Recent content on Volodymyr Vasylyna
Something I keep coming back to is the importance of focus and our ability to fight distractions. Christopher Nolan, one of the greatest filmmakers, said : My personal choice is about how involved I get. It’s about the level of distraction. If I’m generating my material and writing my own scripts, being on a smartphone all day wouldn’t be very useful for me. I’m easily…
The past three months have been quite interesting. In February, I started working on Dora. We were deep in the Carpathians. I had no plan in mind except curiosity to build something with AI, and ended up vibe coding Dora, a small SaaS platform for interior designers and architects. Dora helps create project specficiations and schedules, maintain project plans and keep everything on track in one…
First things first: pick a place to rent wisely. I recommend choosing one of the old buildings not far from the old town. The old town itself is something to avoid living in. As you’re probably hungry after a long trip to Lviv, start with a bowl of ramen at Ramen Mo . The food there is delicious, and their dishes are perfect for satisfying hunger. Take a walk to the Lviv Art Center . It’s a…
One night, the Russians were attacking Kyiv with missiles and drones. A few hours passed. I was sitting in the office, trying to concentrate on work. Just a few meters away, in a meeting room, my wife and her team were working on a beautiful interior design for some apartment in Kyiv. She’s even working on an online course on decorating amidst the full-scale war. There’s a war in my country, but…
It’s the end of the year. I don’t have many tasks to complete at work as many colleagues are out of office celebrating Christmas. So these days I’ve been reflecting on some things in my life which I’d like to call as an inner compass, the guiding force that helps me both in my work and everyday life. It feels like something more personal than just a set of principles…
This is a new list of cabins in the Ukrainian Carpathians I hand-picked to visit in the future and recommend others. This goes on top of the list I posted over a year ago – see part 1 here . Trylis Intsagram – Google Maps DEREVA Intsagram – Google Maps Haylis Intsagram – Google Maps Skhovok Intsagram – Google Maps Prostoneba Intsagram – Google Maps SILENCE Intsagram – Google Maps ChaletNaBrusnyci…
Recently, I’ve found myself thinking that I should read and write more. But I haven’t acted on this thought much. Sure, I read an article here and there, but nowhere near as much as I should. Writing, on the other hand, has been even more rare. I’ve come to realize that if I’m ever going to change this, the first step is to write about why I’ve been avoiding it and what I plan to do about it.
Freedom is often understood as the ability to act without constraint. However, I think, in a modern society, it’s not merely the absence of restraint but the conscious choice to participate within a structure. A truly free person recognizes that they are part of a social contract, where they pay for services (like infrastructure, law enforcement, healthcare) through taxes. This transaction…
Russia has now almost destroyed Kurakhove, a small town in the Donetska region of Ukraine, a place where I was born and raised. I’m now experiencing a variety of new, odd emotions in regards to all this. Lately the town has been bombarded with missiles, artillery and FPV drones almost every single day. There is no single building which was not yet hit by Russians. And it’s so weird to…
Last week, I had one of the best vacation experiences ever. It was our honeymoon. Nastya, my wife, and I rented Gregit, a cabin located far up in the Carpathian mountains ( Instagram | Google Maps location ). Its remote location makes it a perfect place to hide from others, giving you a chance to enjoy nature and focus on yourself, your thoughts, and your feelings. In the city, we’re…
Someone recently asked me if I’m satisfied with where I’m at in life now that I’ve turned 30. It’s the kind of question that makes you stop and think, right? And as I was thinking about that, my mind wandered to the lawsuits some big tech such as Apple’s caught up in these days. Constant battles between corporations and government are a bit sad. Not because I’m…
Most of those who somehow address the topic of conversion rate at work don’t really control it. Be it website-specific, or offline. It’s a common temptation, especially in areas like A/B testing or UX improvements, to promise an increase in conversion rate from X to Y. But we need to pause here. The conversion rate reflects absolutely everything about the business: market dynamics,…
Something that brings a flavor to my work is slow and deliberate thinking. That kind of thinking where you can let ideas marinate without the constant pressure of instant replies. While “fast” often seems synonymous with “efficient”, I’ve found that quality results emerge when you give yourself the time to understand issues deeply. I’m not anti-speed. I’m…
I’ve been thinking that if you want to change somebody’s mind or persuade them, arguing might not be the right way. Instead, it’s all about tuning in and really listening. Just my two cents, but I’m aiming to elaborate why this could be the secret sauce to cooler discussions. So, we live in a world that’s got its fair share of disagreements. And I’ve been…
As I strive for a more simple life, I’m learning that minimalism isn’t just about tidying up my place and organizing my possessions. It’s a journey that starts from the inside and goes way beyond decluttering. Sure, when people talk about minimalism, they often begin by cleaning out their closets. It’s like trying to make your garden look perfect for your neighbours to…
Noticing how traditional social media is tightening the screws, creating more and more regulations and boundaries. I. They prioritize profits over functionality. You can’t be sure you’ll see everything that people you decided to follow are posting. Algorithms embedded into feeds are designed to keep you engaged and increase your screen time to sell more ads and earn more money. You…
When I switched from marketing to an analyst job two years ago, I was convinced that the most important thing was to gain hard, technical skills. I felt stressed and anxious because it felt like I was lacking them. Over time I realized that analytics is primarily a business discipline, albeit with technical components. In reality, analytics work should focus on the business side of things, and…
