Date: 09.02.2022

Hello and welcome readers!

With my birthday fastly approaching. These days, I find myself thinking about the following:

It doesn't matter what you have done. But what you keep doing consistently that counts.

This is easily sensible in all types of sports.

But it's equally true for everything else.

• Doing one good thing doesn't necessarily mean you are a good person.
• Reading one book doesn't make you a reader.
• Writing a page doesn't make you a writer.

The hard thing is not doing something once. It's doing one particular thing over an agonizingly long period of time. And more importantly, keep doing it despite the obstacles, the lack of positive feedback, and the absence of quick results.

Simple things work best to keep progressing:

• Choosing something you are genuinely interested in.
• Breaking big goals into smaller ones.
• Preserving a can-do attitude along the way.

But there is one component that you absolutely need: Being part of a supporting group.

You need someone to pick you up when you trip and fall into a pit of mud.

Someone to give you a pep talk even if you don't think you need a pep talk.

Or in other words, the people who stand beside you can make what stands in front of you possible - even if initially felt impossible.

Since we are "technically" still at the beginning of the year. Ask yourself: What do you commit to doing consistently and who is next to you to support you?

• Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin To Munger by Peter Bevelin: Packed with wisdom, this book will help you see the world as it is. Not as you want it to be. Probably the best advice from the book is the following: Consistently avoiding stupid mistakes is often way better than consistently trying to come up with new smart ideas.

Full text for members only.

Interesting books I recently added to my reading list (and hopefully will read at some point):

• Accelerated Expertise: Training for High Proficiency in a Complex World by Robert R. Hoffman: This book was prepared for the Department of Defense to enhance the training programs of the military. The goal is to help soldiers learn faster and retain the learned for longer.
• Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by K. Anders Ericsson: I'm currently reading this book. While rather dry and absent of any engaging narrative. Peak explains how to reach top performance in the field of your choice - talent not required.
• A Guide for the Perplexed by Ernst F. Schumacher: This book promises to stop you from your continuous goal towards obtaining physical pleasures so you can cultivate the mind. Along with other refreshing philosophical insights about life and how to live.

Interesting words from books and around the web:

• Drapetomania (noun): An overwhelming urge to run away.
• Querencia (noun): A place from which one's strength is drawn. Where one feels at home. The place where you are your most authentic self.
• Kaizen (noun): Philosophy of continuous improvement. Becoming one percent better everyday.

Lev Vygotsky

Born in 1896, Lev Vygotsky was a Soviet psychologist, known for his work on psychological development in children. He believed that social interaction plays a critical role in children's learning.

One of his most talked-about theories is the zone of proximal development.

Big Idea: The Zone of Proximal Development

The zone of proximal development is, as Vygotsky puts it, “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers.”

Or in other words, the gap between what a person can do independently and what he can do with the help of a more experienced person in the specific field - teacher, coach, peer, etc.

In his theory, the upper limit of the person is determined by the capabilities of the more experienced person - he labels this other person the more knowledgeable other (MKO).

Usually, the MKO is someone with more experience. But that's not always the case. MKO can also be a book, machine of some sort, or software for example.

And while his theory is mainly aimed at developing the capabilities of children. Of course, it also works for adults. Since learning is essential for our cognitive improvement. Interacting with more knowledgeable other(s) is vital if we want to progress.

From my desk:

I continue with my quest to discover and package mental models that can help me think and behave better. This week, I'm sharing two resources that can assist with decision-making and staying in business.

• Mental Models for Decision-Making: "Instead of blindly choosing path A or path B when life offers me a chance to choose. I decided to find the best decision-making tools. To upgrade my decision process in advance – before the next time for deciding something arrives."
• Mental Models to Stay in Business: "Starting a business, however, doesn’t mean that you’ll have a successful business. It’s like deciding that you want to get fit. A gym membership doesn’t guarantee that you’ll lose weight. It’s a journey. And this journey always involves encountering a series of “amazing” challenges."

From around the web:

• What I Do When I Feel Like Giving Up: "But today? Well, today I am struggling. Today, I don’t feel like writing. Today, I don’t feel like sticking to the routine. Today, I don’t feel like I have any great ideas and I don’t feel like I have enough time to make the good ideas great. Today, I feel like giving up."
• Seven Writers On Their Day Jobs: "And I love being a kid. Adulthood is a mess. It’s a mess of paperwork and drudgery and bills and so much else. I spend most of my day at work trying really hard to be as much of a kid as I can be. Which means I try to be patient, perpetually astonished, forever open to surprise."

Truth-seeking

Truth-seeking in critical thinking is the relentless pursuit of uncovering what is true - even if what is true denies our assumptions. 

You want the truth at all costs - every time, all the time.

It seems like something obvious. But two things make it worthy of emphasis:

First, we deceive ourselves. We tend to think that the truth is what we wish it to be. For example, we persuade ourselves that not learning more about our area of expertise has no effect on performance.

Secondly, when you give truth-seeking a priority. You radically change how you approach things. You are no longer trying to persuade people that you are right - no longer ego-driven. You are simply looking for what is true by being sincere and modest - you become solution-oriented.

As you can tell, I have a thing for books. I think that they are more than just covers with pages inside. Rather, manuscripts that can equip your mind with the right cognitive tools to overcome the challenges that come our way and win the day.

Even if you're not processing any faith, I believe you will find this biblical library astonishing.

Talk soon,

Ivaylo Durmonski

P.S. - I wanted to thank the people who took the time to review my recently published mini-course: Follow Yourself.

I just published two of the reviews I've received.

P.P.S. - If you somehow feel connected to the work I do and want to help me produce even more eye-opening content, you can consider becoming a proud member of my small but mighty online library. Or, you can make a one-time donation using PayPal.

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