#21 Read what you love until you love to read

Magic hidden in plain sight & the quest to finding it

Seth Godin shared another beautiful gem a few days back. I’m taking the liberty to quote it as is below.

In an expert-run industrialized economy, there’s a lot of pressure to be the one who’s sure, the person with all the answers.

Far more valuable is someone who has all the questions. The ability to figure out what hasn’t been figured out and see what hasn’t been seen is a significant advantage.

Rarest of all is the person with the humility (and confidence) to realize that even the list of questions can remain elusive. Finding the right questions might be the very thing we need to do.

Honest ‘why’ generate great fodder for the curious brain. We accept many things as they are and don't question anything. Our intellect will be different if we accept that we don’t know what we don’t know. That humility combined with the courage to ask those 'silly' why is an ultimate gift. Embrace it, if you can.

For now, let's explore something new and excite our thinking cells to become active.

1.

The memorable experience framework offers a comprehensive take on creating memorable and emotionally engaging experiences. It describes...

A memorable experience is a step above a delightful one. It enhances the sense of meaning, connection, and wellbeing in people. It’s not about the UI, but the user.

If you can not find 13 minutes to read this post, I'm summarising it below. Below are the key emotions to aim for in your product to make the experience memorable. (I loved the way they described the feeling, so I’ve copied them as-is)

1. Positive emotions

   1. Familiarity & novelty: 😃 — That’s new!

   2. Surprise: 😮 — Whoah!

   3. Aesthetics: 😍 — I love it!

2. Engagement

   1. Clear goals: 😅 — I know what to do

   2. Immediate feedback: 😅 — I know how to improve

   3. Challenge and skill balance: 😅 — It’s not easy but I can do this

   4. Guidance: 😅 — I understand how this works

3. Relationship

   1. Acknowledgement: 😌 — I am seen

   2. Support: 😌 — I am supported

   3. Impact: 😌 — I have an impact

4. Meaning

   1. Autonomy: 🤔 — I make my own choices

   2. Personal goals & passions: 🤓 — I can’t get enough

   3. Community of interest: 🙂 — I belong to something bigger

   4. Sorry: 🤯 — I believe in this

5. Accomplishment

   1. Experiencing mastery: 😎 — I am good at this

   2. Modelling: 😯 — I can learn from them

   3. Persuasive boosts: 😊— I believe in myself

2. 

‘The small vehicles of Tokyo’ captures the hustle-bustle of Tokyo street in a novel way. From trolleys, cycles to tiny fire engines - the city of Tokyo has found convenience in small. Like Tokyo, our cities are densely populated and are a maze of narrow streets. I hope we put some efforts to evolve our public & private transportation in a similar manner.

3.

Photo credit: Colossol

I noticed it first in a beautiful photo in my google home screensaver. I had a slight 'why' on what I saw. But twitter heard it loud & clear and surfaced this tweet pretty quickly. It's called Crown shyness. It is a naturally occurring phenomenon in some tree species where the uppermost branches in a forest canopy avoid touching one another. The visual effect is striking as it creates clearly defined borders akin to cracks or rivers in the sky when viewed from below. Another of those magical things from nature.

4.

You might have read about the small town near Rotterdam which made the real-life versions of bridges on Euro notes. It's a fascinating story of the ingenuity of a town to grab global attention. I wonder which of our cities can boast something like this.

This episode of 99% invisible - real fake bridges - makes this story even more interesting. It covers the events where the supposedly fake bridges were uncovered to be not fake at all. 

Those Euro notes are beautiful, and so are the stories behind their design. By the way, Some European countries have beautiful passports as well.

5.

Some random goodness from the internet:

1. Web: The Oatmeal shares nice comics covering a diverse set of topics. They have a unique storytelling style making it fun to read most of their work irrespective of the topic. Minor differences, Literally and Coffee are my favourite reads so far.

2. Web: Stunning footage of elegant sea creatures in the Mediterranean sea.

3. Web: If you love McDonald’s burgers, this and this cover some of the most unusual and interesting locations & some stories about them.

Before we sign off, here's a snapshot of a tweet worth saving.

That's all for this week, folks!

Last week’s post had a 53% open rate. Yay! 122 subscribers will get ‘Stay Curious’ in their email this week. I write this newsletter to share what I learnt from others. If you learnt something from this today, why not share it with a couple of your friends to continue this chain?

PS: Today's post is grade 5 as per https://hemingwayapp.com/