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Connected perceptions: how one view alters another

This TED Talk by Rory Sutherland offers a fascinating perspective on how we understand and assign value to things. Here are two quotes from the talk that really struck a chord with me:

"Choose your frame of reference and the perceived value, therefore the actual value is completely transformed."

"Perception is actually leaky in any case. So if you do something that's perceptually bad in one respect, you can damage the other."

These insights remind us how much our perceptions shape the value we see in the world around us. Perception isn’t just about how we see things; it's deeply interconnected. A negative view in one aspect can easily affect our outlook in others, spreading more widely than we might expect.

This interplay suggests that our perceptions are not isolated incidents. They're part of a larger picture where a single shift can dramatically alter our overall view of reality. Understanding this can help us navigate our perceptions more thoughtfully, potentially transforming how we value everything around us.

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Beyond busy: finding harmony in today's world

I found profound insights in this TED talk by Dorie Clark on how to effectively prioritize, manage time, and navigate the complexities of technology and societal norms to master your sense of busyness.

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Visiontypes

In "The Power of Visiontypes", Marty Cagan shows us how 'visiontypes', a mix of vision and prototypes, are key to creating awesome products. He uses Apple's story, inspired by Xerox PARC's interface, to illustrate how a strong and clear vision can lead to revolutionary tech products. It's a reminder that visionary leaders can turn great ideas into reality, making it a must-read for anyone in Product Management and Product Design.

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What makes a book cover iconic?

There have been hundreds of beautiful or clever or well-designed covers published over the years, but very few have actually made it to cultural icon status. 

Book covers remain the canvas and visual entry into the heart of a classic literary novel. 

Looking at these covers is the opposite of doomscrolling.

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The science of timing

Last week, during a conversation with my team about book recommendations, I brought up another great book by Daniel Pink: When: The scientific approach to perfect timing. 

If you haven’t heard of Daniel Pink, you should watch his ‘The Puzzle of Motivation’ Ted Talk. In my opinion, a masterful speech that includes: 

A powerful opening, which establishes a framework utilized throughout 

Well-timed use of humor 

Powerful conclusion 

And superb delivery 

Now back to the book...

You heard the phrase Timing is everything. And for most of us, timing is based on intuition and guess work. 

For a slim book, ‘When’ brims with a surprising amount of insight and practical advice. I highly recommend you read for yourself. This post is a quick overview but this is not going to do its justice. 

There’s one quote in the book that summarizes the whole thing for me and it’s this:  

"We simply don’t take issues of when as seriously as we take questions of what.” 

Pink starts the book by explaining that we all experience the day in three stages: 

• Peak

• Trough

• Rebound

So our alertness in energy levels increase in the morning, they decline around noon and then they ascend again towards the end of the day. About 75% of us experience the peak, trough and rebound in that order and we will get to the other 25% in a little bit. 

For this 75%, research shows that analytical tasks should happen during that morning peak stage, and that during the trough is when we should work on creative analytical tasks where we are most innovative and creative when we are not at our best. 

So what about the other 25%?

Pink refers to people as being in three different chronotypes. He calls them: 

• Larks - Early risers

• Owls - As you can image are late starters

• And Third Birds - kind of somewhere in the middle.

He describes that 75% as being comprised almost solely of larks and third birds. Owls make up that extra 25%. So this can be due to genes or it can also be due to age, for example: teenagers are often owls as you probably know, and older generations are more “larckey” in nature. 

So whereas Larks and Third Birds typically experience their day as a peak, trough and rebound, Owls are a bit different. Owls experience their day as recovery, trough and peak. 

To summarize we all experience something like a peak, a trough and a rebound, and that trough is the most dangerous time of the day. 

Pink even goes through research that suggests that you should never get an appointment at the hospital during the afternoon trough period, which is crazy. There’s a few other stories and again, I recommend that you read this book. But how can we combat those troughs? 

The author gives us some suggestions for that too. He says that we need to take breaks, and if you are looking for the ideal of a restorative break, consider a short walk outside with a friend during which you discuss something other than work. 

Another insight is that lunch is the most important meal of the day and it helps us combat those troughs that we experience and the most important thing: Don’t eat at your desk (he calls this the ‘Sad desk lunch’. 

