A Beginner's Mind

Welcome to the Cook Up, a weekly newsletter full of interesting reads for curious, intelligent people who want to sharpen their minds

Hey everyone,

Greetings from Brooklyn!

It's time for a fresh start.

I published one new article this week: How to Reinvent Yourself.

And since this is the first Cook Up of 2021, I thought it be fun to share ideas on approaching life with a beginner's mind, my new favorite invite-only social media app Clubhouse, Twitter “Spaces” in beta testing, Google’s SEO recipe ratings are meaningless, Beyoncé and Cardi B this week.

Feel free to hit reply and share what you liked, or disliked.

Let's start cooking!

Interesting Reads

Approaching Life with Beginner's Mind

“What is beginner’s mind? It’s dropping our expectations and preconceived ideas about something, and seeing things with an open mind, fresh eyes, just like a beginner.”

What to Know About Clubhouse, the New Voice-Based Social App

“Clubhouse is a platform where users can participate in different chat rooms on a wide range of topics. The conversations are audio-only, and when they finish, they disappear forever...Clubhouse has been in beta since earlier this year, which means that it is not yet available for the public to use.”

Twitter Launches its Voice-Based ‘Spaces’ Social Networking Feature into Beta Testing

“Last month, Twitter announced it would soon begin testing a new social experience on its platforms involving audio-only chat rooms, similar to the sometimes controversial startup Clubhouse. Today, Twitter Spaces, as the product is now being called, is launching into private beta testing. During this time, the product will be limited to select individuals, largely from underrepresented backgrounds, Twitter says.”

Why Google’s Recipe Ratings are Meaningless

“But recipe ratings, like much of the “structured data” that Google privileges in its search results, often say less about the caliber of a recipe than they do about who published it. Sites supply the user-generated star ratings that Google pulls, and there are plenty of ways to skew them. Doing so doesn’t change a site’s place in the search rankings, but it does affect how many searchers click through—and, arguably, exposes the emptiness of the entire rating system.”

Learning

How to Take Notes While Reading a Book

“There is obviously no one-size-fits-all approach to taking notes while reading books, but making the conscious effort to think about your goals is a good exercise to figure out what may be the best approach.”

Tools and Resources

Google Question Hub Is Now Available in the U.S.

“Question Hub is a tool that enables creators to create richer content by leveraging unanswered questions. Question Hub collects these unanswered user questions and surfaces them to bloggers, writers, and content creators.”

Fun Stuff

“The Day Beyoncé Turned Black” - SNL

Key and Peele: Can You Be Too Nice at the Office? | The New York Times

Cardi Tries Basketball

Quote of the Week

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”

– Lao Tzu

End

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Also, if you come across anything interesting this week, send it my way! I love finding new things to read through members of this newsletter.

With gratitude,

Will

PS. I'm on Clubhouse. Follow me if you get an invite or if you're on there. I'll follow back. 🙂