{"id":6443,"date":"2013-01-26T22:10:33","date_gmt":"2013-01-26T14:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/?p=6443"},"modified":"2025-03-08T16:28:35","modified_gmt":"2025-03-08T16:28:35","slug":"summary-of-entire-blog-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/2013\/01\/26\/summary-of-entire-blog-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"summary of entire blog, part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

In part 1<\/a>\u00a0I summarized all blog posts until the end of 2010. So here we begin with 2011.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mandatory New Year Post 2011<\/a>\u00a02010 year of reflection, 2011 to be year of action. Declutter, unfriending people I don’t know.<\/p>\n

Week 23<\/a>\u00a0transitional week. Ran, hit the gym. Stuff about making the year good, rather than hoping for a good year.<\/p>\n

Week 24.<\/a>\u00a0Sleep-and-water rule, Measurement = management, being fit = awesome, challenge paradigm.<\/p>\n

Week 30:\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0Successful people have good routines, I should too.\u00a0List of routines I’d like to adopt.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Challenge: In which I try to live my life like a video game.<\/p>\n

The Facebook Fast:<\/a>\u00a0Me realizing that I suck at life when I spend too much time on Facebook<\/p>\n

Waste Elimination Challenge<\/a>\u00a0revisit this!<\/strong>\u00a0see what you can cut out.<\/p>\n

Attempts to quit smoking:\u00a0Day 1<\/a>,\u00a0Day 2<\/a>,\u00a0eventual failure<\/a><\/p>\n

Anything about yourself that pisses you off?<\/a>\u00a0Formspring question. I get pissed off with myself whenever I get pissed off. If I had to answer this question today, I get pissed off by my habit of self-deception. I cheat myself.<\/p>\n

Attempted Sense:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Most Important Question<\/a>\u00a0existential, philosophical post. Explores the idea of being a vessel or a conduit. Doesn’t dig as deep as I thought it would have.<\/p>\n

The University Dilemma<\/a>\u00a0In which I explore my frustration\/confusion\/troubled thoughts about University. For the first time?<\/p>\n

music, language, communication, biology, design, cross-discipline, simplicity<\/a>\u00a0a general word vomit on concepts and ideas.<\/p>\n

wisdom of the universe and the maps we create to try and understand it<\/a>\u00a0on consciousness and map-making<\/p>\n

books, knowledge, assimilation, repetition, philosophy<\/a>\u00a0important to re-read books because you’re a different person each time. mindful repetition makes you aware of subtle differences. philosophy should aid decisionmaking. there is philosophical value or wisdom in anything true or real- there’s always something to learn.<\/p>\n

personal system and how it looks like-<\/a> trying to visualise. pointless redundant exercise on hindsight, but it was fun to do. version 2.0<\/a>, and version 2.1<\/a><\/p>\n

Prescriptive Guides:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Labels and why you should avoid them<\/a>\u00a0basically they’re limited and limiting, and we’re more than that. we can’t escape the need for them, but we should never forget that they are just tools, and we should never mistake the map for the territory.<\/p>\n

5 prerequisites to greatness<\/a>\u00a0Vision, Skills, Incentives, Resources, Action Plan.<\/p>\n

Managing Emotions<\/a>\u00a0emotions, well managed, are rocket fuel. Funnily, in a meta moment, I’m doing this huge chunk of work because i’m feeling riled up.<\/p>\n

Embrace The Detours<\/a>\u00a0Life will fuck up your plans. Realize this in advance, and roll with the punches. Enjoy the sights you see on the detours. Don’t brood over the past, keep moving forward.<\/p>\n

Demolish Boredom.<\/a>\u00a0I was bored because I lacked vision. Gamify this. Revisit this.<\/p>\n

Why Self-Help Books Don’t Work<\/a>\u00a0lack of immersion, repetition, experimentation- better to read one book over and over again and digest it and absorb it, than to read many books and just get by.<\/p>\n

7 Steps To Unlocking Superhuman Clarity of Mind<\/a>\u00a0Sleep, Exercise, Meditation, Hydration, Relationships, Reading, Diminishing Stimulant-Dependency<\/p>\n

