011222 — Blog — Rulerless

Distracted by the optics

Many people go broke seeking to manifest the trappings of wealth.

They buy cars and homes they can just barely make the monthly payments for, and nobody knows how far they are stretching. They put clothes, decor, and nice vacations on the credit card to complete the picture.

Maybe someone else then looks at the results of this indebtedness and sees an aspirational example, and the cycle repeats.

Casey von NeumannDecember 28, 2021011222, 021022, 051622, 080322Comment

Avoiding not doing the thing we don't know we must do

For years, I resisted getting the online version of my bookkeeping software.

It was a monthly fee for each business, whereas my existing desktop software had already been purchased and could be used for multiple businesses with no further expense.

Unfortunately, the desktop version of the software was buggy, unreliable, and didn't import transactions on its own. Attempting to use it required a lot of troubleshooting, and I always seemed to be accessing the wrong file or the wrong computer.

Casey von NeumannDecember 21, 2021123021, 011222, 022422, 030322Comment

At a higher difficulty setting

The old-school arcade games were light on plot compared to the home console games of today.

Mostly, as you progressed in a game, the bad guys did the same basic thing, but faster or more. There were more bullets, more aliens, or the ghosts were more bloodthirsty. The blocks fell at an unmanageable pace.

This is a convenient way to make the most of the available RAM. It's also not so different from real life. We do tend to confront the same problems and challenges over and over, but at a higher difficulty setting each time.

Casey von NeumannDecember 20, 2021122921, 011222, 021722, 071822 Comments

Learn how the pros do it

The other day, a friend sent pictures of five pies she and her wife had made.

"Recipe testing," she said.

And I had to laugh. Of course. Recipe testing. That makes so much sense. And I've never done it.

It's another example of how people who are good at a thing have a fundamentally different approach from those who aren't. The people who are good at the thing use a different set of tactics that yields much better results.

Casey von NeumannNovember 24, 2021122121, 011222, 030322, 070722, 013023 Comments

When you think you should already know it, how can you learn?

As part of our program for The Little Middle School and The Rulerless School, we’re making use of an online learning platform for certain topics.

For each lesson of this program, there is an explanation, written in the format of a graphic novel. There is also a short video.

Some students read the explanation and watch the video, and then they are able to successfully complete the lesson. Others go directly to the lesson. Unsurprisingly, they get stuck.

Casey von NeumannOctober 7, 2020081621, 092121, 011222, 050422, 051222, 120922Comment