Hey there!
How are you? I for one had a pretty ‘eventful’ past week. My laptop of so many (read five) years stopped working. Apart from the fact that I was deeply saddened by this (I am a little too attached to my gadgets🙈), it meant that I now had to find and understand a new video editing software (I also haven’t been able to put up YouTube videos 😔). All this while, I had been using iMovie and it’s a pretty easy and straightforward application to handle especially for beginners such as myself. But since that option is not available to me anymore, I had to find an alternative. So,
One Thing I Learned
After some browsing and tens of review videos later, I chose DaVinci Resolve as my next video editing software. I have only been using this for a week but I am totally amazed by its color correction and audio capabilities. I will put out a full review once I explore all its features and get a better hang of the software.
Oh and on a side note, I took the matter into my own hands when the folks at Apple Service Center didn’t prove to be of much help. And now I am on my way to learn if I can fix this on my own. I think it’s gonna go one of two ways, either I will fix it and be proud of it for years or I will break my laptop and it will be a warning to not try to fix my own Apple product. 😌
One Tool I Recommend
I am always on the lookout to find apps/tools that enhance my productivity. I have tried many apps for task management, calendar, note-taking, habit tracking, time tracking, email, etc. In the quest for finding an app to incorporate structure into my daily routine, I came across Habitica. Habitica is unique for using gamification to help you get things done. If you are an avid gamer, this RPG-styled productivity app would be a natural draw for you. Habitica has many of the same recurring themes as other RPGs: you choose a class, complete quests, defeat bosses and mini-bosses, gather loot and gold, upgrade equipment, and collect pets and mounts. Although it’s more about productivity than playing a game, Habitica is fun to play and does a good job of turning your to-do’s and objectives into real-life quests to advance your in-game hero. It is available as both web and mobile apps. Also, the project is open source and you can find it on Github.
From a product standpoint, there are two features that I really like.
Segregation of boards - The landing page is neatly segregated into Habits, Dailies, To Do’s, and Rewards. In Habits, you enter the habit you want to break or want to form i.e. negative and positive habits. Dailies are the activities you wish to be doing every day. To Do’s are the tasks to be completed on a given day. And the most interesting of all, Rewards. You can custom add a reward and claim it for the set number of gold coins. On the top, you see the gold coins you currently have.
Gems - Habitica is funded by gem and subscription purchases. Gems are the in-game currency used to buy backgrounds, pet quests, and aesthetic character customizations. While the idea is not novel, it’s an interesting add on for a habit tracking application.
One Question from the Readers
Why is God so important in everyone's life?
The question of existence of God and why people regard an invisible entity as so important has plagued great thinkers for centuries. The spiritual importance of God can be delineated better by spiritual leaders and gurus. I will try to answer this based research studies in psychology.
Psychologists Brett Mercier and his colleagues at the University of California at Irvine mentioned in an article that there was once a time in the prehistory of our species when nobody believed in a God of any sort. Our evolutionary ancestors were all atheists, but somewhere along the way, they found religion. And the importance that religion and God assume in our lives can be better understood if we know how it started.
All early men lived hunter-gatherer lifestyles in small groups of around 100 to 150 people. Some 15,000 years ago, humans gradually began adopting agriculture. Agriculture could support many more people per acre of land compared with hunting and gathering, but this came at a cost. When we live in small groups, cheaters are punished by other members, and they quickly learn that they have to get along. But in large societies, it’s easy to take advantage of others, as there’s no way for the rest of the group to punish those who take advantage of the system. The solution was to invent ever-watchful gods who’ll punish cheaters for us. Thus, organized religion grew hand-in-hand with the rise of the city-state.
There are also motivational reasons that can account for the importance of God in our lives. People who are socially isolated tend to have more faith in God, perhaps allowing them to feel they’re not truly alone. Likewise, people facing death are more likely to express faith in God and an afterlife. The old saying that there are no atheists on the battlefield is no doubt true to a large extent. Furthermore, faith in God increases when situations become uncontrollable, as in the case of natural disasters. Believing that God has a plan helps people regain some sense of control or at least acceptance.
A study led by Harvard Medical School’s David Rosmarin was undertaken to close this gap between the sacred and the profane in clinical practice. Researchers also found that the effects of trust and mistrust in God on worry took place via the mechanism of tolerance of uncertainty. Mistrust in God led to less tolerance of uncertainty (e.g., feeling upset when stuck with ambiguous information), which in turn led to increased levels of worry. Increasing trust in God, however, led to more tolerance of uncertainty, decreasing levels of worry.
This issue’s Bonus Section - A Fact & A Thought
A Fact
I came across this thread on Twitter and it seems the number of milliseconds in a day in an interesting number which can be expressed as,
A Thought
While it’s important to work hard to achieve your goals, it’s also important to understand that not everything is in your control. So, when you have done everything you can, sit back, relax and call it a day.
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See you soon. Cheers!