Self-Mastery and the Journey Of The Hero<\/a>\u00a0thoughts about developing myself, and the fundamental principle behind my NS 90 week project (which kinda went a little flaccid at the end.)\u00a0Could use a re-write!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Personal Development and Symbolism of the Hero<\/a>\u00a0just me expressing my love for the concept and ideas of storytelling, and of heroism.<\/p>\n

Thoughts\/opinions\/realizations<\/strong><\/p>\n

my bank balance has been steadily rising:\u00a0<\/strong>what gets measured gets managed<\/p>\n

wave of mindfulness after a gym workout<\/a>\u00a0exercise is useful!!<\/p>\n

Thoughts on the Japan earthquake:<\/a>\u00a0Beautiful how everybody rallies together in sympathy and support, but a little sad about how we always have to wait for disasters before we start investing in the things that make a real difference. Sandy Hook tragedy evokes the same thing a year later.<\/p>\n

thoughts on running, management and life\u00a0<\/a>Running reveals to me the weaknesses and inconsistencies and structural failings of my body, and gives me an opportunity to strengthen them. I suppose we could say the same of any kind of focused, directed hardship- be it for an individual, for relationships or for larger systems like businesses or even governments, maybe? What then, is protectionism? (Importance of\u00a0stressors<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

Happiness in hardship, misery in comfort<\/a>\u00a0I feel we don’t sufficiently explore the idea that, while broader forces exist and affect us, we do have some degree of control over our own happiness. We ought to spend some time meditating on this fact.<\/p>\n

persistence<\/a> an acknowledgement of my general sucktitude, but at least I never give up. never tell anybody to give up, ever. don’t crush people. be constructive.<\/p>\n

spontaneity and routines<\/a> in the absence of good routines we will fall into bad ones for we are creatures of habit. “I might be most productive as a writer if I start writing immediately after I get home from work, or immediately after I wake up.” Feb 2011.<\/p>\n

future and uncertainty<\/a>\u00a0kids are growing up in a different world. information is free now. having information isn’t as useful as having the ability to access and manage information. surviving into the future is going to require a new way of thinking. Something is Not Right about University.<\/p>\n

Random thoughts before bed:<\/strong> Importance of sleep and water. Realization that my sleeping habits during JC were terrible.<\/p>\n

Thoughts on sleep and systems.<\/a>\u00a0Suggested experiment to\u00a0sleep as much as possible.<\/strong> Never actually executed this. Should do it. Attempts to interpret the living of life into a complex system of integrated parts.<\/p>\n

Paradigm Shift Inwards to Outwards<\/a>\u00a0After taking some time off to reflect and think, I came to the conclusion that I had to share my thoughts.<\/p>\n

Deciding to Create Value<\/a><\/p>\n

Potential blog posts.<\/a>\u00a0a list to go through, and then delete afterwards<\/p>\n

On scaffolding<\/a>\u00a0exploring Wittgenstein’s Ladder, the idea that sometimes you need to go through strange or redundant things before you get to the good stuff. These things are redundant on hindsight, and can be subsequently discarded, but are necessary in moving forward. In short, the necessity of extraneous “chatter” and other seemingly pointless random nonsense.<\/p>\n

on faith<\/a>\u00a0we are all creatures of faith whether we realize it or not, like it or not. there are some things about life and the world that we simply take for granted. to question everything would be endlessly tiresome. What matters is that we don’t make assumptions about things that involve the livelihoods of others.<\/p>\n

Links\/Inspiration:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jonthan Diener on the future of the music industry:<\/a>\u00a0The world is changing and you better adapt to survive, or perish.<\/p>\n

Ray Kurzweil<\/strong> says that technology grows exponentially, so eventually solar energy should become viable even for people who don’t care about the environment. Doubles every 2 years or so.<\/p>\n

Ezra Klein on mistakes economists make<\/a>. Insightful! Revisit and analyse.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Countering Stress and Depression, by the Dalai Lama<\/a>\u00a0Be kind, compassionate and respectful towards others, and you will have little to worry about. Importance of training and transforming your mind.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wisdom of Jim Rohn<\/a>\u00a0lots of great ideas.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Singapore:<\/p>\n

