Tomas Vik

Posts

How my article became one-hit-wonder on hacker news

Today I’m going to tell the story of fleeting success. You’ll learn how my article reached the hacker news front page. And how it stayed there for two whole days, changing my perception about what is achievable with my writing hobby. Illustration by Ljubica Petkovic I started this blog as a new year’s resolution for 2020. One article per week. I didn’t have gigantic aspirations. I wanted to learn how to express myself better because remote work is all about written communication.

AdBlockers hide the majority of visitors from web analytics

I used Mixpanel analytics to tell me how many people are reading my articles. Recently I implemented my custom analytics. I was astonished when my custom analytics showed me more than twice the number of page views than the numbers from Mixpanel. AdBlock was hiding sixty per cent of my site’s visitors from Mixpanel. Illustration by Ljubica Petkovic Everyone who publishes on the internet loves analytics. It’s a big part of the writing feedback process.

Focus on strategic and outsource utility work

This article explains the concept of utility and strategic software and how it easily translates into everyday life. Originally, the concept has been used by large enterprises to decide how they should divide their development efforts. Now, it can help you prioritise your side project just as well. My parents aren’t rich. Growing up, I had to think about money and scarcity. My dad would always prefer building or fixing something himself over getting a tradie to do it.

Easy-going work doesn't provide much value

The whole day of work can feel great, but not provide value to the outside world. This article explains that the time spent at work isn’t necessarily directly related to the value produced. This is especially true for children of middle-class parents (myself included). Parents who worked nine to five jobs and got paid a fixed salary for a fixed time. Predictable tasks feel great I got reminded of this concept last month at work.

Zettelkasten note-taking in 10 minutes

Reading is hard and books don’t work. Zettelkasten aka slip-box note-taking is the new cool kid on the block. Don’t go down the same rabbit hole as I did, researching the method for tens of hours. This article should be enough of the introduction to get you started. Illustration by Ljubica Petkovic Why Slip-box method promises to prevent your notes from piling up deep within your note-taking app and being forgotten.

Why do you forget most of what you read?

Reading books takes time and in the end, you’ll forget most of what you’ve read. The ideas are not getting transmitted to your brain and the concepts seem clear only until you try to explain them. You are not alone. This article explains this phenomenon and provides useful tools to improve information retention and understanding. Last year, I read more books than any other year, 28. Roughly half of them are non-fiction.

Optimize your personal energy

When I was young, I never paid much attention to how much energy I had at any given moment. I never tried to schedule really demanding activities before my meals or avoid difficult tasks just before going to sleep. In this article, I want to have a look at what I mean by my personal energy and how I optimize it to be productive and to enjoy my day without an unnecessary struggle.

Give it to me: A polite request for feedback

Today we’ll have a look at how you can give me feedback for these articles. I’ll explain my motivation for writing, why is your opinion important to me and how you can share it. I guarantee I’m going to read every single comment.