A couple days ago, I watched the latest video from Scott Yu-Jan1 about their top 20 tools from 2024. The tools were categorised—filming, Making, etc.— and that sparked a brain-wave.
See, I've been thinking about space ships a lot lately. Being a Sci-Fi fan, I love cool space ships and every time I see Lego sets for a Venator-class or for the Milano or see model kits for the Millennium Falcon or the Constitution-class, I'm keen to get into model building and miniatures. Not just to collect ships I love but to kit-bash my own creations!
But with so much information at your fingertips, it's hard to get started and not be overwhelmed and paralysed as you sift through all the divergent advice. And that's not even considering all the content that's part of the hustle culture.2
Which leads back to the Brain-Wave! Instead of learning and doing things in isolation, why not think holistically? Why not think about the upstream, parallel, and downstream elements.
Take my interest and foray into model building, for example:
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By taking good notes while researching, I can improve my learning ability. Writing with an audience in mind and posting it here also means improving my communication skills. As the saying goes, 'Best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else.'
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Taking photos and videos while building will not only extend the build time but help me be mindful of my environment, lighting, and process; not to mention the benefit to future me in logging my memories. And if the appetite is there, I can think about editing, composition, and story telling aspects of the photos and videos.
It's not a new idea to document things - showing your workings in maths, the Feynman technique and dime a dozen other examples that speak to its benefits. But thinking holistically and working on multiple streams gives you choice. It allows you develop direct and indirect skillsets and knowledge. Things that you can quietly enjoy or use for hustling.
So here's the plan: 1. Decide on a project and get everything needed.3
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Document building it - I want to experiment with as many forms as possible so that means taking pictures, maybe short videos, and definitely writing down my learnings and insights.
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Choose how and where I want to share the journey and the final output
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Research and select the next project.
— Mohit
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A new channel I discovered in 2024 and quickly going up my list of favourite YouTubers. It's great cinematography, editing, and beautiful 3D prints. ↩
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Like most things in life, it's fine in moderation but it starts pushing into the toxic category because of all the social & media drivers to always be 'productive' by churning out things and/or to turn hobbies and enjoyable activities into side-hustles. The confluence of the 2 creates this idea that unless you're hustling, it's not a worthwhile pursuit. ↩
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Done. I decided to start with a lego build. It's something that doesn't require other tools, gets me working with my hands and I don't have to work with consumable materials while thinking about different ways of documenting it. I bought the Dune Ornithopter set. ↩