Juan David's Newsletter - May 30, 2021
Last Email For You. Open?
Good morning!
If you haven’t opened one of the last three emails I’ve sent, I will stop sending emails to you.
The intention has been curiosity, not annoyance. No hard feelings 😉.
I’m back from my road trip, and summer is officially ON. My current outlook? So freaking excited!!!! I’m not sure why but I’m stoked to learn, experiment, and tinker with stuff.
After I returned, Veer Dosi, a 16-year-old who greatly supports the newsletter, interviewed me on his podcast.
The most interesting thing we talked about was doing and learning things for the sake of it. You can listen to our conversation here.
👋 Curiosities!! Here we go!
Curiosities 🧪👴📲
1. Research Presentation at Conference
At the end of the semester, I presented my biophysics research at the Undergraduate Research Conference.
What’s next? Over the summer, I’ll continue working with the lab to finish this project and publish it.
2. Magic of Thinking Big Book
When my roommate saw me reading this book, he said, “Hey bro. I don’t think you need to read that book. You’re too ambitious.” Maybe.
I stopped reading books like this a while ago but it’s always a good reminder to have. I don’t always agree with what these books say but sometimes they have important principles about how to live.
My favorite part of the book was about managing your environment:
Make your social environment “first class” by doing the following:
1. Do circulate in new groups. Restricting your social environment to the same small group produces boredom, dullness, dissatisfaction…
2. Do select friends who have views different from your own.
3. Do select friends who stand above petty, unimportant things. Select friends who are interested in positive things…From the Magic of Thinking Big
Many of us have a scarcity mindset when it comes to friendships. But there are more people you will ever have to time to meet. Select who we want to spend time with because time is limited (more on Curiosity #3).
3. What Are You Doing With Your Life?
I read the essay that inspired this video back in high school and it increased my sense of urgency to be more careful with my time and the people I love.
For instance, the time with my parents. By the time I graduated from high school, I had spent about 90% of the time I will have ever spent with them.
That’s why when the pandemic happened, I was thrilled to spend more time with my parents because that 90% was extended by 5 more months.
Part of me wants to say “We’re here today but we’ll be gone tomorrow.” And the other part says “Longevity Research! Hello?”
4. One of My Favorite Movies
One of the most famous Indian movies is Three Idiots. And of course, if you have friends from the Brown Town Club, they will make you watch this movie.
I watched this movie back in September, and it had a deep message about thinking for yourself when choosing your career (It reminds me of The Fountainhead but that’s for next week).
The biggest message was if you try to please others (like your parents, friends, or what looks good) when choosing what to do, you’ll end up incredibly depressed.
Watch this video by a great friend and mentor to hear his thoughts about why every parent needs to watch this movie.
5. Researcher App (“It's like social media, but better”)
Nir Eyal recommended me this app, and it’s become one of my favorites.
What is this app? An app to read academic papers.
The app allows you to choose your 1) interests, and 2) journals. Then, they create a personalized feed.
And it’s completely free. Download the app here.
Man! This road trip was rough. After sleeping 10 days in tents, it would have been easy to give up after one of our tents broke because of the snow, not being able to sleep because of the freezing temperatures at night, and not being able to eat because the fire could not be started.
Instead of saying, “this sucks ***.” You can say, “I’m strengthening the body and the mind.” 😂😂
Ciao,
Juan David Campolargo