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.

Media picks, May 7-18

I. Health & Balance

1. Highly processed foods are among the most addictive.

2. Tony Robbins: The 3 Decisions That Will Change Your [Financial] Life (the text part, not the video).

1. Carefully choose what to focus on ("Where focus goes, energy flows"). 
2. Find an empowering meaning in any event. Epic failure -> epic learn (a fun example by Pitbull).
3. What will you do? ("You can’t change your patterns if you’re not aware of them.")

II. Security

3. How to make it out of a free-falling elevator alive (video). Worth watching to the very end.

4. 11 common tech myths you should stop believing today. Stuff about batteries was enlightening. Also: you should shut down your computer every night if you want to increase its lifespan.

III. Maker Skills

5. Figure out what you are good at (and whether you should change your job/profession) in just 2 steps.

6. 3 reasons to never take another job (I like it for its #3). Scroll down to the actual 1-2-3 list — it is there, but almost in the very end. The pep talk under the list is also helpful.

7. Two powerful exercises from Tim Ferriss:

1. A simple 3-step exercise to overcome fears. As a whole, it fits into "Prepare to be wrong" element of WRAP model of decision-making. Is also a partial how-to guide for Rainer Maria Rilke's "Anticipate change as though you had left it behind you" advice in Sonnets To Orpheus.
2. A simple productivity hack for planning your day.

Media picks, April 12 - May 6

I. Health & Balance

1. This is big: new research shows that saturated fat is bad for your cognitive skills & memory and monounsaturated fat is good. And, apparently, polyunsaturated fat has no effect whatsoever.

2. A TEDx talk (~19 min.) on self-compassion and, particularly, self-esteem vs. self-compassion (I posted its one-paragraph version on tumblr) by Kristin Neff (Ph.D.), who is an author of the pretty popular book I've seen great quotes from, Self-Compassion.

3. Beware social nostalgia. Get rid of your one-dimensional view of the past and you will be able to grow. "…memories, like witnesses, do not always tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

II. People Skills & Maker Skills

4. You are an experience. Fits into "be the change you want to see in the world" concept.

5. Patti Smith: Advice to the young (6 min.).

6. Miranda July makes 2 great points about artists' relationships with fans. Plus some fun.

Media picks, March 14 - April 19

I. Health & Balance

1. According to the recent studies, people who frame events in their lives—even negative ones—in positive ways have better mental health. The article provides a description of 4 major themes you should pay attention to if you want to reframe your personal narrative into a healthier one.

2. Brene Brown's another way. I recently got really excited about her book.

3. One more benefit of eating broccoli: "sulforaphane slows down the destruction of cartilage in joints associated with …osteoarthritis. …Sulforaphane is released when eating cruciferous vegetables such as Brussels sprouts and cabbage, but particularly broccoli".

II. Maker skills

4. A clear explanation of the WRAP model for decision-making.

III. Warmth

5. "I Followed My Stolen iPhone Across The World, Became A Celebrity In China, And Found A Friend For Life" travelogue by a BuzzFeed writer.