Sometimes there are situations when a client or a colleague says, “Yes, fine, I will do this tomorrow”, and you kind of make an agreement with them. But then a few days pass, and there is no news from them, and nothing is done. Work is not completed. Obsiously you feel it is necessary to somehow remind them, but there is a typical mistake here. We usually write an awkward message, like…
When you write any sort of an instruction, a technical specificaiton or a brief to your colleagues or contractors, you yourself are responsible to ensure that they understand the task. The problem here is you won’t be able to convey the task to these people, even with a super detailed specification, because they won’t read it carefully, even if it is very well written. And if it is short, some…
If you’re looking for a direct RSS feed of my blog, here it is https://vasylyna.net/index.xml Intro Many people do not know what RSS is, why & how to use it. Unfortunately, RSS is a bit of a geeky technology, not quite used nowadays. But if you master it, you’ll wonder how you could live without it before. What is RSS? RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a subscription mechanism for…
Most productivity advice focuses on speed and efficiency: more user-friendly tools allow you to get better results with fewer moves. High-speed Internet access means we can be contacted wherever we are, and predictive typing of words and sentences on the keyboard means we can respond faster than ever before. Google gives us all kinds of information in seconds, and AI may soon figure out what we…
If a person is not feeling good and complains about a problem, talks about some kind of pain, difficulties, then probably this problem is big and significant for them. If you, as a listener, suddenly saw a “simple solution” and rushed to share it with them, then you completely devalued the problem itself: “Okay, hold on. The fact that I’ve been sad for three days is not a…
Yesterday morning, I was walking along Livoberezhna, Kyiv, looking at the huge multi-storey residential areas and thinking about how the things we create in the digital world reflect what we build in the physical world. Large social media platforms are metropolises: dense, noisy, and chaotic. These are cities that never sleep. You will always see or hear something new, but it is unlikely that you…
Approach your manager and start a conversation with care and attention to them. Do not try to convince or persuade them making them believe you’re an expert and should be trusted and given some freedom. Don’t do it. Find out where your boss sees your value and support. Ask them directly, say, “Hey, what can I do to be of maximum service to you?” Listen carefully and ask questions if…
Introduction For some time now, I have been carrying the idea of moving away from the model of social life on Instagram, Tiktok and Twitter. They hurt my ability to concentrate. So, I want to switch to a more productive setup. But how do you increase your attention span while satisfying your desire to socialize? Traditional platforms are destroying our focus Social media destroys concentration and…
“The worst thing a writer can do is talk about their work.” These are allegedly Hemingway’s words. I don’t know if he really said that, but there is some truth and sense in it. When you have a plan, some intentions are important to you, and if you talk about it in detail, the brain will interpret these words as the implementation of these plans, and the energy for this will…
When we see someone who doesn’t look like us, doesn’t sound like us, doesn’t act like us, doesn’t love like us, doesn’t live like us, the first thought we have about him is rooted in either fear, or judgement, or both at the same time. This is evolution. We have survived as a species by being suspicious of things we do not know. If we are able to turn off this animal…
I was looking for nice houses / cabins for two for a vacation in the Ukrainian Carpathians mountains. The main requirements were relative remoteness from people, pleasant appearance and a good view of the mountains. I’ll share the list here down below. Didova Khatchyna Intsagram – Google Maps Visited in 2022. Great place! Gregit Intsagram – Google Maps karpateka Intsagram – Google Maps…
A couple of months ago I got certified for Adobe Analytics Business Practitioner - Professional Certification AD0-E212. In this post, I’ll describe what it is, who it’s for and how I prepared. I know this will be a bit ironic since I’m using Bear as a blog platform known for its privacy respecting approach to web analytics. Hope you forgive me and this post helps if you seek…
Living with an architect and interior designer, along with reading “Soft City” by David Sim revealed to me several important principles for finding and choosing urban housing. I want to carefully note them down. First, this will help put structure in my head when the time comes to select where to live. And secondly, maybe it will show some new useful point of view to those who like me…
Noticed that many people, especially in the corporate world, do not answer “I don’t know” to questions which they have no idea about. In the same way, they do not clearly answer any questions if the answer carries something that is considered somewhat negative. During 7+ years of work for an international team, in corporate, I realized that folks not knowing the answer will often…
«Love, it seems to me, is that condition in which one is most contentedly oneself. If this sounds paradoxical, remember Rilke’s admonition: love consists in leaving the loved one space to be themselves while providing the security within which the self may flourish.» ( The Memory Chalet by Tony Judt) The book itself is a sometimes melancholic story of a terminally ill person, where they recall…
There are times when we are getting annoyed by someone’s weaknesses. A friend can be unable to quit unhealthy relationship, which is driving you crazy. Relatives can be toxic enough to make you cry. A girlfriend can lack energy and resilience to work under pressure and uncertainty. A classmate’s mind can be taken over by propaganda. These things might make us feel angry and powerless. When feeling…
There is a long-held belief that “following your passion” or “following your dreams” is pretty good advice. But in reality, this may just be a false cliché. Moreover, it can be dangerous and lead to anxiety and chronic jumping from one job to another. Why Is It A Problem? Pre-existing career passions are rare. Obviously, most passions such as reading cannot be turned into…
Stop using your phone for entertainment and see what happens.
