在这些阅读的过程中，我也掌握了点技巧，现在读英文书的速度也和中文书差不多。比如读些英文畅销书籍我会把what is it 放在首位，即文章的论点，因为有的论据的例子有些牵强甚至生硬；读小说我会专注于故事的框架和人物描写和情节刻画上的细腻功夫；读paper就看看abstract、introduction和conclusion来高效筛选其内容是否值得继续阅读。
音视频
今年听了很多有关Beatles的歌，多半源于去年年底那首最终单曲的Now And Then和看了Get Back这部纪录片。由于我的歌单是自小学开始就保存并迭代到现在，所以不时也切回去听听张国荣的歌怀旧一下。
When I was in high school, I really liked deriving formulas. I wanted to know what they were using and what problem they could solve. One time I got a bad grade on a test in which I used some formulas from calculus. Teachers told me calculus formulas were not allowed to be used in high school. It made me upset, I got shackles in exploring new formulas. I had to obey the scope of knowledge. My discovery was stopped under the prohibitions.
After the college entrance examination, My parents were shocked because of how bad my math grade was. But I knew why I performed badly: If a bird has been trapped in a birdcage for a long time, will it still want to fly?
2
I had to face my leader's 'fun' ideas because of working in a start-up company. I needed to make decisions about whether we can make these ideas work. As a software engineer, I liked a slogan called 'talk is cheap, show me the code'. So I did research after work and built tones of demos. I would show them to my leader to prove their availability. I felt pain while I was building these demos because part of them required me to do research in areas where I had never met before. I was nervous but satisfied when I saw what I did.
After I owned a project, the experience I got from side projects was back in my head, I felt confident about what tech stacks we chose and what we needed to do in more detail. Sometimes my colleagues were surprised by what I knew about new technologies. This was a hallucination because it came from my experience. At last, they called me a 'full stack developer'.
Being a full-stack developer means that you can quickly adopt new technologies as much as you need as if you know everything.
--How I became a full-stack developer
3
I listened to the newest episode of Beyond Code, it reminds me of a sentence called 'Scratch The Surface'. The host talked about the mental statement while doing demos which has appeared in my mind before. I didn't regard doing side projects as a method to improve my technical skills. Instead, I used it as a tool to make my ideas on the ground.
After that, I thought backwards a bit: Were my skills improved after scratching the surface? No, I met some people who dived into technology or academics. They created many awesome things, and I just adapted the technologies by projects. I have never tried to dive into some areas which counter to my goal of self-actualization. My skills can help me do my job till now, I don't know if the quality is bad or not.
I think I need more time to think, to practise, and to create something, instead of scratching the surface.
A couple of days ago, I watched Ali's video. There is a thinking model in the video which leaves a deep impression on me. Here are two of my thoughts from the video.
Know the cards on your hand
When we set up a goal or thought, we need to think backwards a bit to figure out whether it is reachable or not. We have to know what cards are on our hands before we next move.
For instance, if your goal is to achieve financial freedom, think through questions like How much income would be required to cover my living expenses? What are my current assets and cash flow? How can I sustain this freedom long-term after reaching it? Answering these helps reveal your true starting point and forces you to map out a viable path forward.
With practice, you can master the advanced skill of thinking backwards repeatedly, almost like peeling an onion. But you can use the skill as a sequence from your goal to what you have. This sequential analysis illuminates any gaps that need adjusting in your plan.
For example, if financial freedom for you means earning $2,000/month to cover costs in a certain city, you could:
Explore passive income strategies like index fund investing
Research historical returns and determine $240,000 in capital is needed to generate $24,000 annually from the S&P 500 at 10% growth
Therefore, your starting requirement is accumulating that $240,000 principal
Work backwards from there to your current savings, income, budget, etc.
In essence, thinking backwards equips you to deconstruct goals into actionable plans grounded in reality, not just ideals. By truly understanding your circumstances, you can map out the most viable path to succeed.
Something makes sense
When we watch news or online videos, we may sometimes feel confused about the speakers' main points or underlying reasons. This thinking model can help us analyze their perspectives more critically.
Take sponsored content or product recommendations from YouTubers, for example. When they offer a discount code for a product they endorse, we shouldn't take it at face value. Using this thinking model, we can think backwards a bit to explore potential motivations behind the promotion:
Why are they giving a discount through their affiliate link? Is the discounted price truly the lowest available, or just a basic percentage off? Could this be part of a marketing strategy to drive sales and conversions?
These questions represent hypotheses - possible explanations that require further evidence to validate. But by Training ourselves to think this way, we become better equipped to resist persuasive tactics and make more objective decisions.
With growing leisue time, I have binge-watched the Serverance which I had wanted for a long time. I was really impressed scriptwriter's imagination after i watched. The Serverance also caused me to reflect the relationship between work and life. I want to share my rethink here with you. It's my first time write english post, hope you guys can correct my poor writing in english.
Does work-life need to be separated completely?
