Learning Nerd’s Diary #15 🤗

Hi folks!

Welcome back to the the Learning Nerd’s Diary.

It’s been a great week! I felt energised and inspired across work, personal projects and in the kitchen this week. Super pumped to share snippets of them here - lets dive right in!

Tetris vs Snake Mindset

My school was fairly radical for its time. One of the biggest reasons is because there was no competition, EVER. They believed that your biggest competition is your previous self.

I spent 14 years in this system and it really shaped the way I look at the world and people around me. So imagine my surprise when I landed up in college and realised that most people are actually quite competitive and you can’t really blame them.

Most schools believe in what I call a Snake Mindset to learning. The real world is quite different though. In the real world, the Tetris Mindset to learning rules.

Curious to know what this means? Check it out here.

Coolest Things I Learnt This Week

DI Why: Doing-it-yourself is overrated. Now before you go all out and pick a bone with me, just a reminder that I went to design school and that made me champion the DIY camp for years. From hammering a mask out of an aluminium sheet to using a planar to even out a piece of wood - I have done it all. All that time in the workshop taught me how hard it is to make a single shelf. It made me value woodworkers so more than I did before.

So many times we feel like we can do something on our own. What we forget is that there is an opportunity cost to learning and without a coach, there is a ceiling to growth. So while we need to be aware, we don’t need to take the mantel of being experts - not for everything.

Read the full essay here.

I was not kidding..

Hard Fun: I started a 30 day Core Challenge this week - a 10 mins core workout everyday, 5 days week for 6 weeks. I was having a conversation with a friend on why I love Crossfit - everyday on the mat is a new challenge and I continue to be surprised with what my body can do. I get to learn something new (which I LOVE!) and stay fit while I’m at it. It’s the perfect state of ‘flow’ or as I like to call it, hard fun.

In other news, I hit a personal record this week. Here is a peak -

Virtual Hugs: This week has also seen an outpour of love and encouragement from people. People have reaching out saying that they look forward to the Diary and my writing. I am SO grateful, and the appreciation motivates me to show up every week.

Thank you for letting me air my thoughts without being judged. And thank you for being here (and letting me know you’re there!)