Essays

The idea of using gamification concepts to improve life is not new. However, while gamification elements are used by most personal development apps, the ideas are not that prevalent that people consciously think about the concepts outside of UI or game design. I was fascinated by the application of gamification concepts since I read a book by Steve Lamb, called Gamify Your Life, years ago. I was a teenager back then and wanted to level up my life in a fun way, hence, gamifying my life sounded perfect....

We desperately seem to want things to be complicated. How do I lose weight? Is it by eating at the right time or the right macronutrient combination, exercising right before a meal, and doing some pushups while drinking at least two liters of water each day and supplementing with some pills and detox smoothies? Or is it by eating fewer calories than I use each day? The path to the most common goals such as health, wealth, and loving relationships is fairly clear and reflected in the consistency of fundamental advice in each of those areas....

“It is man’s duty to live in conformity with the divine will, and this means, firstly, bringing his life into line with ‘nature’s laws’, and secondly, resigning himself completely and uncomplainingly to whatever fate may send him.” Lucius Annaeus Seneca A core principle in the stoic philosophy is to focus on what you can control and accept the rest. There are two benefits to doing this Focusing on what you can control puts your limited resources to the best use because they actually have an impact....

There is nothing more important than understanding how reality works and how to deal with it. Ray Dalio, Principles Whatever you want to do in life it’s bounded by reality. You can challenge what’s thought to be impossible and reach for the stars, but ultimately, dreams and ideals are only as good as they are rooted in solid ground. Unfortunately, seeing things for what they are is not as simple as it sounds....

What does it mean to be rational? Many might think of computers – pure logic. But I don’t think it’s about keeping your thinking emotion-free or being unempathetic. Instead, I subscribe more to how Eliezer Yudkovski describes rationality. In fact, he describes two types, epistemological and instrumental. Epistemological rationality is all about truth. How accurate are your beliefs about the world? Instrumental rationality is more goal-oriented and describes how to systematically achieve results....