniture, boxes, and gaming posters on the walls. The man has a frustrated expression, with his mouth open in a yell, furrowed brows, and clenched fists. The lighting is dim, with a single overhead light casting shadows.

Online Crowds Can Be As Unthinking As In-person Ones – 7 Takeaways No. 191

Rocking chair time? Politics will get worse before it gets better. Special ideas often aren’t. Even when not lies, statistics often mislead. The irrationality of crowds. Go ahead, look the fool. Read.