Hi everyone!

Last Saturday was fun. A huge thank you to everyone who showed up at the fun little Icebreaker session for the BrainPint community. It was a blast getting to talk to know some of you & discover your hidden talents!

This week we're talking about finding a middle path, top work skills, the Feynman learning technique and why nostalgia sells. 

Small life update: Been working on refurbishing our apartment the past few weeks. Yesterday my fiance who has been working on some DIY construction came home with 5 stitches. Gave me a fright, but he's alright. I'm also upgrading my home office gear and would love to hear your thoughts on getting a 4k monitor vs an ultrawide.

Thanks Emily for the coffee perk me up last week!

With gratitude,
Janel

People Don’t Buy Products, They Buy Better Versions of Themselves
What Apple, Samsung, and Starbucks learned from Pepsi - "people don’t buy products because of what those products do, they buy products because of what they can do — or what they imagine they can do — with them.

Finding A Middle Path
"There's a lot of "quit your job, indie hack your way to freedom" on social media.

I want to articulate a middle path — work at a company on interesting problems, but ALSO maintain side projects/reputation as backup & long term game.

aka: Have a job, while not BEING your job." - my friend Shawn (swyx).

That's exactly what I'm doing. I am thrilled to be working at On Deck, helping others create and solving interesting and meaningful problems. But I am not defined by my job. I have my other side things going on.

The Top 10 Work Skills Of Tomorrow
Greater adoption of technology means that we need to adapt to the new division of labour between humans, machines and algorithms. There is a skills gap, and all of us need to make sure we're always reskilling.

Here are some of the top skills: 

• Complex problem-solving
• Active learning
• Critical thinking
• Leadership (and social influence)
• Creativity, originality and initiative
  

(h/t Out of Curiosity)

The Feynman Learning Technique
You learn best when you teach others. "Learning doesn’t happen from skimming through a book or remembering enough to pass a test. Information is learned when you can explain it and use it in a wide variety of situations.”Read this article to learn how you can turn knowledge into something you can easily access.

4 easy steps:

1. Pretend to teach a concept you want to learn about to a student in the sixth grade.
2. Identify gaps in your explanation. Go back to the source material to better understand it.
3. Organize and simplify.
4. Transmit (optional).

Why Nostalgia Sells
Nostalgia is a yearning for an idealized past. Learn where nostalgia comes from and why it sells. Warning: This will take you down a rabbit hole of 90's nostalgia. Neopets, Hungry Hippos, Trolls galore!

Dark Patterns
What are dark patterns? What websites on the internet (shadily) use to trick you into completing actions. Learn about Dark Patterns, be aware of them and in that process, be less impacted by them. I personally dislike dark patterns and have deep disrespect for brands that use them.

Icon Duck -  More than 100,000 open-source icons

Snazzy.ai - Get started with AI copywriting and supercharge your content workflow with Snazzy AI, for free.

Crisp Chat -  A multichannel messaging platform that connects companies & customers. It's a chatbot you can put on your site simply by embedding some code, for free!

Email Love - Email inspiration and newsletter discovery. Browse great newsletters and get inspiration. By Rob Hope, whose product Landing Page Hot Tips is the coolest digital ebook / audiobook I've ever bought (comes with checklists + a discount for BrainPint readers through my partner link)

Random Rijks - See a random artwork from the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum on each button click

Tabletop Audio - Get transported to another world by listening to the 10 minute soundtracks that provide music & ambience for your games and stories. Love the Magic Shoppe & Vikings tracks. Might be useful for Zoom Improv sessions