Trust No One

Everything I learn nowadays I read online. OK, maybe not everything. I still read books. But most of my new knowledge originates from the Internet.

The greatest challenge for me is dodging the fake news. For the most part, I was ignorant to this phenomenon. Then came a president who peddled in fake news like no one before, while blaming every other agency of doing so.

I realised this was a new world, one of information warfare. To fight in a war, you need proper weapons. So I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to weed out the fake news from my life.

I learned of a few ways by which to identify reliable information:

1. Identify the source. Who is the writer? What is their background? What is their agenda? Where is the article hosted?

2. Cross-reference. Is the same information available in other reliable sources? Is it supported? Is it contradicted?

3. Use unbiased fact-checking websites such as snopes.com and FactCheck.org. Background-check those sites, too.

4. Trust no one. The Internet is home to countless charlatans and crooks. The best you can do is suspect and validate.

It’s a crazy world out there, and it’s full of lies. But if you know that, you can be prepared. Don’t let anyone deceive you. And may the truth prevail.

Don’t I Know You From Somewhere?

I have hundreds of contacts on my phone. Over the years I’ve added friends, family, colleagues, clients, recruiters, service providers and many, many other contacts to my phone.

The list has become so long it’s hard to manage. Finding a contact has become like going through the Yellow Pages.

If the number of people on the list wasn’t bad enough, it gets worse. Many of the contacts are duplicates.

Luckily, there are free tools that help you merge those duplicate contacts. They help you find outdated numbers and email addresses. They consolidate the different contact details of a single person in one entry.

On Android you have Cleaner – Merge Duplicate Contacts and quite a few others. Apple’s App Store hosts many such apps too. As always, read the reviews before installing or using these apps.

Google’s contacts app has a built-in tool for this (Menu -> Suggestions -> Clean up duplicates). You can do it via the website: visit Contacts, then open the menu via the icon on the top left, and click “Merge and fix”.

Once done, I’d suggest going over the list periodically. You probably won’t need the number of the plumber you last used 10 years ago. Ciao, Mario!

A Sharp Corner

I am often tempted to take shortcuts. What could possibly go wrong if I don’t wear my seat belt, it’s a short ride anyway. What could possibly happen if I delay scanning this document – I’ll get to it later.

The answer is everything. Everything can go wrong. And often, it will. When it does, it will be ten times more wasteful than all the time saved by cutting corners combined.

I learned this on my flesh. Many times. There’s a reason things should be done a certain way. It took many years of many failed attempts to find the right way to do things.

Many people died from infections before we learned to wash our food. Many documents were lost to power outages before we came up with an auto-save feature.

And yet, people cut corners. Every day. My service providers cut corners. My clients cut corners, too.

But don’t take my word for it. Just imagine your car manufacturer rushing the cars out, skipping the safety tests. Imagine your doctor reusing the gloves from their previous operation. How safe would you feel? Imagine a phone manufacturer taking out the audio jack to save pennies per sale. OK, this one’s just me venting. But imagine the architect planning your home cutting costs on smoke detectors. You get the idea.

I’m not saying I don’t understand the temptation. I do. I’m no saint. I’ve cut corners before, too. In architecture, in code, in life. That’s why I can say it with absolute conviction: don’t cut corners. It’s not worth the cost. Do things properly.

I’ll see you around the corner!

Suck It

I don’t think I’m a messy eater. However, by the end of a meal, there are sometimes some crumbs left on the table. I don’t know how they got there, but somehow they did.

I used to go and get the dishcloth and wipe the table. But that’s a bit of a hassle and a messy ordeal. It’s especially icky if the crumbs were dry and are now a soggy mess. More importantly, if you have a table cloth, a dishcloth doesn’t work very well.

And then my wife introduced me to the kitchen table vaccum. Apparently a lot of people know about these. This post is for the off-chance that you, like me, did not.

These are cute shaped, battery-run vaccums. They’re small and look nice on the table. They’re surprisingly good at sucking up all those random crumbs. And they’re really cheap. If you don’t have a table vaccum yet, I suggest you get one. You can get one here or here.

I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

No Alarms And No Surprises, Please

Very few things can stress me as much as uncertainty.

When a deadline is looming, when a big decision is about to be made… Seconds stretch like hours. I sometimes wish I had a fast-forward button for life.

I’ve been on the other side of the fence, too. I’ve worked sleepless nights to deliver to a deadline. I know that stress too.

In those latter cases, I rarely stopped to think about the client on the other side. They were sitting there, stressed, not knowing whether or not the deadline would be met.

The stress can be so bad that even a successful result doesn’t make up for it.

So having been on both sides of the fence, I learned one thing. Keep the client informed. Even if it’s all going smoothly and according to plan, keep them informed. If it isn’t going well, they should know, too. Not knowing is always the worst option.

Keep your clients in the loop. This is true for friends and family as well.

Cover picture: Charestria – Professional, Filmographer | DeviantArt

Trust Me, You Can Trust Me

I’m more efficient when I work from home. The office has more distractions for me. The commute to the office drains me. The lunch break is longer when I’m in the office.

