Bookmarks & Highlights

Passages I've highlighted from articles across the web. They are captured using Shortcuts, stored in a Notion database and automated into Webflow using Make.
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* When you’re putting something off, set a timer for five minutes. * Work on the thing for those five minutes. * If you want to stop when the timer goes off, you can.
People always care about things they actively participate in or contribute to. That’s why it’s essential to let them co-create documentation with you.
To say you should have done something implies that there was some kind of obligation, some kind of right or wrong. It’s a thing we say to shame ourselves, to express our regret for not having done something different. It’s the mournful cry of hindsight.
Brad Frost
Making things and putting them out into the world is something that makes me happy.
Exit Interviews ask why people are leaving, and [Stay Interviews](https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-is-a-stay-interview-1917998#:~:text=A%20stay%20interview%20is%20an,interviews%20and%20how%20they%20work.) ask why they keep working here. I just learned the term today and I’m already a fan.
Bradley Buda
Before stepping away, leave the code in a state where it is _Obviously Broken_, but _Easy to Fix_.
I play video games for the story, for the immersion. Less for the challenge, and definitely not for the harder difficulties. I don’t have enough time in a week to play a game and not make progress. If I spend an hour with something, the story needs to move along. These stories are too good not to know how they end.
Public, personal blogs are conversation starters. Not having a way to reach out to you directly kills that opportunity.
I miss the chaos, speed of information and humour on Twitter
Research on this mirror effect dates back 1972, with [a study](https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1973-26817-000) showing that focusing on our image leads to self-evaluation. Seeing ourselves can make us feel more self-conscious, as well as making us pay less attention to what is being said.
I realized that I make it easy for people to say no to me when I ask for something. I give them every opportunity. I assume it’s coming. I almost _encourage_ it.
These streaks can quickly become a weight around your neck. You get more invested in continuing the streak than the actual benefit of the visit.
* How many committee meetings went into that toolbar? *
Jeremy Keith
Your website is not just a place you can go to, it’s a place you can control, a place you can maintain, a place you can tidy up, a place you can expand. Most of all, it’s a place you can lose yourself in, even if it’s just for a little while.
Write up what you did over the weekend, a new recipe you tried out, review a movie/book or video game you enjoyed, list step-by-step instructions on how you installed a new appliance in your house - anything! Just _write_ and be part of what made the internet fun, exciting and personal again.
Brad Frost
But in my experience, too much thinking leads to overthinking. I always seem to get caught up in how much time and effort a thing is going to take, and that I’ll need to do a ton of preparation, and I’ll need to have things just right, and on and on. That thinking does nothing but talk me out of doing creative work.
Rather than borrowing trouble from a media-imagined future, invest your time and energy in that which will actually reap dividends: the things you can control.
Cap Watkins

I've learned there will always be more big projects and deep work around the bend, and to appreciate those quiet moments while they last.

So here's my advice for you, if you want to start a blog. Firstly, be yourself. You are, by default, interesting. We all live different lives, we all have different interests, we all have different life stories. So be yourself, share what you find interesting to you. And secondly—and this is gonna sound a bit harsh—the vast majority of the people out there won't give a shit about you and your content.
Gardening sits in the middle. It's the perfect balance of chaos and cultivation.
Shawn Blanc
The advantages of The DownUnder: it avoids the redundancy found in The DoubleTitle, and it has a more clearly defined link target than The Aside does. The disadvantage is that because it’s not as common as The Out and About, readers may get confused as to which link is pointing to where. (Which one to your stuff, which one to their stuff?)
my blog is perfect. Now, I'm not saying it's perfect from a technical stand point. Or even from a design stand point. Or even from a content perspective. It's far from perfect in that sense and it will most likely always be. I'm saying it's the perfect personal blog in terms of structure.
This is what happens in most job interviews that I lead. I ask my questions and leave the last 15 minutes to the candidate so they can ask theirs. But in 80% of cases, they either say that they don’t have questions or ask something like “what do you like about _insert company name_ the most?”
https://macos9.app/
At its core, this is a personal site. A personal site, to me, is a website whose primary editor and intended audience is one and the same, a single, solitary, individual. My personal site is a repository for my memories, experiences, feelings, recipes, tips, photos, and more. A lot of it stays private. The things that might be interesting or useful to others are made public. Regardless, it is an ever-growing extension of myself that I have total control over, my mirror and memory aid. I want to be able to look back at this when I’m eighty and thank my past self for surfacing things that I otherwise would have forgotten, the good and the bad. But a personal site can be anything, and that’s the beauty of it. This is my site, long may it change.
Brett & Kate McKay

The interesting thing about dopamine is that besides inducing the pleasure of desire, it also causes us to experience pain.

As psychiatrist Dr. Anna Lembke explains in her book Dopamine Nation, our bodies and minds like to keep things in homeostasis.

There is a new trend among websites where they want my email address before I’m allowed to read their free content. While I sympathize with the struggles of the media business, I am just going to point out something obvious: not reading is easier than reading — and way easier than logging in.

One final thing to consider: how good do you need to look in a video conference? I see so many people who look horrible in video conferences, and I'm sure that you do too.
Learn to go with the flow of your motivation — fool yourself into being motivated by productively flipping between tasks to prevent fatigue from actively focusing too long on a single problem.
Many of us have come to expect work to involve no slack time because of the negative way we perceive it. In a world of manic efficiency, slack often comes across as laziness or a lack of initiative. Without slack time, however, we know we won’t be able to get through new tasks straight away, and if someone insists we should, we have to drop whatever we were previously doing. One way or another, something gets delayed.
But more than anything, **my personal website is the glue that ties everything together**. I can point anyone to my website to learn more about me, see my work or read my thoughts. I don’t have to worry if they aren’t on Facebook or don’t know how the hell to use Twitter.
Paul Graham
It seems to be hard for most people to write in spoken language. So perhaps the best solution is to write your first draft the way you usually would, then afterward look at each sentence and ask "Is this the way I'd say this if I were talking to a friend?" If it isn't, imagine what you would say, and use that instead.
He encourages employees to keep their resumes updated and continue to develop professional relationships in and outside their jobs, even when they’re not looking for a new one. Losing a job can be crushing, but it shouldn’t be a surprise.
So if you feel like this crafting phase is less enthralling, remember that it is equally important as the exploration phase for the final result. It might, as Rubin writes, help to think of it as another opportunity to play. Just that this time, you’re playing at a much more fine-grained, more intricate level.
Rob Knight
The problem with this system is I mostly don't watch bad movies. Or a better way to put it is I kinda like [bad movies]
Removing some of the mental blocks that kept me from publishing has been quite freeing. Even something as simple as creating a header image for each post used to get in my way. Now, I just accept that every single post doesn’t need custom artwork.
Here is a thought. Maybe, we are overthinking it. Maybe, the one thing we should care most about is just putting stuff out there. At least, this is the primary reason we have a personal website, right? We have it to document and share random thoughts, things we learned, and nuggets we found. If we don’t put stuff out there, why have a website in the first place?
Chloe Roberts