Five Things: June 2020

Jun 28, 20

  • I learnt the difference between deep work and flow
    • flow comes from applying a honed skill to a difficult task- it is a pleasurable state.
    • deep work on the other hand, may not be pleasurable.
    • you need deep work in an area to eventually be able to achieve flow states in that same area.
    • if we compare them using Mihály Csíkszentmihályi's 5 criteria for flow states, deep work may lack the skill/challenge match and fast feedback components.
  • Some experiments:
    • I started keeping a list of open questions that I repeatedly come back to. e.g. "who are my greatest intellectual influences?"
    • This is in tandem with another list of twelve favorite problems and questions
  • Resources I love:
    • A History of Clojure by Rich Hickey was a great overview of the philosophy, design decisions and lineage of the language.
      • select quotes
        • The primary information model should not live in any application program.
        • Not all isomorphisms are viable alternatives.
        • In Clojure, invoke-ability is an abstraction, not limited to functions.