“I haven’t got much done today, just lying down, playing with cats, browsing Twitter”
Rajeshwari: “Shivam, you shouldn’t feel guilty about not working, *you should appreciate leisure*”
“Ah! What have I become lately, you’re right”
Have you ever found yourself guilty of not being productive? Not thinking about growth and just resting or having fun? Just walking and not listening to a podcast/audiobook? 😅
I love how Paul Millerd has written extensively about leisure in his essays and book.
We mistake leisure for idleness and work for creativity.
This lack of rest is not necessarily adding to productivity. Pang also makes the case that some of the most successful people in history did not work that much. Their lives were filled with leisure, activity, and rest.
Charles Darwin, for instance, did most of his work in a few hours a day in the morning. Here is how his day looked:
8:00: Work
9:30: Read mail and write letters
10:30: Tend to birds, greenhouse, or perform experiments
12:00: Take a long walk
1:00: Lunch & answer some letters
3:00: Nap
4:00: Take another walk
4:30: A little more work
5:30: Dinner
Depending on how you slice it, Darwin did about 2.5 to 5 hours of work on a typical day, took a nap, and went for a couple of walks — yet he still had plenty of time to publish 19 books.
Thanks to the reminder by my Rajeshwari, I’m making sure that I don’t put myself in total work mode. It’s sad that the world around us glorifies “hustle” culture and equates hard work with success. More hours equals more results.
Though things are changing, younger generations are demanding healthier work environments, relationships, +space to be themselves. This will always be scoffed at by the older generations that were forced to sacrifice authenticity and their emotional health. Resentment must go somewhere.
Let's go to curated reads and other pieces for this week.
1 // Tinder for Indian demographic
I loved the insightful UX teardown by Dharmesh Ba on "FRND: tinder for India". Dating culture isn't still prevalent in India. It's not uncommon for adults to opt for an arranged marriage. While tinder satisfies the western need to find a date, the Indian app FRND caters to the need to make friendships.
2 // What I Learned as a Product Designer at Apple
Ever wanted to work at apple? Andrea shared the lessons she learned while working as a product designer at apple.
Andrew Clark@acdlite
"Internal Facebook tool, as a start up" is one of my favorite categories. I don't even need to look at the about page to know where the founder used to work.
statsig.com
Statsig | Product Observability, now in real-time
4:07 AM · Feb 11, 2023
6 Reposts · 108 Likes
Take anything that a big company spends millions of dollars building internally, and “export” that as a stand-alone product for any company to use for a monthly fee.
Example: Facebook built a crazy “feature flag” tool internally, so they could roll out features but turn them off if they broke anything. So a few engineers from FB quit their job and created “Launch Darkly” to offer that product as a service (it’s now worth ~$3B)
Daniel Vassallo@dvassallo
Wrecking your life for your business is not success; it’s foolishness. Just like the laser eyes.
Kevin O'Leary aka Mr. Wonderful @kevinolearytv
I don't understand all the blowback because of my comments on #hardwork #commitment & #sacrifice If you are not willing to work 25 hours a day 8 days a week don't bother asking me for an #investment. You are not an #entrepreneur Get a job working for a competitor as an employee! https://t.co/ZhUnhwERny
6:38 AM · Feb 15, 2023
8 Reposts · 180 Likes
The only function of a business is to improve your lifestyle. Period.
“If work dominated your every moment, would life be worth living”
Upload screenshots of apps or websites and convert them into editable mockups in a matter of seconds, all with the power of AI., Checkout UI wizard (thanks Yash for sharing this)
Have a great week,
Peace ✌🏽
— Shivam