#17: The Danger of Being Certain

☀️ Travel Rules, Marketing Rules

When I was a kid, every school break meant packing the car and pointing it someplace new. Sometimes it was a 2-3 week-long road trip; other times it was just two hours drive from our hometown. Regardless, my parents’ mantra was always the same: “Keep your eyes open. New places = new learnings.”

Back then, I mostly cared about snacks and souvenirs. But they had a system:

1. Museums first: get the lay of the land, learn about the context and the bigger picture.

2. Wander around, explore: notice the differences between neighbourhoods, catch the local vibes.

3. Make every moment count: this, from a kid’s perspective translates to “fun=optional”.

Fast-forward to my life in marketing and the checklist hasn’t really changed:

1. Map the landscape: explore every tactic that might reach the goal.

2. Go where the audience actually hangs out and keep your mind open: lurk, listen, learn.

3. Cut the fluff: nice-to-haves only if time and budget say yes.

That upbringing makes me allergic to the sentence “We’ve always done it this way.” The moment I treat a channel, a copy style, or a budget split as gospel, mini-me makes sure to remind me that my parents taught me better: “Someone elsewhere is doing it differently, maybe better.”

And it’s not just a work habit. The same rule applies to opinions, politics, even friendships. When a viewpoint hardens into identity, curiosity quits the room. This edition is a push to stay in motion (geographically, mentally, professionally) and to treat every belief like a stamp in a passport: useful for now, ready to be updated when the next border appears.

📖 3 Articles to Spark Your Curiosity

1. Keep Your Identity Small - Paul Graham

   Why the labels we adopt (“writer,” “vegan,” “crypto-believer”) can quietly trap our thinking. Graham argues that the tighter we fuse ideas to identity, the harder it is to see their flaws, or update them when reality changes.
   → Read the essay

2. How to Actually Change Someone’s Mind - Harvard Business Review

   Turns out, facts alone rarely sway people. This guide outlines three approaches: a strictly logical “Cognitive Conversation”, a relationship-building “Champion Conversion”, and the “Credible Colleague” approach when values clash.
    → Check out the article

3. 3-2-1 Thursday - James Clear

   Three crisp ideas on discomfort, two quotes on taking action, and one question that tackles the “mental real estate”. Clear’s weekly note is a pocket-sized prompt to review habits and drop the ones that no longer fit.
   → Skim the newsletter 

🗞️ 3 Headlines Worth Exploring

1. AI Bonfire: Anthropic Shreds Millions of Books for Training Data

   To feed its Claude models, Anthropic scanned, and then destroyed, truckloads of print books. Preservationists call it cultural vandalism; the company calls it progress. Where’s the line between feeding an algorithm and erasing a library?
   → Read on Ars Technica 

2. 36 New Unicorns and Counting: 2025’s Quiet Startup Stampede

   Even with market jitters, this year has already minted three-dozen $1 billion-plus startups, heavy on AI, climate, and fintech. Is it a fresh wave of true innovation, or the sequel to 2021’s bubble?
   → Dive in at TechCrunch 

3. Anime Is the New Battleground for Streamers

   A Dentsu survey shows more than half of Netflix and Disney+ subscribers now watch anime each month. Expect bigger budgets, broader storylines, and fresh debates over cultural ownership as the genre goes fully mainstream.
   → See the findings in Variety 

☀️ 3 Actions to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

1. Introduce Yourself Without Your Labels
   At the next meeting or social event, skip the usual job-title / hometown / alma mater routine. Tell people what you’re curious about this week, or the last thing that genuinely surprised you. Notice how the conversation (and your sense of self) shifts when the standard identity badges are off the table.

2. Curate a “Contrary Feed” for 24 Hours
   Follow one newsletter, podcast, or creator who sits way outside your normal interests or viewpoints, then consume only that content for a day. The goal isn’t conversion; it’s calibration. Track the moments you feel defensive, intrigued, or inspired, and jot one takeaway you’d never have found in your usual information loop.

3. Run a Mini “Past-vs-Present” Audit
   Pick a belief or habit you held five years ago (about work, health, money…anything). Write two short lists: why it made sense then and what you think of it now. If nothing has changed, experiment with one tiny tweak this week, just to prove that even long-settled stories can gain a new chapter.

⚡ 6 Quick Resources

🛋️ To do: Rethink your living room. designer Brigette Romanek tackles 10 common décor dilemmas in a fast, practical Q&A: kid-proof sofas, coffee-table swaps, lighting for high ceilings, and more. (Watch it here)

🌱 To be inspired: meet Prasiddhi Singh, an 11-year-old Indian “forest maker” who’s already planted 100,000+ trees. Her story is a reminder that real change doesn’t wait for adulthood. (Read about it here)

🎨 To plan: pin Procida to your travel map. This tiny Italian island just got crowned as “the world’s most colourful destination.” (Read about it here)

🎯 To watch: 7 questions better than “What’s my passion?”. A purpose-finding video that swaps vague dreams for concrete, journal-ready prompts. (Watch it here)

🌍 To check: Window-Swap - open a random stranger’s window anywhere on Earth. One click, instant perspective shift (Shanghai skyline, Swiss meadow, Brooklyn stoop…). (Explore the website here)

☕ To save: European Coffee Trip, a map with the best indie cafés, roasters, and barista events. Save it for your next city hop in an European country, or your latte daydreams. (Check the website here)

🎲 This week’s wonderfully random corner of the internet 

🕰 Timeline of the Far Future

A sprawling Wikipedia rabbit hole that jumps from the Sun swallowing Earth in 5 billion years to the last black holes evaporating. Scroll long enough and you’ll time-travel past plate-tectonic mash-ups, star-less galaxies, and the slow heat-death of the cosmos. It’s humbling, weirdly soothing, and a handy reminder that your inbox probably isn’t that urgent.

📝 Word of the Week

Ipseity (noun, from the Latin: ipse = “self”) - Your distinct sense of selfhood.

It’s the inner “I” that says this is me beneath all the shifting roles, titles, and opinions. To remember that identity is something we can notice and nurture, not just defend.

🧘‍♀️ Question of the Week for Introspection

When was the last time you willingly stepped outside a label you’ve given yourself (or others gave you)?

And what did you learn about your ipseity in the process?

See you next Sunday! Until then, keep your eyes open, your questions big, and your sense of wonder alive.

Your curious internet friend,

Ruxandra