The nights are getting darker
Taking out teeth hurts
Hi everybody. Hope the turn of the season has treated you well.
Not the best title for a newsletter based on The Sun being Out, is it? Unfortunately, the night sky has been setting in much earlier this week as we all long for the turning of the clocks we all love…
Anyways, let’s try and stay positive. The team I support in the Indian (cricket) Premier League, Chennai Super Kings, have made it 3 in 3, ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ is back and Christmas is a week closer.
Coming back to my life, my Maths test went well; it was on circle theorems which, if you know what they are, aren’t too difficult to get your head around. It’s just knowing which one applies to which question.
What saved me on Q7 was something I recommend everybody does in their Maths GCSEs: check if there is a circle theorem question (there definitely will be, and you’ll find it at the end of the paper), put 7 bullet points (for the 7 theorems) and write down 1 or 2 words about each one. They’ll act as prompts and you can work your way through them if you’re struggling for which one to use.
You might think, “I’ll do it when I get there”. But, if you have a (hopefully not) bad first half, your brain might just freeze and you won’t be able to reproduce them. Whereas at the start, your mind is fresh and isn’t carrying any baggage - get it down onto paper, it’s just how the mind works.
I also had 2 teeth taken out (my 2nd pre-molars on both right top and bottom for any dentists in the audience) on Tuesday and am having 2 more next Tuesday, in preparation for me having braces done on Friday (yay). Shoot me a reply with any tips on how I can navigate the week after having them fit in.
In terms of something useful I was going to give you, I had an idea of something I could say earlier in the week. Alas, I’ve forgotten it and still can’t restore it from the large-mouthed brain bin.
But fear not, even in failure, there is something to be learned. If you are like me and have an (obsession) interest in productivity, you might have come across the ‘Getting Things Done’ or ‘GTD’ methodology, formulated by David Allen. I recently read his Teens book on the subject and was fascinated. I am yet to implement all the ideas in it though.
However, one that has definitely had helped me enormously is the idea of ‘Quick Capture’. Allen writes, "Our mind is for having ideas, not for storing them” and so whenever you have an idea of something you need to do in the future, something that you need to remember, you need to ‘capture’ it. This could be in your diary (when I’m at my desk), a post-it (when I’m at school or studying at a different desk. Don’t write on your hand.) or your phone (if you can). This way, it isn’t lost.
I know that this might be difficult but it has definitely helped me remember things. And this is the reason, Mum, I suddenly storm to my desk sometimes - to ensure I don’t forget it!
The irony of it is, I thought when I got the idea for today’s issue, “Oh, I should Quick Capture this before I forget.” But I must have been doing something else (I was probably just being lazy) and didn’t. And the productivity gods laid me a punishment.
Let’s wrap this up quickly.
Book of the week 📖
Trudging through “Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World”. It’s a good book but I (my dad) have lost the CD at the end so I haven’t been able to try any of the meditations.
Podcast of the week🎙️
Hilarious and curiosity-replenishing, in equal measure. Here’s an episode from ‘Teach Me A Lesson’ about languages.
Article of the week📰
Dug this one from the archives. It’s a long one (with a clickbait-y title) but fascinated 13yo Adi - In the Future, Our Attention Will Be Sold
Quote of the week💬
“To think is easy. To act is hard. But the hardest thing in the world is to act in accordance with your thinking.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I’ll see you next week.
Adi
P.S. if you’re wondering why the newsletter is called ‘The Sun’s Out’, that’s for another day.