Active Recall!

Podcasts, videos, and iPad art

iPad Pro Drawing Practice: Face 01 | Book: “Framed Ink” | Procreate Timelapse

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I started doing some practice sessions by freehand copying from the book “Framed Ink” by Marcos Mateu-Mestre.

I mentioned a progression of drawing method for learning in a previous post. It was from a Delacroix exhibit. I’ll quote the exhibit description here:

Delacroix endorsed a three-step pedagogical method: beginning with tracing, progressing to freehand copying, and then drawing from memory.

As always, I’ve finally found some path to pursue with dedication for the next few years. For probably the 3rd time in the past couple weeks. Each path has been different. Today’s shiny idea is to just learn to draw and record that process over the next year.

(Last week’s idea: redo the blog and document that for a year. Week before that: rebuild the podcast and document that for a year. Week before that: retry daily Twitter threads. Week before that…)

What would really be worth doing: giving each a go for 30 days to try to sample before specializing. Actually getting to day 30 in any of them would be a good sign that it’s some mix of sustainable and enjoyable enough that I could pursue it for a year (and beyond).

  • I kick myself for not sticking with drawing because I think I could have improved quite a bit if I stuck with it from when I first got the iPad Pro
  • I kick myself for not sticking with podcasting because it’s just the most fun thing and the content that I would want to hold on to if it was all burning in a fire (none really have any size audience so that isn’t a factor)
  • I kick myself for not sticking with making videos because it’s the one that has some audience traction

And in all of them, I kick myself for buying courses specific to each without really applying the things.

I was comforted recently in the misery-loves-company way because I saw a few tweets where people share their list of unfinished courses. I actually thought I was the only one with such an extensive list.

Georges St-Pierre: Not impressed with your performance (but will keep it to himself next time)

I do wish this drawing looked more like GSP but hey, it’s practice. Anyway. I drew him because I listened to his interview on Lewis Howes’ podcast this morning. Some quick notes before I head off for a walk.

  • Being bullied as a kid helped him build mental resilience as an adult but it’s not without its downsides. First: being bullied as a kid sucks.
  • If you’re 35 with 3 straight losses with a dream of going pro… it might be time to let that dream go. This was part of a section where he talks about why he always tells kids to keep studying. It’s very very hard to make a living fighting. In 2 ways. First, the likelihood is just low—the level you need to get to requires years of dedication with the right training approach. Second, if you do make it to where you’re fighting for money, it’s still rarely enough to retire on after you’re done fighting. (Yes, even in the UFC.)
  • He regrets that “I am not impressed with your performance” line… he apologized to Matt Hughes later. It wasn’t the right thing to try and take someone’s moment away from them to shine the light on himself. (Still one of the greatest post-fight moments ever.)
  • The gym is the happiest and saddest place… He loves the gym because it’s where he gets to train. He gets to make both his body and mind better at the gym. But he knows it can be a sad place true because, as mentioned above, he sees a lot of people with dreams that won’t get fulfilled. And it can be easy to fall in love with outcomes that will never come instead of learning to love the training.
  • Overconfident + Fearless = On the mat with Matt Serra punching your face — He says he was always afraid for every fight, except the fight against Matt Serra which he lost. Never again would he go into a fight feeling that overconfident.
  • Eventually, tapping to strikes became okay… In the moment and months and years after, he looked at it as a moment of weakness. You tap to submissions but not to strikes. Tapping to strikes is more of “I quit” where tapping to submissions can be more of “Okay you got me”. He’s at peace with it now though and knows that it was better than taking more unnecessary strikes to the head. Those add up, fast.

Okay I’m off to the gym to try and fall in love with (a different kind of) training a little bit.

1-2-3-4 idea for future tweets

Title: This ONE (TWO THREE FOUR) trick will help you learn FAST
Thumbnail: Me but like goro with 4 arms and then each hand has me putting up 1 finger, 2, fingers, 3 fingers, 4 fingers…

Okay so just want to jot an idea down right now that might have legs. Tried it here:

https://twitter.com/activerecall/status/1409694003721764865/photo/1

I’ll call it like the 1-2-3-4 technique or something like that.

  • Problem: Listen to podcasts but sometimes forget what I listen to or don’t have time to pause to take notes on the episode
  • Solution: A framework for just-enough notes

What’s just enough? For an episode, four takeaways with small visuals seems like a good amount of learning. I don’t think I could keep up other sites if I was trying to the straightforward approach of taking good, digestible notes of entire episodes. That requires listening to the episode and typing at the same time.

Instead this system will help me recall a few things as soon as I have a minute to sketch out some ideas.

Enough explanation, here’s what it is.

Take a notecard or sheet of paper, draw 2 lines for 4 boxes. In the boxes, draw…

Box 1 : fact or figure — A nice cue for this is if you hear a big number or small number or probably just any number. Earning $10 million, living on $7000 for a year, etc…

Box 2: contrast — This was one of the visual filters that stuck with me from the Visualize Value fundamentals course. In any interview, there‘s bound to be some useful comparison. Either some bad process vs a better one, some company vs another, or a before & after.