Oh wait, there’s more: if you are anything like me, you love a good nap. Research shows naps are super valuable. Listen to this quote:  

“Done right naps can be a shrewd response to the through and a valuable break. Naps deliver two key benefits: 

• They improve cognitive performance

• And boost mental and physical health

But you need to limit the time of the nap to prevent, what he calls, sleep inertia, which is when we wake up feeling really groggy and gross. We should only take naps that are between 10 and 20 minutes. 

Dan recommends a great technique called the ‘nappuccino.’ Ideally after lunch, you have a coffee, then set your timer to 20 minutes. If it takes you seven minutes to fall asleep, you’ll wake up a little later, fully refreshed and with the caffeine just kicking in. 

Over the course of the rest of his book he talks about: 

• Beginnings

• Midpoints 

• Endings

Beginnings

It turns out that beginnings are much more important than we realize. For example: the school start time for teenagers and college-age students (the owls) should be later. Some studies even suggest that start time should be as late as 11am for optimal performance with those students. Right now the average start time in the US is 8am and that can have an impact on grades and performance…really interesting data. 

Midpoints

Can cause a slump where we lose interest and we get tired, like when we are in the middle of something where it feels like the end is nowhere to be seen and you’re just struggling alone. But they can also cause sparks, where we become more motivated and propelled forward. 

Our lives follow a general slump, for example, in the late 30s and early 40s and we are actually statistically at our slumpiest in our early 50s but then we rise up again later on in life to get to a point where we are actually in the happiest point of our life. 

There are three ways to turn an slump into a spark: 

Be aware of those midpoints. It will help you get out of it. 

Imagine that you are behind but only by a little bit that we can catch up. It really propels us to move forward. 

And finally, endings

Pink talks particularly about nine enders, so people who are 29, 39, 49 and so on. Apparently there’s a disproportionate number of nine enders who take on things like first-time marathons and things like that. 

We see the end of a period of life and we want to make sure that we are achieving so definitely a food for thought. 

Here’s another quote:  

“At the beginning of a pursuit, we are generally more motivated by how far we’ve progressed. At the end, we are generally more energized by trying to close the small gap that remains. 

I know it’s true for me but I’m wondering if it’s true for you as well? It definitely resonates with me. 

It’s also interesting that in that age-old debate of do you want the good news or the bad news first. There’s a fairly definitive answer based on research, and that’s that you should always give the goos news last. Given the choice, humans prefer endings that elevate. 

Conclusion

Hopefully by now I convinced you that time is not an art. Timing is really a science. And we can use that science to make better decisions. 

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Building positive habits (and sticking to them)

New year’s resolutions, a new you, financially responsible, fit, new skillsets, more organized… Did you join the 80% resolution makers who fail, or will you make them stick?

This failure is attributed to us being unprepared to change habits, particularly bad habits. Scientists, use the beautiful description of cultural procrastination to describe our annual stampede towards reinvention.

A couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to learn about B.J. Fogg’s 3 Tiny Habits process. Through his work at Stanford’s Persuasive Technology Lab, he has identified 3 factors that will cause long term behavior change:

Option A: Have an epiphany

Option B: Change your context (what surrounds you)

Option C: Take baby steps

3 steps to new habits:

Step 1 - Make it tiny: To create a new habit, you must first simplify the behavior. Make it tiny, even ridiculous. A good tiny behavior is easy to do —and fast. Examples: Floss one tooth, walk for 5 minutes, do two pushups.

Step 2 - Find a spot: Find a spot in your existing routine where this tiny new behavior could fit. Put it after some act that is a solid habit for you, like brushing teeth or eating lunch. One key to a new habit is this simple: You need to find what it comes after.

Step 3 - Train the cycle: Now focus on doing the tiny behavior as part of your routine — everyday, on cycle. At first, you’ll need reminders. But soon the tiny behavior will get more automatic. Keep the behavior simple until it becomes a solid habit. That’s the secret to success.

That’s it! No more steps. “But wait!” you might say. “What about the full behavior? The tiny habit is not enough.”

The good news is your tiny habit will naturally expand to the bigger behavior. Just keep your tiny habit going. Eventually, without much effort, you’ll be doing the full behavior. Life lesson: Believe in baby steps.

Using 3 Tiny Habits made me feel like I could change and inspired me to continue. This year, my only new year’s resolution was to make 3 tiny habits each week. I’ve committed to mixing new and ongoing habits, and somehow I’ve started to tame my challenges with work/life balance, fitness, reading, learning new skills, etc.

