Media picks, July 8-18

I. Health & Balance

1. Drop the "shoulds". A partial replacement for "have no expectations" guideline in Buddhism.

2. "…for those high in neuroticism, higher frequency of fermented food consumption was associated with fewer symptoms of social anxiety" (via psychotherapy).

II. Writing Skills

3. The most freeing, encouraging writing guidelines I've seen: Neil Gaiman's 8 rules of writing. Go well with "Start telling the stories that only you can tell." I even set both links as a weekly calendar reminder.

III. Maker Skills, People Skills

4. A new classification of introverts. 4 types (can be mixed). Comes with a self-identification quiz. 

5. (pdf) A brief template for figuring out what job/project to choose.

6. A mindmap for dealing with procrastination. “Goals are like pets… Feed and nurture them… Take action on your goals every day… If you neglect them they’ll die.”

IV. Goodness

7. What it’s like to be profoundly face-blind in NYMag's Science of Us column (via intotheprocess):

I'm always looking for visual hooks. My daughter has a particular thing she does with her mouth. If there’s several people who could be her, I look for the mouth thing. If she's nervous, or she's irritated, one side of her mouth goes up. She's done it since she was a baby. She doesn't like having her photograph taken, so when I look at a group photo, I look for the kid with the smirk and I know it’s my daughter.

…And some blog news: 

• There is now email subscription available.
• About page now has an email address listed.
• And most importantly, I have 2 "real" posts drafted already (one of them is actually a how-to, so extensive that it has a table of contents!), they are coming soon.

Media picks, May 19 - Jul 7

I. Health, Balance & Security

Science:

1. Surprising lists of what & how interferes with absorption of vitamin B1 (thiamine) and advice on how to decrease that effect.

2. A handy table of vitamin B12 absorption rates. Speaking of supplements that contain 1000%+ of recommended daily intake.

I have a great respect for vitamins B for the simple reason that I get 100% less neurotic when I get enough of them.

3. 5 tips for better posture (are under the image #2). And yes, "sitting for long periods can lead to the gluteal muscles atrophying" (includes an image of where they all are located).

Oh, and as for the tip #1, shoulder roll is demonstrated here (free registration is required). That thing just works — brings immediate relief to the shoulders and keeps them "open" for quite a while.

Warmth & speeding up:

2/3 of the money I made in June was mostly thanks to

4. The Heavy - What Makes A Good Man (Radio Edit)

on repeat, in the headphones or as an ambient noise (headphones lying nearby — works well in case of a particular level of exhaustion; is non-intrusive, but still has a speeding-up effect). Radio edit version has an immediate fast start, that’s why its "speeding up" effect is much stronger compared to the original.

…and the remaining 1/3 was facilitated by

5. Handel - Messiah (1959, Thomas Beecham) - CD3.

CD3 has a warming-up and hope-inducing effect, and #4 in it is also energizing. And I’m not into religion.

II. Maker Skills, People Skills

6. A small book called The Go-Giver. Is an addition to the list of great edu books.

I believe it was recommended by someone big & startup-related, but by now I can't track down where I saw it…

III. Writing Skills

7. Spring 2015' issue of The Paris Review: an interview with Lydia Davis.