I write a daily newsletter about mental health, physical health and productivity. Sprinkled with real time stories from my life, I'm on this journey just as much as you are. See you inside!
The Cooldown - Getting another person's attention & why I write and exercise
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Today I woke up and realised that I coincidentally named this weekly series, The Cooldown, after Formula 1's cooldown room. In F1, the top three drivers are required to head to the cooldown room at the end of each race, before walking out onto the podium to celebrate in front of thousands of adoring fans. It's in the cooldown room where they get to watch race highlights, chat with each other (assuming they're not already mortal enemies), and catch a breather. I have loved F1 ever since I was three so I like how things have come full circle. In today's Cooldown:
Quick tip on getting another person's attentionThat’s why I tell my students that, if you’re trying to sell something, don’t start with “Do you have a few minutes to talk?” Instead ask, “Is now a bad time to talk?” Either you get “Yes, it is a bad time” followed by a good time or a request to go away, or you get “No, it’s not” and total focus.
Never Split the Difference, by Chris Voss
Quote resurfaced using Readwise Another daily newsletter I'm readingCreative ChatGPT PromptsThis one shares some interesting ChatGPT prompts you can mess around with. The one that stood out this week for me was on "How well does AI know you?", you can paste the prompt below: Can you rate your knowledge of me on a scale of 0 (you know nothing about me) to 10 (you definitely know enough to deeply personalize any prompt I give you to my specific attributes)? Then, let's play a game, where you provide 5 hypotheses about me (things you don't "know" but can possibly infer), in decreasing order of certainty, such that you feel 95% certain about the first hypothesis, 75% about the second, 50% about the third, 25% about the fourth, and 10% about the fifth. With each statement, briefly justify your certainty including both evidence, but also justification of why you are uncertain. Longer article I enjoyedWrites and Write-NotsThe reason I write is the same reason I try to exercise consistently: neither are necessary in today’s world, which makes them extremely valuable skills that will disappear without practice. Here's a short blurb from the article that sums it all up: In preindustrial times most people's jobs made them strong. Now if you want to be strong, you work out. So there are still strong people, but only those who choose to be. It will be the same with writing. There will still be smart people, but only those who choose to be. Now that I'm ending it on this note, it looks like I've set myself up for accountability here - time to head off for my Sunday morning workout or you'll be rubbing this in my face. Talk tomorrow! Nicholas Ng |
Fit for Life & Work
I write a daily newsletter about mental health, physical health and productivity. Sprinkled with real time stories from my life, I'm on this journey just as much as you are. See you inside!
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