Issue #226 | Subscribe

I was watching the K-drama Twenty Five Twenty One when I saw a beautiful scene where a father explains how skills work to his daughter.

When Na Hee-do, a rising star in Korean fencing, felt sad about her recent match performance, her father elegantly explained that skills don't progress linearly. Instead, they progress like a staircase: a bump followed by a plateau:

Our job is to keep practising, making 1% improvements every day and eventually break out of this plateau.

This analogy doesn't just work in sports. It applies to progress in every corner of our lives.

Significant improvements in our skills at work, scientific and technological breakthroughs, or compounding knowledge gains occur in bursts after a gruelling period of minuscule, often invisible progress.

I've talked about the “messy middle” in goals in an article a few years ago. And we can apply the same philosophy to interpreting and handling progress outside our regular goals.

So, the next time you feel stuck and feel like you aren't making progress, remember the staircase analogy.

You'll gain a perspective that'll help you eventually reach the progress stage that you're longing for.

In Today's Cover: People in Japan celebrate Obon around August 13th to 16th to pay respects to their ancestors.

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Before you move on to the rest of this newsletter issue, here are a few words from:

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Your Next Read

Thriving

Pause

Moving fast and hustling on often brings diminishing gains. To make meaningful progress and stay true to our goals, we have to learn to pause when needed. This book describes how.

Apps & Services

Little Snitch

Control how apps send your data

Most apps we use today continuously send data from our system to offshore servers. Usually, this is needed and harmless, but sometimes, apps might sneakily transfer your personal data for advertising or harm. This app helps you notice and block such transfers. Available on macOS for €59 one-time. Hulry Plus members get flat 20% off on a license. Become a member to access more deals like this.
PamPam

Create beautiful travel & meetup maps

This app is so fun to plan with. Quickly generate maps with points of interest in a city you're travelling to or around your neighbourhood using natural language, like “Plan a day trip in Tokyo.” You can adjust the AI-marked pins, add more places, and share entire guide maps with friends or clients. Available on the Web and is free for basic use.
Feeeed

Make your own feed

Instead of being served a big-tech controlled feed, build your own using this app. Add RSS feeds, weather updates, photo memories, website clips and more to form a feed that's genuinely useful to you. Available on iOS and iPadOS for free

Handy Shortcut

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Clear formatting of selected cells in Google Sheets.

Interesting Reads

The Cure for Your Thinking Addiction

28 min read

I’m guilty of often overthinking little things that hold no significance in the grand scheme of affairs. Maybe you have, too. This piece deconstructs this tendency and gives a checklist of things to do to stop overthinking every little thing.
The 250-Year-Old Company that Survived by Refusing to Lay People Off

8 min read

As many big companies rush to replace humans with AI, this story highlights the importance of keeping humans in the loop. This is how we should build AI systems in companies: “The system serves the craftsman, but the craftsman does not serve the system.”
Why Is Everyone In Tech So Sad?

18 min read

I agreed with Aaron on so many points in this wonderfully written piece. If you’re in any knowledge work, this thought-provoking piece might interest you.
The Adults Don’t Exist

5 min read

We often look up to our role models and believe they have it all figured out. George’s explanation of “adult syndrome” is a good reminder that every seemingly stable adult is figuring the world out like a child.

Watch Next

Montana shares practical tips about how to exude confidence in life in this video.

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