Random Walk Newsletter, Issue 14#
Observations & Insights#
Severance Pay for Layoffs#
Let's start with some good news. I have received my severance pay for the layoffs, which also signifies that I have no connection with my previous company anymore. I recently heard that my former employer is still laying off employees. How can I describe it? I want to stay uninvolved, but occasionally I still think back to the situation when I left. After all, I had been there for three years. Although at the beginning of the year, I had some thoughts due to my colleagues changing jobs, I eventually dismissed the idea. Who would have thought that things would develop unexpectedly, and I would be forced to embark on a job search, experiencing being fired once in my life.
Audiobooks & Books#
Understanding a Book#
The author is Fan Deng, and the book mainly covers how the author views the act of reading, how to choose books, and how to give lectures. When talking about how cost-effective reading is, an example is given. The author used to work at CCTV and was invited by a university to give a lecture, even though he didn't have knowledge in that area. So he bought a few relevant books, read them, and then gave the lecture. Adding up the expenses, he spent a little over 100 yuan on books but earned tens of thousands of yuan from the lecture. Reading is the most cost-effective investment.
The book also discusses how to choose books. We often come across some classic books, but when we buy them and read them, we can't understand them at all or don't know what's good about them. The author's own experience is, "When I was in my twenties, I couldn't read 'Walden' no matter what. When I turned 38, I thought of it again, and this time I gained a lot from reading it." I have had this feeling myself. I couldn't get through books on philosophy and psychology before, but after I turned 30, I started to understand some of the previously incomprehensible texts. This reminds me of when I was in junior high school. The first time I listened to Jay Chou, I put it away after listening to it once because I couldn't understand it. But after a while, another classmate asked to borrow it, and when we listened to it together, we couldn't stop. This also shows that even if something seems just okay now, don't rush to deny it. Its value may not have been discovered by us yet.
Lastly, the book talks about giving lectures. I skimmed through this part. The specific method is to read it once, then after about a week, start writing a mind map based on memory. Then read it again, combining it with your own mind map. As the author puts it, it's about repeated friction. The more you friction, the deeper the memory. And it's important to control the proportion of direct quotations from the original text, the author's suggestion is not to exceed 10%. After extracting and refining it in your own words, it becomes your own.
The Power of Now#
I am currently reading this book. The author also has another book called "Life Doesn't Have to Be So Hard," which has received mixed reviews. I read "The Power of Now" a long time ago, and just by looking at the title, you can tell that it revolves around the idea of living in the present moment. The introduction was written by Zhang Defen, and she mentioned that her own book, "Meeting the Unknown Self," drew inspiration from this book. There is a particularly good summary in the middle, "What I fear the most is when my mind is stuck in the past, bringing forth emotions such as anger, sadness, regret, and guilt, even though I am physically present. Or when my mind jumps to the future while I am in the present, creating stress, anxiety, and panic." So, how do we avoid regret and anxiety? The only way is to live in the present moment.
That's all for this issue of the Newsletter. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. Thank you for reading.