idj4thinking

I adore my friends

Something I try to do is remind myself of how lucky and grateful I am. When I look at the people I surround myself with, I’m glad everyone is authentic, inspired, and artsy. Finding ways to appreciate those around you, and to focus on understanding people’s strengths is a game changer. Doing so allows youContinue reading “I adore my friends”

Books That Better

List three books that have had an impact on you. Why? Probably the most impactful book in my life has been How to Win Friends and Influence People. It started my self-development journey and largely made me into a stronger, more socially connected person. Reading this helped give me techniques and courage to pursue friendshipsContinue reading “Books That Better”

SOCIAL ANXIETY NO MORE

What fears have you overcome and how? For a long time, I was super scared of expressing myself socially. Between having a best friend kill himself, a socially isolated childhood, and a deadbeat dad, I was ill-equipped to make friendships. I started by intellectualizing this fear. I’m unable to function socially because I’m too smartContinue reading “SOCIAL ANXIETY NO MORE”

Writing!

Describe one simple thing you do that brings joy to your life. I enjoy writing because it helps clarify my thoughts. It often takes time to organize my different beliefs into a coherent system. I find using this time to think clearly helps me understand more about myself, and reflect on my broader values. MoreContinue reading “Writing!”

I deleted my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

How do you know when it’s time to unplug? What do you do to make it happen? As of two years ago, I’ve been completely off the mainstream social media, relegating my time to YouTube and TikTok (started recently). I did it to improve my social skills. Overall, I think it’s been a complete successContinue reading “I deleted my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram”

I just went viral

I predicted that I’d growth hack TikTok. 1.6 weeks in, and I’ve already hit 60+ followers, have a video with over 5,000 views the day it was posted, and have more than 1000 likes on my content, My prediction is that it’ll take me 3 months to grow a following of 1,000. This will enableContinue reading “I just went viral”

Humor

What quality do you value most in a friend? I have a wicked sense of humor. When I let out my irreverence, I often feel uncomfortable because I’m an oddball. Yet, when other people have a sense of humor that’s compatible with mine, a world opens up. I love to laugh, and for some reason,Continue reading “Humor”

Exit or voice?

If there’s only one institution providing a given service, it’s pretty challenging on the margin to get improvements to the given service. After all, they’re not going to lose you if their service is mediocre. One standard refrain is to democratize, or if already in name democratic, to encourage participation. This idea is the coreContinue reading “Exit or voice?”

Always On

When I see successful people, I notice they all have a workaholic trait that makes it easy for them to keep returning to what they’re doing, pacing themselves, while often going 7 days a week, for an indeterminate amount of hours. This makes sense! Whatever you do on the weekend tends to be free becauseContinue reading “Always On”

Back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth….

Do you remember life before the internet? I’d like to tell an interesting story of how I fought pterodactyls and made my way across the Great Plains in pursuit of a better life, or maybe gold, but that’s certainly not the case. The internet came before I was born, and was popularized as I wentContinue reading “Back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth….”