I know this isn’t true for everybody. But it’s true for many people. Most polls I’ve seen had people preferring some percentage of work to be done from home. Like myself, most also wanted some office time. It’s good to see the people you work with face to face. Team meetings also help resolve some problems.

Companies, on the other hand, seem split. Many want their employees back in the office full time as soon as possible. After this last year, one has to ask himself why.

I can only blame lack of trust. I can’t see how that could be justified. If there’s one thing this last year has proven to businesses, it’s that they can trust their employees. Not that they had reason to doubt that before. But now we have data. We can see whether productivity declined.

My point is this: you have to trust your employees. No healthy system can operate without trust. If you have good reason not to trust your employees, you need to reconsider your hiring process.

Trust your employees. Very few would opt for staying out of the office entirely. Your employees will make the right choice. For themselves, for their team, for their company. Trust them.

And to the employees I say, if your workplace doesn’t trust you, leave. You deserve better. Put your mental health first and leave. It’s fair for you, and it’s just.

This is a new world, people. Adapt and grow, or stay behind.

Optimise For Happiness

What is my goal in life? I guess the easy answer is to be happy. What makes one happy, though?

This is a tough one. Clearly it’s not having fancy things. We get used to anything and soon enough it’s no longer exciting.

I was once presented with the idea that happiness is always there. It is simply hidden behind a curtain. When we do something that makes us happy, we get to glimpse behind that curtain. I won’t go into how they suggested removing the curtain altogether, because it goes into meditation and other ideas I don’t relate to as much.

There is a general consensus that happiness from experiences lasts longer than that from short-term perks. I’ve tried following this approach. I have to say, it feels like it’s working.

So my advice to you is this: focus on creating good memories. Watch a film with people you love. Take a trip somewhere exotic. And whatever you do, be in the moment. Collect as many pieces as you can for your future memory.

Pop Goes The Corn

I love popcorn. Popcorn for me is associated with cinemas and watching movies. I’d usually go through a medium-sized bucket before the movie even started.

I know you’ve probably tried buttered popcorn, salty popcorn, sweet popcorn… None of these are exciting. They’re decent snacks, nothing more.

But there’s a special brand of popcorn that I associate with going to visit my wife in a time that predated our marriage.

We had to be apart for a long time, and I had to fly over to see her. On one of the flights, they served a lovely box with quotes from Alice in Wonderland and the best popcorn I’ve ever tasted.

Ever since that flight, I started bringing a few new flavours with me every time we’d meet and we’d eat them while watching movies.

Joe & Seph‘s popcorn is a premium product. It starts with the aroma. You take it in and can almost taste the spices. Then you take a bite. Every bite has a proper crunch to it. And then comes the explosion of rich flavour. The flavour lingers and intensifies with every bite.

There are savoury flavours, such as the goats cheese and black pepper popcorn, or the blue cheese with walnut & celery one. Such exciting combinations! We particularly enjoyed the olive oil, truffle oil and truffle salt version.

Then there are the sweet flavours. I have to admit, they all taste mostly of caramel. However, every flavour is still distinct and gives you a different experience. From toffee apple & cinnamon to caramel & Belgian chocolate, there’s something for every sweet-tooth.

The range of flavours is unbelievably broad. So while I bet you’ve tried a few variations of popcorn, you’ve not tried anything like this. If you want to treat yourself, you have to give them a try. It’s a mind-popping experience.

I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

It’s All Or Nothing

I dislike negotiations. In my head, it is coupled with dishonesty. Both sides know the value of the goods or services offered. Instead of shaking hands on that value, both try to get a better deal.

I believe that a good deal is one where both sides are equally happy (or unhappy). I also believe it’s much easier to achieve a desired outcome when you are not hungry for food.

This is why I have some simple rules:

– I avoid negotiations unless I can enter them from a position of strength.

– I present my position transparently. All cards are on the table.

– I don’t negotiate. I know my offer is fair, and I am willing to walk away if it is not accepted.

Really, negotiations is a complex art. I’d rather approach that complexity by avoiding it altogether. This is my offer. Take it or leave it.

Kitchen Joe

I like smart solutions. There’s something elegant about a smart solution to a problem. It’s interesting how sometimes we are not even aware of a problem until we see the solution.

One place where I seldom think of the problem before I encounter a solution is the kitchen. I work with what I have, and that’s usually good enough.

But then something changed for me. It started with me looking for a caddy for my dish-soap and sponge. I found the Caddy Sink Area Organiser by Joseph Joseph. I really liked how it addressed everything a caddy should.

So I started exploring Joseph Joseph’s other products. I ended up buying the Elevate Carousel and the measuring cup set, too. All products have a colorful design to them. They’re all made from high quality materials. The design is a matter of personal taste, of course, but I like it. But most importantly, they’re all smart.

So if you want to streamline your kitchen work, check out Joseph Joseph’s products. They stand the heat, and belong in your kitchen.

I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.