Learning Graphic Design

I discovered Baseline, a free "design bootcamp". I've been enjoying it a lot! Why am I learning design? Here's what I wrote: 1. I want to learn a proper workflow to design my funnel (and website) efficiently. This became apparent when I created my

Chiara’s Personal Operating System v1

In the video, "Most Self-Help Advice Is Wrong", Cal Newport talks about his Personal Operating System. What do you with all this [self help] information? What you're trying to do here is maintain a Personal Operating System. I have a personal operating system that specifies how

Are you seeking love... or status?

I was thinking about the question, “Why is love so important?” Besides "it's a feeling we all crave” and “I like the feeling of loving someone”, I couldn’t really answer it. So I thought about, “What happens when I don’t feel loved?”, which led me

Monthly-ish Personal Update (Nov 2023)

tl;dr I’m restarting my side project Gen Propel. I felt stuck and disappointed in 2022 and 2023. Friends are the best, and making friends is important and hard. I hope you’re doing well, and I’d love to hear from you.

Why copywriting might be the most underrated skill for product managers

A friend and I were texting about studying writing. As a product manager who used to be a copywriter, I've always believed copywriting might be one of the most underrated skills for product managers. I finally took the time to write why. Why is copywriting so important and

Sam Altman on Risk

While the OpenAI turmoil was happening over the weekend, I dug into Sam Altman’s archives. I read articles like How Things Get Done, How to Be Successful, and Startup Advice. Reading these posts, I noticed Sam writes a lot about risk, and specifically, that most things are not as

Review: Lalia German courses

I wanted to share my experience with Lalia since I couldn't find much information about it before I joined. I enrolled in the "Lalia: Intermediate Low 2" course in September 2023. I already had a Goethe B1 certificate from 2020. But aside from a certificate, I

You don't need to ask Google for permission to feel something

I was feeling tired and frustrated with the detailed and tedious work I am doing for a presentation. A thought came up that, "all jobs require getting into the details". The impulse to google, "is it normal to feel frustrated with tedious work" arose. Essentially, what

German Permanent Residence aka Permanent Settlement Permit for EU Blue Card Holders

💡2. May 2024 Update: For applications sent from January 2024, it seems like people are getting appointments within 3-4 months now. 💡17. Jan 2024 Update: It is now taking forever (not sure exactly how long) to receive a reply for this. I have friends who have been waiting for a

Top 4 insights from Borderless Economics

I have a friend group of expats who moved from Southeast Asia to Berlin. We call ourselves "BER Crew". We were discussing feeling slightly guilty about leaving our home countries and contributing to 'brain drain', for our self-interested pursuit of living a more comfortable life in