# 2016

By Simon Hørup Eskildsen · 2017-01-06 · https://sirupsen.com/2016

Last year I posted mostly [numbers](http://sirupsen.com/2015/) from the year of
2015. This year, more text, fewer numbers.

## Reading

In 2015, I focused on developing a reading routine. I kicked the news habit
years ago. I found the tidbits of incoherent information with no trunk to
associate it with difficult to remember. On the contrary, the books and in-depth
articles I read, I often found myself coming back to. In 2015 I managed to read
and listen to a total of 40 books, but I wasn't happy with the retention. By the
end of the year, it felt like a race to an arbitrary finish line rather than a
pursuit of perspective.  The majority of the books of 2015 were business books,
a bias I was looking to combat this year. My friends often tease me that my
English vocabulary is hilariously skewed by business jargon since English became
my day-to-day language. I will call an apartment storage locker an
"anti-pattern", and struggle with vocabulary related to a non-urban setting such
as an ice-fishing excursion to a friend's hometown or a visit to my girlfriend's
family's tobacco farm. In an effort to both improve vocabulary and retention, I
started meditating on improving absorption of books and other sources. The
obvious first step is to kill the goal of N books per year. By no means was that
wasted, I needed that to prove to myself it was possible for me to read 40+
books a year.  I still haven't found the killer knowledge digestion routine, but
I've used a combination of tools that have certainly helped:

* **Discussing with friends**. I overlapped with friends on some books from this
year, which often sparked conversations. It's curious how differently some
points resonate with others, that I completely glanced over. I've found this
valuable, and hope to foster more of this in the new year.
* **Writing reviews/summaries**. I've written reviews for a handful of books
over the year on Goodreads. This hasn't been as effective on memory as I
would've liked it to, but certainly is better than nothing. It's more useful as
a way to refresh the contents of a book, than as a mean to force long-term
memory.
* **Commonplace book**. Inspired by [Ryan
Holiday](http://ryanholiday.net/how-and-why-to-keep-a-commonplace-book/), I
started keeping a "commonplace book" in Workflowy of passages I found curious. A
repository for later reflection.  The sources vary widely: conversations,
articles, podcasts, books, Kindle highlights, ideas, .. any source of knowledge
you can think of. They're quotes, rough ideas, and pictures.  For a couple of
months in the beginning of the year, I sat down every morning and spent 10-30
minutes writing about one of the pieces in the commonplace book. I keep coming
back to the ideas that unfolded in that writing, and this is a habit I'm going
to make another effort to cultivate further this year.
* **flashcards**. Reviewing flashcards have been a wonderful habit to build
for recalling more factual information. As opposed to more abstract ideas that I
have found difficult distilling down to flash-cards. More on this technique in a
second.
* **Taking notes**. For primarily audiobooks, I experimented with taking notes
while listening. Similar to writing reviews/summaries that usually came from
Kindle highlights or hand-written notes, I didn't find this as effective as I
thought I would be (unless it landed in the commonplace book). At least, the
mere writing doesn't make an effect. Reflection later does, but that's a harder
habit to build.
* **Re-reading / re-listening**. When re-visiting content this year from
previous years, I was astonished. From books and podcasts I thought I had
forgotten everything from, every so often an idea was presented that I had found
myself repeating almost word-for-word without being aware of their source. This
sparked some confidence that I hadn't forgotten everything.

With 2015 being the year to improve uptake, 2016 was a year with experiments in
retention, and 2017 will be honing in on the tools I've found the most effective
in 2016 while keeping uptake high. This year I read 30 books, among my favorites
were:

* [Between the World and
Me](https://www.amazon.com/Between-World-Me-Ta-Nehisi-Coates-ebook/dp/B00SEFAIRI).
This is the first book that has made me cry. The perspective is required for
everyone. [My short
review](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1596281573?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1).
* [High Output
Management](https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove-ebook/dp/B015VACHOK/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1483803694&sr=1-1&keywords=high+output+management).
This is a book about how to spend your time most effectively. It's not just for
the managers. Stepping into a manager role this year, this book became my rock.
I have spent hours writing about themes from this book in my Commonplace book.
[My
review](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1496092726?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1).
* [Never Split the
Difference](https://www.amazon.com/Never-Split-Difference-Negotiating-Depended-ebook/dp/B014DUR7L2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1483803739&sr=1-1&keywords=never+split+the+difference).
A book from an FBI hostage negotiator about how to negotiate. This is not just a
book about getting what you want, it's a book about finding out what other
people want. It's a book about effective listening. This book gave me tools I
will continue to hone this year in stronger communication. [My short
review](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1722878534?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1).

## Flashcards

After having tried to get into the habit of flashcards for a couple of years,
this year I've been doing my flashcards nearly every single day. At this point,
they're a staple in my learning arsenal and I have found them very effective.
When I went to Brazil earlier this year, I decided to learn as much as I could
about the country before going. If you don't know anything about what a museum
has to offer, for instance, it tends to be much less interesting than if you're
recognizing things you've only read about. I studied Brazil and created 100s of
flashcards about its history, its people, its cuisine and its culture. A year
later, due to these flashcards, I still remember why Brazil has the largest
Japanese population after Japan, how Brazil got its non-violent independence,
and the rough economic history of the country from Brazilwood, to sugar, to
coffee, and so on. This understanding of the country made conversations with
locals much more interesting.

As I kept reviewing my flashcards every morning, the number of cards kept
growing. I started using them for food.  Before going to a restaurant, I'd look
up all the items on the menu I had no idea what were and create flashcards for
them (I still don't understand why restaurants insist on using fancy culinary
words that most of their diners won't know). I've started learning the trees and
flowers of Ontario and when produce from celery roots to apricots are in season.

