Wonders Untold

A blog about life, arts and culture

Of life, arts and culture.

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How I use my iPad

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I use my iPad mainly as a consumption device (i.e. for consuming content). From time to time, I might write a few emails or short articles on it, but that’s not its main function. Also, because of the weird camera placement, I never do video calls on it.

Here are the main ways I use my iPad:

  • watching videos;
  • reading long-form articles;
  • reading sheet music while playing the piano;
  • as a “teleprompter” for my speeches and lectures;
  • playing music while exercising (the iPad Pro has amazing speakers).

In my experience, the iPad is great as a companion device, i.e. next to a laptop. I’m very much of the philosophy that an iPad should do “iPad things”, and a laptop should do “laptop things”.

Of course, if pushed, the iPad (and certainly the Pro models) could also do tasks that are best done on a laptop. However, if one had to do these laptop tasks on a regular basis, it would be more efficient to do them on a laptop. To coin a phrase, “give to the iPad the things that are the iPad’s, and, to the laptop, the things that are the laptop’s”.

Three cheers for GoodNotes 5

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I’ve recently resumed reading long-form technical articles on my iPad.

Not quite sure why I had stopped reading this way, but it’s good to be back doing that.

GoodNotes 5 is an amazing app. I simply import my long-form PDFs into the app, and read them from there. It’s great because the app has amazing markup functionality – you can highlight, take handwritten notes (with the Apple Pencil), add links, add images and other elements, convert handwritten notes into text, search handwritten notes, and a whole lot more.

I really love reading this way. Three cheers for GoodNotes 5.

What I’m reading – January 2023

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I’m normally reading more than one book at a time. This is great for variety, but can lead to “mental clutter”, if such a term exists.

So, for January, I’ve decided to experiment by reading just one book at a time, and making sure I’m done with it before starting another. Coupled with breaking my social media habit, this should lead to a more focused approach for my reading.

I’m currently reading The Power Law – Venture Capital and the Art of Disruption, by Sebastian Mallaby. It appears to have been well researched, and it’s quite an easy read. The author has a smooth storytelling style, and handles the subject-matter well. I’m only a few days into it, but I like this book.

Happy New Year

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And, just like that, 2023 is here.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year, with every blessing for the year ahead.

(An amazing display of fireworks in my neighbourhood. Always good to see.)

I have good plans for the new year, including that I will spend way less time on social media – Twitter, specifically.

One way to ensure success in this is to make sure I have other activities lined up to take Twitter’s place.

And I have a few. I will read more books and play more piano.

A good first step would be to delete the Twitter app from my phone. I will use it only on my iPad or laptop.

It’s not that Twitter is bad, in itself. For me, it just has to be used right. I get a lot of benefit from it – mainly staying up to date with developments in my field of work. However, it is possible to get sucked into all sorts of irrelevant content that ends up wasting one’s time. So my aim is to use Twitter more strategically – to take the good, and sidestep the bad.

It also helps that I have identified what I will do with the time saved. Reading more books and playing more piano will definitely benefit me. I will create some goals around these, so that I can measure (and be encouraged by) my progress in this way.

I’m rooting for myself big time. Looking forward to the challenge, and to the rewards.

Writing apps – 2022

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I’ve experimented with writing apps for as long as I can remember (e.g. see here). Not all of them stick, though. Many are downright unusable, some do not fit my workflow, and a lot tend to be quite distracting – e.g. cluttered with unnecessary features.

But there are some that I have used consistently, and which continue to serve me well. Here are my best writing apps of 2022:

  • Ulysses
  • RoamResearch
  • Drafts 5 (on which I am typing this post, actually. I can also send my posts to the blog from there.)
  • Notion (this app is all things to all men. I use it for several things, including as a writing app.)
  • Apple Notes
  • GoodNotes 5 (I don’t use this one as much as I did in the past, but it’s still useful for taking handwritten notes while doing research.)

I’ll be carrying on with these apps in 2023. I don’t suppose I’ll be replacing any of them. Taken together, they meet all my writing needs. I’m also not looking to add another app to the list. Unless someone comes up with something truly revolutionary. I can’t imagine what that would be, but let’s wait and see.

Questions at the heart of leadership today

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For my end of year retreat, I’ll be reading Leading in a Non-Linear World, by Jean Gomes.

This book poses some of the questions that will become increasingly important in the years ahead. Here are a few of them:

  • “Can we keep working longer and more continuously?”
  • “How will artificial intelligence (AI) or automation change career paths?”
  • “How will a workforce of four very different generations, skill sets, and values synergise, and what does that mean for the future?”
  • “What if decade-old assumptions about the sustainability of our global economic system no longer hold true?”

There are no easy answers to these questions, and a lot will have to do with how we lead. First, how we lead ourselves – for example, what conscious efforts we make in cultivating a mindset that would be of much benefit to us. Also, how we lead our organisations and our communities.

Looking forward to reading this book.

Quiet, by Susan Cain

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Recently been re-reading Quiet.

I first read it several years ago. So many new insights I’m picking up this time.

Of course, re-reading a book often provides new revelations. In the case of Quiet, I think it’s due to increased self-awareness. Some things I glossed over in the past have now taken on much significance. Perhaps it’s because, thanks to increased self-knowledge, some things have become clearer. Or maybe new life experiences have sparked recognition in old places.

Whatever the reason, this book is coming alive in different ways. I still identify with much of what I read before, but these new revelations are precious as well.

I’m sure I will discover more insights when I re-read this book again, a few years down the road. To me, that’s the hallmark of a great book – new treasures every time, something new to marvel at, something new to learn.

Chord progressions

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I am fascinated by piano chord progressions. Quite apart from the musical element, I find the science and art of the whole thing to be quite entrancing. I find it a superb mental exercise working out the progressions – the more complex, the better. I like the mathematical elements – counting up, counting down, the skips, and the steps. I also like the poetic side of it – there is a rhythm to all this. And I like the logical beauty – the patterns that hold their own, even when keys are transposed.

The music is great, but these other things add their magic. It is a rich, fulfilling hobby on its own, even far away from an actual piano. In this sense, the sounds of the piano come as confirmation, a sweet reward for all the mental effort. I like that too.

Reading list – August 2022

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Here’s what I’m reading during August:

The Pyramid of Lies, by Duncan Mavin. This is the story of Lex Greensill, and the collapse of the eponymous bank. The Greensill scandal shook the UK finance industry, and dented the reputation of a former British Prime Minister. So how were things allowed to get so out of hand? Duncan Mavin does a great research job here, and he is an easy storyteller. A good read.

Plus two books I carried over from last month:

  • The Nowhere Office, by Julia Hobsbawm. An interesting book about the new culture of remote working. Great book for managers of organisations as they lead their staff through a massive culture shift.