MM Lee’s urgings feel awkward<\/a>. In which I feel like LKY has begun to get disconnected from the everyday Singaporean (which he acknowledges in his book Hard Truths.)<\/p>\n

Temasek Review’s comparison of SG\/Japan<\/a>. I express frustration with HOW we conduct our civil discourse, as opposed to what we discuss.<\/p>\n

Why Singaporeans Don’t Feel That They Belong<\/a>\u00a0We feel belonging to wherever we add value to. Having been depoliticized, many of us don’t feel like we have much control over our circumstances. We own HDBs, yes, but we don’t feel like we own much else of the rest of the country.\u00a0Part 2<\/a><\/p>\n

conversations:<\/strong>
\nabout the future, with ayesha<\/a>. optimism, mind-sharing, clean power, natural selection, video games, searching for meaning.<\/p>\n

about phase cycling, with sam.<\/a>\u00a0simple idea that things happen in ebbs and flows and that we should work with them.<\/p>\n

on doubt, with izzy.<\/a>\u00a0“life has a dehumanizing effect”.<\/p>\n

on systems, with sam<\/a>\u00a0do things that get large naturally get corrupted? building something powerful\/meaningful<\/p>\n

on communication, hive minds and god, with sam<\/a>\u00a0relationships, humanism, religion<\/p>\n

Writing:<\/p>\n

I don’t need to write.<\/a>\u00a0Actually, I do.
\n2:25 am
\n<\/a>infinite<\/a>\u00a0a poem<\/p>\n

Deleted Posts:<\/strong><\/p>\n

intelligence and decisionmaking:<\/strong>\u00a0here’s a simple idea- if you call yourself intelligent, but you’re dissatisfied with life, why not apply your intelligence to the problems you face, and resolve them? either you’re not as intelligent as you think, or your intelligence isn’t worth as much. (this was directed at myself.)<\/p>\n

what you should focus on:<\/strong>\u00a0the intersection of “things that matter” and “things you can control”<\/p>\n

Idea: Weeks and Months are more useful than days and years.\u00a0<\/strong>Days are too short, years are too long, weeks and months are better measurements for living. If you live to be 80 years, you have 960 months, or 4160 weeks. Those numbers somehow speak to me more powerfully. I’d like to divide my life into months and weeks.<\/p>\n

Pareto Principle:\u00a0<\/strong>Power of resourcefulness. Focus all your energy on the few things that make the most difference.<\/p>\n

The Big Move:\u00a0<\/strong>On April 1st 2011, I moved my blog from wordpress.com to my own domain, visakanv.com. It was a childhood dream realized. I felt like I had arrived. Enjoying the little annoyances because this time it’s mine.<\/p>\n

“Promise me something”<\/strong>\u00a0– deleted this.\u00a0This 2011, promise me that you’ll pursue something that excites you. Do something that makes you want to wake up in the morning, that makes you feel like you’re contributing to something greater than yourself, that makes you feel alive, relevant, valuable and powerful. What excites you? What truly, truly excites you? And what are you doing about it?<\/em><\/p>\n

Pimp My Post Titles:<\/strong>\u00a0I went through a phase where I decided to sit down and improve on my titles.<\/p>\n

How Happy Are You? How Many Dates Have You Had?\u00a0<\/strong>Apparently the order of these two questions affects the answers that you get. So what you focus on affects how you feel. So we need to be careful and deliberate with what we choose to focus on. Here’s Dan and Chip Heath on\u00a0why incentives backfire<\/a><\/p>\n

Bet On Yourself\u00a0<\/strong>deleted this post because I wasn’t feeling it. Thought of using the idea of putting money towards some sort of fund whenever I fail to accomplish a task. It got a bit too convoluted for my liking.<\/p>\n

observation, improved decisionmaking\u00a0<\/strong>I feel like I’m making progress. trying to build a personal interface for myself. (feb 6 2011)<\/p>\n

we are now halfway into 2011<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n