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You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

blog.jim-nielsen.com

31–40 of 466 posts

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#31
post #26
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still encourage you to write though. Writing has seriously transformed the way that I think. I refer to my notes very often too.

How do you know that writing has improved the way that you think? By what metrics did you come to that conclusion? If someone else showed you that by writing their transformed thinking reduced their quality of life, would you be less prescriptive to others?

"prescriptive" is a strong word to apply to an _encouragement_.

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#32
post #25

Don't forget that you are the result of all the past sensory interactions that you experienced in your whole life, people you interacted with, books you read, advertisements, songs, news headlines, etc. Even if you think you don't remember them, at one point in your life it was processed by your brain and may have changed some posterior decisions you made, thus making you what you are now. Since I realized this, I am…

Very close to "I am a product of my environment"

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#33
post #25

Don't forget that you are the result of all the past sensory interactions that you experienced in your whole life, people you interacted with, books you read, advertisements, songs, news headlines, etc. Even if you think you don't remember them, at one point in your life it was processed by your brain and may have changed some posterior decisions you made, thus making you what you are now. Since I realized this, I am…

Hmm. The experiences that changed and benefited me most were least predictable. As a result, I try to manage experiences less, and choose the unknown more.

But in the spirit of what you've said, I try to avoid doing dumb, damaging, or boring things twice.

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#35
post #26
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still encourage you to write though. Writing has seriously transformed the way that I think. I refer to my notes very often too.

How do you know that writing has improved the way that you think? By what metrics did you come to that conclusion? If someone else showed you that by writing their transformed thinking reduced their quality of life, would you be less prescriptive to others?

It would be quite sad if metrics were the only acceptable means of conveying personal experience.

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#36
post #25

Don't forget that you are the result of all the past sensory interactions that you experienced in your whole life, people you interacted with, books you read, advertisements, songs, news headlines, etc. Even if you think you don't remember them, at one point in your life it was processed by your brain and may have changed some posterior decisions you made, thus making you what you are now. Since I realized this, I am…

Karma

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#38
One approach I like is to relax and read the book quickly the first time, don’t take notes or anything. If it’s good, read it again (and again periodically). If not, don’t.

This gives natural spaced repetition on the good stuff, and also you pick up different things in subsequent readings.

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#39
post #25

Don't forget that you are the result of all the past sensory interactions that you experienced in your whole life, people you interacted with, books you read, advertisements, songs, news headlines, etc. Even if you think you don't remember them, at one point in your life it was processed by your brain and may have changed some posterior decisions you made, thus making you what you are now. Since I realized this, I am…

I don't think the blog post necessarily supports this view. You still have your free will.

Your past experiences also teach you what to ignore. You are free to do that to my comment. :)

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#40
post #32
post #25

Don't forget that you are the result of all the past sensory interactions that you experienced in your whole life, people you interacted with, books you read, advertisements, songs, news headlines, etc. Even if you think you don't remember them, at one point in your life it was processed by your brain and may have changed some posterior decisions you made, thus making you what you are now. Since I realized this, I am…

Very close to "I am a product of my environment"

You are a product of how you process and interact with your environment.

Be alert, situationally aware.

Process actively, notice and distill patterns.

Try things. Push the environment.

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