A small essay every other Friday on something I’ve lived through: from startup fiascos to musings on happiness. No ads, no suggested reels, no cookie banners, some puns.
Recently, I’ve realized that some of the qualities I cherish in people seem to be mutually exclusive. And not in an obvious way: you’d expect the Venn diagram of nerdy and sporty people to look like half of the Audi logo, but why should the same be true for responsible vs. playful? Here are three examples below. If you know people who possess the combo, tell them they’re awesome (use a mirror if…
Recently, my dear friend asked me if I use ChatGPT to “professionalize” my work messages. Of course not, I said, I use Claude . It hadn’t even occurred to me to consider that. Why on earth would I regress my communication to the mean? Then I thought deeper about the topic and I have something to say. It’s good that I have a newsletter 😅. AI is useful-to-great at plenty things: web research,…
Welcome to the new rubric of my newsletter where I share the weird stuff I make! It’s remarkable how we’ve survived 15 letters without it given my affinity for side-projects . Problem to solve From time to time, I get carried away by a topic (airships, remember?). I want to know EVERYTHING about it. This lasts from a couple of hours to a couple of decades. Yet when I try to find videos and…
I’m not a fan of free things. Free products tend to eventually get abandoned or sold to a corporation and turned to shit or simply killed . I wish my favourite apps and creators were supported by someone else some magic pixie gold dust. But the reality is usually either surveillance capitalism or fleeting enthusiasm. Attention-friendly internet I wish to see what the internet would look like if…
There’s this famous meme about introverts: While I only need half the time don’t usually feel that way, I think the meme captures an important aspect of life. Some things that take little time take an unpropotional emotional toll. When time ≠ toll Some examples are obvious (and boring). Running 100 meters at the Olympics finals only takes 10 seconds, but we all realize there’s a lot of psyching up…
So far, I haven’t had truly bad months in my life. Occasionally, a bad day happens, rarely a week, but I’ve never felt miserable for weeks on end. (Is jinxing a thing? We’ll found out 🙃) Apart from (probably) fortuitous genes, unhappiness intolerance is the major reason why. But there’s another strategy that keeps me sane. I let myself fail gracefully. Body Don’t have the will to go for a run?…
Most of my essays are, as much as anything, letters to myself. You, dear reader, might think that those “ write off ” and “ don’t measure ” are directed at you. Nah, you just get caught in the crossfire of the writer's advice to his future self. This essay is no different. I’m sorry 😅. I owe my life to curiosity. The people who surround me, the passions I pursue, and even these letters that I’m…
The last double essay on professional identity was Challenger deep and a challenge to figure out. This week, we both take a little breather with a tiny practical tip that has made my life 1% less stressful. Maybe, it can do the same for you. I never run out of cooking oil, hand wash, knees , or halloumi cheese. All thanks to the tip my favourite YouTuber at the time, CGP Grey, shared on Cortex…
This week’s topic was inspired by a conversation we had with my friend Olya Polevikova in a primeval forest. So she wrote an essay of her own! Olya is a marketing leader in agtech , a therapist , a journalist, and a writer . It’s remarkable how, despite living very different lives, Olya and I independently arrived at the same idea of overarching professional identity. I’m grateful to Olya for…
Welcome to the first double issue of the newsletter. This week, you are getting an essay not only from me, but also from one of my favourite authors, Olya Polevikova . One topic, two perspectives. Find Olya’s essay in your inbox after reading this one. What’s your job again? — What do you do for a living? — I’m a cardiologist. And you? — 😰😰😰 For a long time, conversations like this have been…
This week, I’m taking a break from essays and answering your questions instead. Tanya asks: How do you manage social interactions balance, being an introvert (I guess?)? Ha, good question! On the “how much soical interaction makes you happy” axis, my window is pretty narrow: too little -------------(sweet-spot)----------> too much For most of my life, the balance leaned towards too much, and I had…
I easily get obsessed with numbers, charts, and trends. What a bloody surprise for a nerd who does data analysis for a living and in his spare time , right? I refresh Fibery’s $MRR dashboard waaay too often and overanalyze my progress (or the lack thereof 🥲) in Strava . I have a spreadsheet for every sport I’ve taken (somewhat) seriously: I tell myself my data obsession helps me stay grounded in…
Last week, I met with Olya Morozova, the author of my beloved Expresso newsletter. It turns out that what is now a prominent newsletter with over 20,000 subscribers began ten years ago when Olya started following and understanding the news to carry on a conversation at work. The Expresso’s story is highly relatable to me: figure something out for yourself → share with friends (until they can’t…
I’m generally a happy person. I’ve been mockingly lovingly described as a golden retriever waking up all disgunstingly smiley and energetic (almost) every morning, excited for the day. A big reason why is me being purposely bad at one thing — tolerating chronic unhappiness. I cannot be unhappy for one specific reason for longer than a few weeks, rarely months, and never years. Post-Soviet…
This essay was inspired by an email I got from a reader, Rafael , or, more specifically, the wholesome signature: “Hi, Anton! Your newsletter reminds me of the “old internet.” Simple, light, fun, personal. It's like reading updates from a long-distance friend. Thought I should comment :) Cheers! Some people expect an immediate response. I don't. Feel free to respond when it's best for you. Let's…
The dreaded pile I’ve noticed this vicious cycle of mine: neglect an area of my life; accumulate to-dos there; as the pile grows, so does the dread of approaching it; because of the dread, neglect the area even more; accumulate even more to-dos; … Eventually, find myself like this: November 2019, here I myself became a pile Writing off Ideally, I’d want not to accumulate stuff in the first place:…
Ten years ago, I sent a cold email¹ that has affected my life to this day: Unsolicited cover letter My dream company had no relevant open positions at the time and was known for only hiring senior talent (I hadn’t even graduated yet). Still, a week after the email, they invited me to an on-site job interview. As I was entering the metro on my way home, I received a job offer. It was such an…
We are now hiring for a peculiar role of Educator and have received 107 applications. We didn’t hire a recruiter (on purpose), so I’ve read all of them. One thing stood out. Why are n’t you a good fit Our application form consists of three questions: Why are you a good fit? Why aren’t you a good fit? Any questions for us? Surprisingly enough, the question that helps to spot our potential matches…
I’m starting a quiet weekly newsletter. There will be 8 editions, and then we’ll see how it goes. As with everyone who starts writing on the internet, the first post must be a why-I-started-it meta-post. The second post must be a how-I-chose-this-setup post¹. Here I’m petting two dogs with one hand. Why write? Over the years, I’ve noticed that writing helps me think. It frees up working memory,…