Learn From My Mistakes

Short story of how I break life chaos into small, solvable problems - 2 min read.

There’s a sushi bar near us. We go a few times a year on random occasions. No judging, okay? They run a “buy one, get one free” promo all year.

The menu is huge.
But we always order the same four things: miso soup, seaweed salad, eel roll, salmon roll. That’s maybe 5% of the menu.

Obviously, this looked like avoiding analysis paralysis.

Ha. Wrong.

Rory Sutherland (executive at Ogilvy) calls it out beautifully: humans often choose the option with the lowest chance of disaster, not the shiniest promise.

In plain English: choose the pretty good all-rounder that avoids “ugh.” It’s not lazy. It’s smart for real life.

Perfect has a ceiling. Life has a floor. Protect the floor first.

If something gave you a good experience, of course you want to repeat it.

That’s how we ended up at the same resort three years in a row. Why risk hard-earned money on unknowns? (My wife’s invention. I just maintained the marriage. If you know, you know.)

Still, I don’t want ruts. (Strong words from a home office.)

So here’s the move.

Build a “Never Again” line.
Default to a new option, but carry your deal-breakers.

• Spicy food? Pass.

• No easy returns? Pass.

• No free hotel breakfast? Fine. I don’t care.

Result: last week I finally tried Korean BBQ. Loved it. Should’ve tried earlier.

Set the bar low.
Exceptional is the exception. That’s why I enter new things with no expectations. “Okayish” won’t disappoint.

• Hotel: If it’s clean, quiet, and near coffee, I’m happy.

• Book or article: If I learn one useful thing, it paid for itself.

• Daily activity: If I move for 20 minutes, it counts. Okay, fine - my personal floor is 30.

Strip the vibes.
Ignore photos and adjectives. Compare only specs that touch my life.

• Running shoes: cushion, width, wet-grip, on sale. Ugly colors welcome.

• Coffee maker: brew time, cleanup steps, filter availability. AeroPress is hard to beat.

• Laptop: RAM, storage, Zoom battery hours, weight. Who am I kidding - macOS that fits the budget. Easiest decision ever.

Perfect makes great trailers. Good enough ships the movie. The floor won’t trend on Instagram, but it quietly gives you good days.

My wallet doesn’t care if the credit card is metal. It cares if cashback hits real categories.

Till next time.

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The surprising secret to flow - 4 min read.

The article maps the two flow killers, boredom and frustration, then fixes them with simple tweaks like hints, partial steps, and "cards learned" style trackers you can see as you work.

Decluttering Your To-Do List: How to Simplify Your Work & Life in 30 Minutes - 5 min read.

When life laughs at your time blocks, try this weekly reset. The article explains why traditional lists fail, then gives a weekly reset that picks three real priorities instead of thirty imaginary ones.

How to lead like a scientist - 2 min read.

Space teams did it first. The Burt Rutan story shows experiments beat hierarchy, even for launching a spaceship. It wraps with a cheat sheet on leading through uncertainty using three habits: learning in public, social flow, and redefining success.

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A deep dive into the quirks, habits, and backstories that shape icons

Cool Facts About Benjamin Franklin

Two Daily Questions: "What good shall I do this day?" in the morning and "What good have I done today?" at night framed his plan and review, placed at wake 5 a.m. and before bed around 10 p.m.

Time-Blocked Day: He followed a written daily schedule with 5 to 7 a.m. for planning and study, two long work blocks, a noon hour for reading and accounts, and 6 to 9 p.m. for order, supper, and reflection. Sleep was a fixed constraint, not a suggestion.

13-Virtues Tracker: He kept a pocket chart with 13 virtues as rows and the week as columns. He targeted one virtue per week, marked slips with a dot, and cycled the set 4 times a year.

Moral Algebra: In 1772 he described a pro and con method where you list both sides, assign weight, then cross out equal reasons over one or two days. The remainder points the decision.

Junto Feedback Loop: In 1727 he formed a 12 person club that met weekly on Friday nights with 24 standard questions. It worked as structured peer review for ideas, plans, and experiments.

Water Instead of Beer: In London print shops he chose water over the usual beer rations and was nicknamed the Water American. He said it kept him stronger at the press and saved coins for books.

Silence to Cut Noise: One of his 13 virtues was Silence. "Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation". Duly noted!

Evening Reset: He ended each day with "put things in their places" before supper. A tidy bench was the default for tomorrow's first task.

Watch-worthy clips

One video that got us thinking, and we think you'll like it too

The tiny word "yet" that flips failure into progress. Dweck shows the brain on mistakes and why process praise beats talent worship.

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