Give it a go – it’s fun and it works!

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Brainstorming meetings: myth vs reality

Myth: In brainstorming sessions, your best ideas come early. Reality: Truly good ideas require time, work, & digging. Takeaway: False beliefs about creativity make us less creative. If you’re struggling, keep going.

Keep Brainstorming—Your Best Ideas Are Still to Come

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How meditation changed my life

I’ve been playing with the idea of Meditation for some time now. I felt like I had too much going on in my head. Too many thoughts. Confusion. I needed some way to quiet the noise. Meditation has some famous advocates like Oprah, Tim Ferris, and Paul McCartney to name a few. 

So I went to the Headspace app for guidance as I had no idea where to start. I learn best when I have a plan to follow. Searching through Youtube videos were not working for me, so I bit the bullet, paid the Headspace subscription fee and got started. 

The app has a Basics 1–3 pack that they recommend you do, although you have access to the other programs that niche down to areas of your life that you want to address; Anxiety, Focus, Stress, Health, and so on. So I went with the Basic pack to get a foundation. Each pack covers ten days, slowly reducing the prompts to a point where you can meditate by yourself without being told what to do. 

The first week was HARD. I felt myself getting easily distracted. Random songs and silly things would pop into my head. The great thing about the app was that it was constantly telling you that it was normal for your thoughts to wander. Sometimes I felt like they knew exactly when my random thoughts were gonna come through, prompting me to come back to the moment. It was still frustrating and I skipped a day or two out of intimidation. But wasn’t that the purpose? To deal with the confusion? The clutter? So I stuck with it. From about the end of week two, I really started to get the hang of it. 

At the end of third week, not only did I enjoy it, I looked forward to it. I set 6:10 am as my meditation time, before eating breakfast. I felt myself slowly taking back control of my thoughts. 

At the end of the Basics package — at four weeks — I recognized 3 significant changes: 

1. I paid more attention

Meditation is a lot about being in the present. Embracing the NOW. I saw, heard and smelled things that I would usually ignore. I noticed people and situations I would not pay attention to. I also paid more attention to my body. When I felt tension. When I felt pain somewhere. When I felt stressed. I was able to recognize it and act on it. Mindfulness allowed me to probe a bit more, trying to find a link between how I was feeling physically and mentally. 

2. I was slower to anger

This was the first thing I recognized. I would not get angry with my wife when we got into disagreements. I was more composed dealing with the people I work with. My wife even said, “You’re more Zen.” I always thought of myself as patient and calm but meditation allows you to see how much you can still improve in controlling your emotions. 

3. I regained focus easier

When I was at work and my thoughts would stray, I’d find myself “bringing it back to the present moment” like the prompts in the meditation sessions. This allowed me to get more done over time and in larger, focused spurts. This was especially helpful with time and energy intensive work that I do daily. Focus is still something I struggle with, but I’ve made small strides thanks to the work I did in Headspace. 

You can practice Mindfulness almost anywhere

Whenever you feel the need to take ten minutes to meditate, you can. When I felt a little overwhelmed at work, I’d use a few minutes to be still and meditate. If I missed the session in the morning, I take some time during the day. It’s becoming a go-to mental salve for a lot of frustrating, tense moments I was going through. 

If you are thinking of taking up meditation, I strongly recommend you do. It’s the best thing you could do for your mind.  

As healthy eating and exercise is taking care of the body, meditation in all its forms is taking care of the mind.  

I have no affiliation to Headspace. There are other apps out there such as Calm that you can use. I just felt that the Headspace app was great for making mindfulness easy and beneficial and wanted to share that with you. Give it a shot! 

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100 years of robots

Here's a short and engaging visual narrative of the 100th anniversary of robots by the WSJ. What's your favorite robot?

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What are you assuming people already know?

Technology is ubiquitous, and more so every day. It’s transforming almost everything we do, and the pace of change is only accelerating. But for all that progress, technology is often not as simple and reliable as what it replaced. It should be helping us live better lives and get more done, but instead can be a frustrating mess.

I’m a digital product designer and a I love gadgets — but I want to take a step back and point out something obvious: most people have no idea how any of these things work, and are already hopelessly confused by the tech they have.

