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What tea can teach us about overthinking

What tea can teach us about overthinking

In this issue: the sweet spot between thinking and overthinking, a humbling lesson my readers taught me, how sharing your flame makes the world a brighter place, and the hidden effort behind sharp skills.

PJ Milani
October 15, 2024

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🤔 INTERESTING

Illustration by milaniCREATIVE.art showing three cups of tea representing the ‘thinking zone,’ ‘action zone,’ and ‘overthinking zone.’ The middle cup, labeled ‘action zone,’ has the tea bag removed at the right time, while the ‘overthinking zone’ cup is over-steeped, symbolizing the balance between thought and action.

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The sweet spot for how much to think before acting.
(this may only make sense if you drink tea 😆)

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📐 DESIGN

Last week, I ran a poll on 2 versions of a visual:

Version 1: Published 3/20/24

Version 2: Published 9/29/24

The poll overwhelmingly selected the pre-iterated version 1!

What’s the lesson?

For my fellow recovering perfectionists, it’s difficult to know what works until you share your work. When you get caught in the weeds of messing with subtle details, it doesn’t always mean you’re making an improvement! (a humbling lesson)

Back to the drawing board! 😆

🔮 ENCHANTING

Illustration by milaniCREATIVE.art showing the spread of kindness as contagious. A person in color shares their heart’s flame with another, spreading light and color through a previously dark, colorless crowd. The text reads ‘Kindness is contagious,’ emphasizing how kindness can spread and uplift others

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❝

A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.

Amelia Earhart

🧠 ANALOGY

Illustration of visual metaphor by milaniCREATIVE.art showing the contrast between what we see and what we don’t see. The upper half (what we see) shows the top of a sharpened pencil labeled ‘sharp skills,’ while the bottom half (what we don’t see) is covered in pencil shavings, representing the hidden effort behind developing those skills.

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❝

Skill is only developed by hours and hours of work.

Usain Bolt

🤓 WHAT I’M READING NOW

“Notes on Color” by Rose Gonnella and Max Friedman

Continuing the theme from the last issue of the Design Fundamentals series. this week I’m revisiting “Notes on Color” by Rose Gonnella and Max Friedman. I wish all my textbooks were written and illustrated like this. 😍

From cover to cover—imaginative ways to convey color science!

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