Random Thoughts

I am exhausted these days. Part of it is the weather, part of it the days are getting short, and part is because I didn’t spend a single day at home in long time. I am an extrovert so this normally isn’t a problem, but this has now been the case for few months. I need a break.

One good thing I learned recently about good writing is to not use exaggeration words like “too” or “very”. The first sentence in this post was originally “I am too tired these days”, but instead I replaced “too tired” with “exhausted”. I have been doing this for some time and it makes the sentences sound better. One great short read about improving your writing is Scott Adam’s “The Day You Became A Better Writer“. I read it every few months.

I started taking Vitamin D. I didn’t know I have severe deficiency until I did a blood test. I didn’t have the symptoms people are talking about like being tired. I do have lack of focus, but I am blaming this on my smartphone addiction and not Vitamin D. Let’s see if this would have any effects on focus.

I am currently juggling between four books. Venture Deals, The Manager’s Path, The Black Swan, and The book of Why.

Venture Deals is good but heavy. Not the type of book you read/listen to in bed. If you want to benefit from it you have to read it slowly and take notes with the most important parts you want to summarize. It is also one of these books that will have beneficial parts at each stage of building a company. Not all of it is relevant at the beginning but some parts are more important at some stages than others.

The Manager’s Path has been recommended at work by multiple people. My manager even made it a must read for the leads in our department. I took a copy from one of the leads and currently trying to read it. It is becoming more important as I have a new product colleague joining and I will be responsible for bringing her up to speed.

I already talked earlier about The Black Swan and The Book of Why. They both are opposite of each other. The Black Swan claims you can’t understand causality and life is more random than we think it is. The Book of Why claims the opposite, that there is now a language for understanding causality. I am half way through the former, and just started with the latter.

Tomorrow is another Product Monday post. It will be a short one. I have few long form drafts but I won’t be able to finish any of them until tomorrow.