The bigest selling point about Lumen ( the company in the series ) is work-lif seperated totally. That means employees' memories of going to and from work are different except the management. The employees and their colleagues talk and laugh at work, but they don't know each other after work. It seems to suit everyones asking in work life balance perfectly, but it ignores the "buffer" or overemphasizes the boundary. It will make employees creativeless and indiiferent in company. Everyone have their own "inertia". It's hard to switch mod when taked the elevator or clocked in attendance. In Serverance, Mark felt confused and puzzled when his ex-leader intrude into his own life and the book given by his relatives which apear in his work place by accident. When he contact with the "interlacing" of the work and life, he also have "inertia symptom" .
work-life seperated brings annother problem: Who leads body? Innie or outie? When you felt burn out at work or you job didn't make you happy, you wanted to resign but outie rejected innie's request. In this case, innie is a vassal? Or a slave trapped in the box of "work"? Or just like the congressman's wife at childbirth in Serverance ,a beast trapped by nagative emotions and pain? When innie's time exceeds outie's time, which got the dominant power of body?
Order and religious corporate culture
Lumen set up the various regulations and inspection procedures to prohibit the intersection between innie and outie. The working places also were separated th various departments and created fabricates perjury to make bostile relations between departments intentionally by Lumen. The content of Mark's work is to classify the number on the screen according to their different feelings, but Mark and his colleagues do not know what the purpose or goal of the work. With the order of various rules, it is difficult to make employees willingly work for such a company, some of them accept the environment, some of them show a strong willing of resistance just like the new employee Helly. I thought that i am working in a small company with a lot of rules and low level technical content. When i first joined this company, several colleagues left because of strict rules, but i stayed with a small reason which is the need of an income. When i thought my work everyday, there would be tears appear in my eye sockets.
In addition to the absolute order and subdivision of work to make each employee like "screw". Lumen also used the greatness of the founders to create a religious company culture that made employees willing to be "screws".
Mark's boos(she didn't get surgery) was decisive and vigorous in decision-making, but she was a devout believer of Lumen. She built a altar to worship. There is an environment of loyal, every departments had employee handbook like the Bible. After Helly's unsuccessful resination, Irving proposed that Mark should take everyone to Eternalwing. The Eternal Wing likes a museum, showing the glorious deeds of Lumen's CEOs. Irving, a veteran employee, would be hesitant to repeat the founder's quotes, even have different interpretations of different version employee handbook.
The order restricts employee where they go in physically, the company culture imprisons employees' mind. Employees' bodies and minds when they go to work are totally controlled by the company. They reduced to machines completely on assembly line without soul.
Enslavement
In China, some companies use 9-9-6 (go to work at 9 am and go from work 9 pm ,working 6 days a week) or 0-0-7 working hour system to exploit their employees, but i saw enhancive way of that in Lumen. If you want to resign in Lumen, the resignation should be submit by outie. It seems to illustrate indirectly the question of "who is in charge of the body?". When Helly threat to talk to outie by cutting her fingers, innie didn't expect that the outie refuse the request with no hesitate and said "I am a person, you are not, the choice can only be done by me." I think the sentence is the most thoughtful and terrifying one in the whole series. The outie seems to regard innie as a tool to complete some goals, but the carrier of the tool is self. if you can't stand 9-9-6 or 0-0-7, you can submit your resignation in real life. Lumen told you that you can make work life balance, but you can't make your own decision becaues of "yourself".
Lastly
There are my thoughts and reflections after watching "Serverance Season 1" above. The words are slightly arbitray. If there is any mistake, I hope you can tell me. You can also leave comments or messages below. I’m Jim Luo. See you next time, peace!
Lumen（剧中的企业）最大的“卖点”便是工作和生活的完全分离：上班和下班时的记忆完全分离，和同事上班时嘻嘻哈哈，下班后便行同陌路人。看似很完美地契合各位了work life balance（工作生活平衡）的诉求，事实上这忽略了“缓冲区”或是过分地强调boundary（边界）。我们每个人都有维持现状的“惯性”，难以坐到每天坐电梯/ 打卡后迅速切换状态。主角Mark一开始接触前上司在下班时闯入自己生活和亲戚赠予的书阴差阳错地出现在工作场地等工作和生活环境事物的“交错”，也表现出困惑、不解等“惯性”。
现实生活中有的公司使用996或007的工时制度对员工进行剥削与压迫，但在Lumen，我却看到了更高级的形式。Lumen中的辞职必须是工作外的自我提出申请才可被允许，这间接地说明了的剧中“谁才是身体的主导”问题。当新员工Helly用切手指的威胁来求得与工作外的自己对话以求辞职来解脱，没想到生活中的Helly却毫不犹豫地拒绝了工作中Helly的要求并落下“我是人，你不是，选择只能我来做。”这一句我认为全剧最细思恐极的话。生活中的自我似乎把工作中的自我当成是完成某项目的的工具，但工具的载体却是自己。如果说你受不了996或007这种折磨身体的加班，你可以提出辞职，但在Lumen，虽说是work life balance但做决定可真由不得“自己”。
最后
以上便是我看完《Severance Season 1》后的一些想法和反思，行文略有些随意，如有出错还望指正，欢迎在下面的评论区留言。I’m Jim Luo. See you next time, peace!