When studying a fact-heavy topic, I'll usually create a handful of flashcards
to help retain the knowledge long-term. I've found it freeing to study things
here and there with the confidence that I'll still remember a good chunk of it a
year later. When traveling to Mexico in December, I started learning the 650
most common words to kick off learning Spanish. Unfortunately, work became quite
intense at the same time, not leaving much excess energy to actually learn the
grammar—but it'll certainly help when I dig deeper into the language (and was
quite helpful on the trip too).

Reviewing flashcards is now an ingrained habit, and it's already helped me
tremendously. [Anki](https://ankisrs.net), the app I use for flashcards, reports
that I have 4286 cards. I hope to reach 10,000 this year!

## Tea

In the beginning of last year, I noticed a [tea
shop](https://world-of-tea.myshopify.com/) that had opened across from my
apartment. I didn't know much about tea, but I had heard of fermented tea
(pu-erh or dark tea) and wanted to try it. I came in and got schooled hard for
45 minutes on tea by the owner. I walked out dumbfounded with $100 worth of tea
equipment and leaves in my arms. I was taken aback. How could someone know so
much about something I knew absolutely nothing about? Fuelled by this healthy
dose of Sunday intimidation I sat down, read two books on the topic, and wrote
2,000 words of notes and compiled a total of 3 questions to ask him next time in
hopes he'd respect me just a tiny bit more. A couple of months ago he asked me
to watch the store for 10 minutes while picking up his kid and wife. Pretty
proud of how far we've come.

Now I [track religiously](http://sirupsen.com/airtable/) which teas I drink, how
I brew them, and how they taste.

## Work

By the end of last year, I started working on the "Pods Project". The mission of
this was to not run one massive Shopify in one datacenter, but create the
ability to run many tiny Shopifys all around the world. ([A
talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UyDK2bDjc4) about this) After a month of
pondering about the project, imposter syndrome showed its face as I was tasked
with building a team to tackle the problem. As with Sunday tea reading binge, I
started consuming as much content as I could on leading a team and project. This
is when I developed the aforementioned habit of writing every morning. I would
write about problems that arose on the team, how to best lead a long-term
project, and how to help people grow. It helped a lot. Over time, the team grew,
to its peak of 7 people. A month shy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the
ultimate exam, we shipped the project after a year of hard work. I am extremely
proud of the team and humbled by the growth I have seen by all members of it.
In 2016 I learned so much about managing a team and project. I screwed up a lot
of things, and did some things right. There's considerable room for improvement
in 2017, and I hope the rekindling of the writing habit can accelerate this.

Additionally, in 2016 I started an internal Podcast about what people in the
company are working on to get a peek into more corners of a fast-growing
company. You can read more about this in [this
post](http://sirupsen.com/podcast).

## Cooking

While cooking has always been a hobby, I feel that 2016 marks a year where I've
developed more than in the past. In the Spring with a group of friends, we kicked
off "Around the World Cuisine", go to [random.country](http://random.country/),
and hold a potluck dinner centered around this theme. I have found inspiration
in the theme of touring the world's cuisines with respect to [the local seasonal
ingredients](http://sirupsen.com/season-driven-cooking/). I have started a
personal project where I hope to get through as many countries as possible in
the next year. For each country, I cook a dish for I need to find someone from
that country to sign off on the dish. Additionally, I want to read a book from
each of those countries to complete it. I track all of this in
[Airtable](http://sirupsen.com/airtable/).

## Airtable

As for flashcards, Airtable has become a sharp tool in my toolbox. It's the
backbone of my tea explorations. I use it for keeping track of what I cook, how
it went, and how to improve. As I venture through the world of cheese, I keep
notes on each one I try and what I like about them. I use it to build
[vocabulary](http://sirupsen.com/airtable/) and have integration between
Airtable and my flashcards. Book recommendations passed by friends are recorded
in Airtable, and it's used to catalog ideas.

## Health

In tandem with the refining of my cooking, I've been extremely happy with my
health this year. I've kept my habit of strength training 3 times a week.
Walking for hours with audiobooks and podcasts during the warmer months. My
favorite tool is fasting by skipping breakfast. Even during the Christmas
months, it kept the scale amazingly stable.

## Travel

I've traveled significantly less this year than last, which was too much
airplane time. In the beginning of the year I went to Brazil, extending a
conference visit with vacation. [Rafael Franca](https://github.com/rafaelfranca)
showed me a great afternoon and night in Sao Paulo, with the traditional eats
and customs. I spent lot of time reading and writing, and had an overall
enjoyable time, despite losing my passport an hour before an international
departure from Rio to home (and somehow recovering it from a cab 5 minutes
before gate closure) and getting my phone ripped out of my hands by a kid on a
bike in a 'safe' neighbourhood of Sao Paulo the week before (while I was taking
notes to an Audiobook, the habit I mentioned before). I did a handful of trips
to Montreal and Toronto with friends (and compiled my culinary recommendations
on the [Truffle Grater](http://trufflegrater.com/) website). In July my
girlfriend and I went to Eastern Canada, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island,
to visit her sister, aunt, and uncle, hike, relax and mostly importantly eat
lobster. In September we went to Spain, Barcelona, driving through the Pyrenees
and ending up in San Sebastian. It's a stunning area, and San Sebastian might
just be my favorite culinary destination in the world currently. 

The Basque tapas bars are of ridiculously high quality.  In December with 5
friends I went to Mexico City and Oaxaca. Mexico City's tacos I wanted to return
back to after a fantastic trip in 2015 with friends. Oaxaca to taste Mezcal from
the heart lands and indulge in mole (traditional robust Mexican sauces made of
10s of ingredients, especially chiles).