Social media and tech are designed to train our minds to crave frequent rewards. They make us hunger for likes. This craving will drive you to pick up your phone more and more. You’ll break away from your work and your relationships to seek a sweet, sweet hit of retweets. These sites push you to switch tasks more frequently than you normally would—to pick up your phone, or click over to Facebook…
… So if you check your texts often while trying to work, you aren’t only losing the little bursts of time you spend looking at the texts — you are also losing the time it takes to refocus afterwards, which can be much longer. This means that if your Screen Time shows you are using your phone four hours a day, you are losing much more time than that in lost focus.
I’ve been an opponent of the so-called productivity hustle culture for quite some time now. The workaholism topic is clearly overestimated and often considered in a wrong way. Work must be sustainable. Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean that working less hours will just put you behind the competition or kick out of the labor market. There shouldn’t be any fear of missing out. On the contrary, it seems…
Slowly yet steadily my Youtube recommendations have got an enormous amount of youtubers «selling» productivity and self-development content. Each of them started really well and interesting, but as their audiences grew their content strategy transformed into a quite simple clickbait story. To my opinion, it’s important to not get hooked into all of that. Here’s why. When I’m watching one of such…
I got an interesting idea during one of the conversations the other day. Some people might be empathic, to a larger degree, due to the mental health issues of their parents. In particular, based on this hypothesis, if parents are unstable in or uncertain about the way they express their emotions or attitude regarding the world surrounding them, then their children are struggling to foresee how…
I’ve just come to realization that my shift to consuming less social media content has been relatively easy mostly because I replaced it with the Youtube feed. I’ve been discarding this thought for quite some time, and now I just have to admit it. Youtube is becoming a new addiction. Whenever I feel bored, lonely or need something to watch while eating, Youtube is the place to go to. And it’s been…
I got several interesting — yet, perhaps, somewhat trivial — insights after reading Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke. Experiencing pain is necessary to live sustainably. Facing difficulties is paramount to finding a balance between pleasure and pain, which, in turn, allows to feel pleasure in its full capacity. Hedonistic behavior, avoiding pain and constant craving to receiving pleasure will…
There’re lots of people who claim that they stay out of politics, that politics is dirty and they have more important business than this nonsense of voting. You can only be out of politics in two cases: if you live on a desert island or are not very good at logic. When you say that «I am staying out of politics», it’s better to verbalize the whole truth saying honestly, «I do not care about my…
A quote from The Comfort Book by Matt Haig clearly articulating yet another reason of why I am pushing myself to write more: … Nowadays, I sometimes write about what I want. The key to this is honesty. Be brutally, humiliatingly honest. I recommend this. For instance, you could write “I want a six-pack.” And seeing that wish on the page might automatically make you realize something about…
The purpose of this post is to structure my reason and understanding for why I stick to the Digital Minimalism concept. What is Digital Minimalism? As defined by Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism is a philosophy that helps you question what digital communication tools (and behaviors surrounding these tools) add the most value to your life. It is motivated by the belief that intentionally and…
Social media encourages more emotional communication. Moderate and calm posts get less engagement than more radical posts. If you want to get more likes and reposts, you should add more emotions. It is quite intuitive and familiar to any active social media user. But the Yale researchers proved it with their experiment . They researched the emotional status and engagement of 12.7 million tweets…
During my endless attempts to become the best version of myself, I always made one big mistake: I constantly compared my experience with someone else’s. I tried to be better than other people in something, comparing myself with them. And here I had no chance to win, even if trying really hard, because there will always be someone in the world who will inevitably be better than you in some way.
It feels like I’m having some unpleasant consequences of a non-positive attitude in life. This thought has been growing over the past several years. This week I had a follow-up call after my job interview. The words which are now really stuck in my mind are the following: I wish you were less concentrated on the things which can’t be done. It would be great if you told me more of the steps which…
So while exploring Batumi why not to list here all the countries and cities I ever visited abroad? Hopefully, this post will be continuously updated as I will be traveling in the future. # Country City 1 Austria Vienna 2 Azerbaijan Baku 3 Belgium Antwerp 4 Cyprus Larnaca 5 Czech Republic Prague 6 Denmark Copenhagen 7 Estonia Tallinn 8 Finland Helsinki 9 France Strasbourg, Marseille, Nice 10…
I am convinced that creative work and basically any work requires being organized and disciplined, even though there’s a strong preconception that creative tasks want us to be inspired first while leaving discipline, focus and concentration behind. There is a popular notion that artists work from inspiration—that there is some strike or bolt or bubbling up of creative mojo from who knows where……