How to find happiness where you are

In this issue: What you shouldn't say in an apology, a better way to present data, where to find happiness, and why overthinking is unhelpful.

šŸ¤” INTERESTING

The one word never to include in an apology.

šŸ“ DESIGN

Iā€™m currently reading Dr. Peter Attiaā€™s book, Outlive, which is a very thorough and detailed book summarizing most of Dr. Attiaā€™s best practices.

The one thing I noticed reading the book though is that its jargon filled and could probably benefit from some visual thinking to cement the messages.

The example below is a chart Dr. Attia fought tooth and nail to put into the book but was overruled by his editors. Now I donā€™t know about you, but I can see why. I had to listen to the explanation twice and then spend another few minutes really looking over this chart to get the point.

Todayā€™s quick lesson if you are trying to convey a message in a visual:
Stop presenting data. Instead, present the point of the data.

For example, hereā€™s ONE of the interpretations of the data (there are many other helpful interpretations that EACH deserve their own visual):

Based on Dr. Peter Attiaā€™s Data

Itā€™s true we lose some nuance from simplifying, but we also save our reader from spending as much time as I did to interpret the data.

You can always complement the visual with the hardcore data in an appendix (or if giving a live-presentation, a QR code to a website with the charts)

P.S. If you want to go deeper to learn how to create visual metaphors, Cohort 7 of Thinking in Visual Metaphors is now live!

šŸ”® ENCHANTING 

The pursuit of having what you want vs wanting what you have.

Itā€™s all too easy to miss all the things you have right where you are.

šŸ§  ANALOGY

The distance between your dreams and reality is not as far as you think.

I overplan. Overanalyze. Overthink most things. It may be why my overthinking visual carousel struck a chord with so many folks a couple weeks ago.

Before I made my first online post, I kept thinking I had to figure everything out before starting.

Questions like:

  • What's my niche?

  • Who am I to talk about this?

  • And hasn't everything that needs to be said about everything already been said?!

So I kept thinking...and waiting...for over 10+ years!

The biggest lesson I learned after starting was you can't steer a parked car (as the saying goes).

99% of that analysis paralysis was just in my head.

šŸ¤“ WHAT Iā€™M READING NOW

Been a long time fan of the Etherington Brothers who have some of the most in-depth drawing tutorials Iā€™ve ever come acrossā€¦for free! Theyā€™re called ā€œHow to Think When You Drawā€ and even though most of their tutorials are free online, Iā€™ve wanted their books (call me old-fashioned šŸ˜…).

Example of one of their awesome tutorials!

Unfortunately, itā€™s only available on Kickstarter and it takes eons to get one. Thatā€™s why I almost cried when I saw these in Japan. Now each night Iā€™ll take one concept and practice my Japanese and drawing at the same time. Win-win!

Hoping one day to catch one of the kickstarter campaigns to get the other books.

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