Wonders Untold

A blog about life, arts and culture

Of life, arts and culture.

About / Blog / Contact

In praise of Notion templates

By

Three cheers for whoever invented the software behind Notion templates, in particular the button that allows you to create your own templates.

I’m a massive fan of this feature. One way I use it is to create a weekly goals sheet, which sets out all the things I want to achieve in any particular week.

My goals sheet has different categories relating to my personal and work goals, and also shows how these tie into my quarterly goals. As this is a document I fill in every week, I have created a Notion template in the form of a questionnaire. At the start of every week, I simply click a link, and a brand new questionnaire automatically appears. I then fill this in with my goals for the week.

Without the ability to create a template, I’d have had to create this questionnaire from scratch every week. I’m glad I don’t have to do that, and can simply focus on filling in my goals for the week.

Notion is an amazingly versatile app, and the ability to create templates does wonders for creativity. Five golden stars for this incredible feature.

Madoff on Netflix

By

Currently watching the Bernie Madoff documentary on Netflix.

I’m on the second episode, and, so far, I like the series.

It is well made, if a bit slow in the storytelling. Great video and camera footage, does a good job in complementing the narration. They’ve also included a lot of footage of Madoff’s testimony during his deposition. Astounding stuff.

Ridiculous how easy it was for Madoff to get away for many years with such a massive Ponzi scheme.

And it appears that lessons have not yet been learnt. Recent happenings at Theranos and FTX clearly prove that point. One wonders how (over and over again) it is possible for people to commit fraud on such a large scale, and go undetected for such a long time. And we can be sure that there are more cases, yet to come to light.

So what does this say about our regulatory agencies, about the robustness of our financial systems, about our willingness to suspend disbelief when something looks too good to be true?

So much damage caused by the greed of fraudsters. Sympathies for all who have suffered from this.

Writing apps – 2022

By

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.

Quiet, by Susan Cain

By

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.

Reading list – August 2022

By Leave a Comment

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.