Box 3: tiny story — Similar to above, there’s going to be some story worth sharing from any podcast episode. Usually, someone being interviewed will tell some portion of their career arc. The 3-step story is the basic story formula: beginning, middle, end. The middle box is really all you need: some key epiphany or mentor or obstacle. Then paint how much a lazy slob they were before and how successful and white their teeth became in the “after” box.

Box 4: 2×2 (4 boxes) — Apparently a management consultant classic. The 2×2 matrix always helps in a deck and makes it look like you structured your thinking. Which, to be fair, you did. There isn’t always an obvious 2×2 in every podcast episode, but you can usually come up with one if you’re keeping an eye out. You can skew any “keys to success” or “what do you look for in…” answers into a 2×2.

So there you has it. The takeaway framework I’ll experiment with for future podcast notes. And probably book notes too.

A 1-2-3-4 recap:

  • 1 fact
  • 2 things compared (this vs that)
  • 3-step story
  • 4 boxes (2×2 matrix)

Enough writing about listening and back to actually listening!

Road to 159: week 3 of 8

[todo – insert previous week links here]

Progress

  • Starting weight: 170 pounds
  • Current weight: 170 pounds (no change)
  • Goal: 159 pounds

On one hand, maintaining through a camping trip and baseball game is sort of an accomplishment. In the other hand: an enormous hot dog while palming the corner of a family size bag of sea salt potato chips.

What went well: Got the workouts in

It seems like RPT 3X a week is sustainable. Though that is much better judged in hindsight. (“This P90X thing 6 days a week is sustainable for life.” – me after reading a P90X sales page.)

But yeah the workouts are short enough that there’s not really much of an excuse time-wise. It also reminds me how good it can feel to see the numbers of weights going up.

Also: I did see 166 lbs on the scale before heading off to the camping trip. Yes, just removing water weight. But yes, it’s still encouraging. (Which seems fair since water weight gain can be discouraging.)

What can be improved: social eating, restaurant choices

Maybe I can actually order a salad? It might be allowed but I’ll have to see in the next restaurant trip.

Oh, if I could take one binge back: we busted out a bag of potato chips in the middle of a walk around the lake near the campsite.

I just couldn’t stop.

Or the pig inside me couldn’t or whatever I need to visualize. I didn’t win that fight-thru.

I’ll actually have a quick turnaround rematch though: we’re going camping again this coming weekend. Maybe I can kick off July—final month before I wed my friends—with a step in the right direction.

Experiment: Protein shake + Greens powder lunches

This is one of the short term protocols that Pat Flynn recommends for fat loss. Use protein shakes to replace some meals through the week. Again, it’s not a plan to follow for life.

(I’ll apologize to P90X right here because I know they probably emphasize some form of rest weeks between running the program again. I never got that far.)

I think I can do it because my hunger in the middle of the day is rarely the issue—it’s binging at social meals.

Info Diet – fitness content: Ryen Russilo

Ryen Russilo: Life Fitness Advice with Jeremy Scott — I’ve reached the “fitness for older men” age and am glad this is a heavily targeted demographic. Really enjoyed this episode since I trust Russilo’s BS filter and it had some good tips for the long game. (“The INFINITE GAME!!!!”)

  • You can hoop 5 days a week but you can’t do it and expect to lift heavy and slap muscle on — This mostly made me miss playing pickup basketball. At most, I was more a 2X a week casual. In any case, it was a reminder that fitness means tradeoffs. Yes, you should find something you enjoy. But don’t get too frustrated if it doesn’t align perfectly with some other results. I’ll try to put a day shooting around into my active recovery.

Don’t spend more on supplements than you do on health food

    — this episode did get me to start using the greens powder again. But I also know that I need to cook more meals and should probably continue searching for recipes I enjoy if this is going to be a long term thing.

Alright that’s solid for now. I’ll be back next week, after camping trip #2, where I’ve hopefully managed to avoid a crazy s’more binge.

The road continues!!!

Some Friday ramblings before heading off to a camping trip

I’m testing out the chaise-lounge-lapability of this Smart Keyboard Folio for the 12.9″ iPad Pro 2021. Gotta throw all the words in there. At some point I’ll make a video about why I went with this instead of the Magic Keyboard. (And am still tapping the screen like it’s 2017 instead of using a sweet sweet trackpad.)

Actually I can start with that for the ramblings.

… got distracted by Twitter just now and drew this thing which is supposed to be about how “visualization” can mean something in your head and something on paper and (WITH THE POWER OF DRAWING) you can turn one into the other.

Even better than that, it feeds back—you’ll always get more ideas while sketching.

Another nice thing: the chaise-lounge-lapability is pretty good so far, even with sketching! Didn’t have to adjust the iPad while drawing, though I did just need to lightly hold it in place with my left hand.

(Which I can’t show without taking a photo with my mouth.)

In any case. I’ll be heading off to some campsite for the weekend.

  • Title: “Best iPad… FOR CAMPING???”
  • Thumbnail: My shocked face and holding the iPad over a fire or something.

On second thought, I’ll leave it at home.

It’s exciting to be packing the backpack regularly again. Wait, I mean. It’s exciting to pack the GORUCK GR1 again.

There’s that Louie CK bit about how we use words like amazing and genius for the most regular things. On one hand, there’s some of that with how I just used exciting. On the other hand, a year ago we were still using both hands to wipe down our grocery deliveries with sanitizer.

So it is (actually) exciting.