If you help people with tech issues at any level – whether you’re building an app, providing IT support, or you’re just the smartest person in the family – you can’t assume that anyone knows anything about technology.

The tech industry is built on an ever-increasing number of assumptions: that you have a good understanding of computer, that saying “enter your Wi-Fi password” means something to you, that you understand what an app is, that you have the desire to manage your Bluetooth device list, that you’ll figure out what USB-C dongles you need, and on and on.

What I’ve noticed recently is that the tech industry is starting to make these assumptions faster than anyone can reasonably be expected to keep up.

Here’s a list of reasonable misconceptions/questions about tech I heard from friends and family of all ages and interests in tech: 

What’s the difference between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi?

What’s the difference between two-factor and a password manager?

Why isn’t there a single remote that controls everything for my TV?

Does Alexa always listen to you like Facebook?

Why bluetooth is so confusing and flaky?

How do I keep track of what my kid is watching on YouTube?

Why does Apple TV search find iTunes and Hulu but not Netflix?

Why can’t Siri play Spotify? 

What iCloud is, or what the difference is between your AppleID, your iCloud ID, and iCloud password 

You can AirPlay from an iOS device and Chromecast from an Android device, but you can’t share between them

Not knowing the difference between iMessage and SMS, or what iMessage is except “blue bubbles”

Why does it say live in the corner when I take a photo? 

What do I do with this smart home device?

Face recognition, thumbprint ID, Keychain, LastPass, Dashlane... what are all these supposed security-enhancing tools?

I came across this quote that you might relate:

“Nothing derails setting up a parent’s new gift like asking them for their iCloud password”

Tech Trade Shows, such as CES, are great for seeing a little glimpse of the future, but real lives in the present are messy and complicated.

Assuming that anyone cares about downloading one more app or creating one more secure password is a huge and potentially dangerous mistake. It’s fun to look at new products and check out far-fetched concept touchscreen refrigerators, but the most important questions we can ask right now are actually the simplest: how does it work? How do you set it up? Is all of that secure?

Most people carry a computer around in their pocket and everyone’s lives are more dependent on technology than ever. Actually asking if things work should be a foundational question, not an afterthought. 

Why is it so hard for these tech companies to just explain what’s going on?”

Don’t assume anything about the technical knowledge of the people that you’re designing for.

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When we start to listen to other people's point of view, your point of view gets broader and your blindspots disappear

Alan Cole

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The notion of inconvenience is very different in different parts of the world

As Uber expanded into Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, it faced a major problem: The design that helped make it a powerhouse wasn’t as effective in these new markets. 

The process of building Lite was an exercise in abandoning assumptions about how people use technology and asking them directly.

The technological constraints and customer insights made them move away from building their entire app around a map from those markets and solve the problem in a very elegant way. 

I love the vertical progress indicator: It supports the arrival time and connects to a button to ‘See on map’ if needed...pretty clever.

For these new markets, Uber really stripped down the app so that it would only take up five megabytes of space...they even replaced the brand type with the Android default font to optimize performance. 

A great example of delivering core function over branding & visual, but not sacrificing visual appeal.

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Fiery sky. This evening arriving at home. A reminder that no matter what happens, every day can end beautifully. (at Carlsbad, California)

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Just 3 months before #911 happened. I'm the one in white (with my head shaved) along with two friends. I was on my early twenties and my first visit to #NYC. Today is a good day to remember what really matters...more love less hate. #neverforget

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When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates.

Thomas Monson

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The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.

Albert Einstein

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Curiosity and passion

What sparks your curiosity and what does that say about you? I think this is far more useful a question than "What is your burning passion?" Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love, puts it this way:

“Passion is a tower of flame, but curiosity is a tiny tap on the shoulder — a little whisper in the ear that says, 'Hey, that's kind of interesting…' Curiosity is therefore a lot easier to reach at at times than full-on passion — and the stakes are lower, easier to manage. The trick is to just follow your small moments of curiosity. It doesn't take a massive effort. Just turn your head an inch. Pause for a instant. Respond to what has caught your attention. Look into it a bit. Is there something there for you? A piece of information? For me, a lifetime devoted to creativity is nothing but a scavenger hunt — where each successive clue is another tiny little hit of curiosity. Pick each one up, unfold it, see where it leads you next. Small steps. Keep doing that, and I promise you: The curiosity will eventually lead you to the passion.”