40 things I learnt in 2019
3 min readDec 31, 2019
Some are gist of books I read, some are plain facts while some of these are realisations. All of these impacted my life OS in 2019.
- Many of our fixed views of the world are based on limited samples of reality.
- The last thing that man can admit to himself is that his way of life is arbitrary.
- The true cost of anything is the amount of life you are required to exchange for it.
- Efforts toward “collective immortality” like nationalism satisfy people’s aching need for heroic triumphs over death.
- 6 billion people died in the 20th century and only 0.7 percent were battle deaths.
- Of the 21 worst things that people have ever done to each other, 14 were in centuries before the 20th.
- Living a good life requires us to fill three buckets : contribution, connections and vitality.
- People will live up to the identity you assign to them.
- Love lasts and anger tends to fade.
- The purpose of travel is to break down boundaries and understand what makes us tick.
- Its better to workout 3 times a week than working out 7 days a week.
- Kiritbati is pronounced as Kiribas.
- In France you can marry a dead person.
- Salary is derived from the word Salt.
- On New Year’s Eve, Cubans burn dolls in order to symbolize forgetting bad times and looking forward to new and good times during the New Year.
- By about 3,000 B.C., almost every weaving technique known today had been invented by the Peruvians.
- Peru grows more than 55 varieties of corn.
- Our key to transforming anything lies in our ability to reframe it. Reframe negative experiences.
- Traveling, no matter the distance from home, allows you to detach yourself from what you were taught to think and , instead, become attentive and spontaneous.
- We are all mirror images, sculpted through the reflections we see in other people.
- Regrets of action are generally stronger at first but fade more quickly thank regrets of inaction.
- 2019 has been the best year in global history.
- If you’re offended easily, you’re a bad resource allocator. It’s a waste of energy and attention, which is a greater sin than wasting time.
- Everything meaningful in life is a marathon - meant to test your commitment and will.
- Your life is a reflection of what you feel you deserve.
- Work related factors account for around 120,000 preventable deaths every year in the US.
- Teenagers criticism of their parents are just a way for them to develop a healthy emotional distance.
- Childrens are far more inclined to inspect, examine, question and experiment than adults. Its we who needs to learn from them.
- You can slow down ageing by adopting a low-carb diet with the right proteins and fats.
- Our reality is a simulation since 200,000 years.
- Usually wifi speed is inversally proportional to how scenic the work location is.
- Most of the game is about persistence. It is the most important trait.
- What you dont eat is more important than what you eat.
- Speaking into someones right ear is an effective sales strategy.
- 75% of our emotional reactions are generated by smell.
- We see the world through the lens of our culture and that leads to a lot of misunderstanding.
- We all carry unresolved memories of the past and that prevents from becoming who we really are.
- 98% of all matter in the universe was created within a mere three minutes.
- 45 percent of our behaviours are habitual.
- To use gestures effectively, you should limit your gesturing to the area between your eyes and your belly button, as gestures in this area have the greatest impact.