# DeveloPassion's Newsletter 34 - Creativity Hello everyone! I’m Sébastien Dubois, your host. You’re receiving this email because you signed up for DeveloPassion’s Newsletter. Thank you for being here with me ✨ If you enjoy this, please forward it to your friends 👍. If this email was forwarded to you, then don’t forget to subscribe. ![[DeveloPassion's Newsletter Logo.png|DeveloPassion's Newsletter logo: lightbulb sprouting colorful idea nodes]] ## Welcome to the 34th edition Another week, another newsletter! I hope that you all had a great one 🤩 This week I’ve received my copy of Sahil’s latest book: [[The Minimalist Entrepreneur (book)]]. I can’t wait to read it! Once I’m done, I’ll share my notes with you. But before I get to it, I have to finish the wonderful book I’m reading about design & psychology LINK: [[100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People (book)]] I don’t know about you, but I’ve learned a metric ton of new things this week! I have taken ~80 pages of notes. The problem is that I haven’t taken the time to put those in my second brain. Hopefully I’ll catch up in the coming weeks 😂 ![[DeveloPassion's Newsletter 34 - Creativity - Learned recently.png]] Caption: An overview of the notes I’ve added to my second brain this week ## Board games and creativity This weekend, to unwind a bit, I’ve tried new board games: - [Iwari](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/270109/iwari), a strategy game with the following mechanisms: area majority/influence, card drafting, hand management, and network/route building - [7 Wonders: Architects](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/346703/7-wonders-architects): another strategy game. This one is a simplified version of the classic 7 Wonders - [Exploding Kittens](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172225/exploding-kittens): a small party game using hand management and hot potato. It’s a gentler version of Russian Roulette I’m *crazy* about board games; I [own ~1500](https://boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/dSebastien), which is rather scary now that I think about it. My wife thinks I’m nuts (she’s probably right). She’s desperate for me to stop filling the house with cardboard boxes 😂. I have only played about 10% (probably less!), and I’m fine with that. Board games, like TV Shows, Movies, Anime, Manga, and Comic Books, are my insurance against boredom. There’s a part of me that fights really strongly against being bored, even though boredom is actually great for creativity LINK: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200522-how-boredom-can-spark-creativity To avoid killing my creativity though, I make sure to take time for myself throughout the week to read, find inspiration, and write anything that crosses my mind. Morning pages and journaling are key for me. I care about all the things that fuel my imagination. Importantly, I do my best to **always work towards meaningful goals**. LINK: https://www.dsebastien.net/blog//2021-10-07-periodic-journaling-part-1 Board games are awesome for creativity and imagination too. Every game is different, even if many share the same mechanics. Some games have an incredible design (e.g., [Scythe](https://www.amazon.com/Stonemaier-Games-STM600-Scythe-Board/dp/B01IPUGYK6?tag=dsebastien00-20), [Everdell](https://www.amazon.com/Everdell-Collectors-Edition-2nd-Printing/dp/B07WWJMQFW?dsebastien00-20)), immersive themes and deep stories (e.g., [Gloomhaven](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LZXVN4P?tag=dsebastien00-20)), extremely hard challenges (e.g., [Arkham Horror LCG](https://www.amazon.com/Fantasy-Flight-Games-Arkham-Horror/dp/B01L3ZTXS0?tag=dsebastien00-20)), etc. Just exploring the different types of games is enlightening. As an added benefit, for an introvert like myself, board games are *awesome ⭐️*. I get to play with a handful of friends (usually 2-3) and spend a great evening without feeling overwhelmed as I do with larger parties and family reunions. If Monopoly is all that comes to mind when you think about board games, then do me a favor: go discover modern board games, you won’t be disappointed! ## Product development This week, André and I have continued working on the user interface of our upcoming product. We actually went back and forth between UX and UI. It’s a tricky exercise, but tons of fun. The initial vision of a product is often very abstract/vague; our minds make things simpler than they really are. But once we look at the details, we uncover important points that challenge our initial assumptions (and that’s GOOD). We have also conducted a few interviews and identified more problems that our product can help solve. Finally, we’ve started telling the story visually, which will be the basis for our landing page: ![[DeveloPassion's Newsletter 34 - Creativity - Landing page.png]] Caption: How we go from a bullet point to an event on the calendar We focus heavily on simplicity, ease of use, and even UI minimalism. We haven’t started working on the landing page, but we’re almost there! 👉 Join the waiting list if you’d like to be amongst the first to try our product: https://apps.developassion.be/productivity ## Recent articles This week I haven’t published anything new. ## How cool is that?! Rephrasely Will Paraphrase, Rewrite, And Change The Content Of Your Text While Retaining The Meaning. LINK: https://rephrasely.com Pretty neat tool for writers! ## Tips of the week Remove background from images of humans, animals, or objects and download high-resolution images for free. You can also edit and resize images as you like. LINK: https://www.erase.bg/en ## Books corner This week, I want to share a book that we’re probably all eager to read given how we’re bombarded with Covid news all year long: LINK: [[Immune (book)]] A gorgeously illustrated deep dive into the immune system that will forever change how you think about your body, from the creator of the popular science YouTube channel Kurzgesagt ## Quotes of the week [[Impostor syndrome is what happens when even I can’t believe just how amazing I am]] ## Links of the week Here are a few links that I found interesting this week: LINK: https://codeascraft.com/2021/11/08/etsys-journey-to-typescript Talking to users is one of the most important things you can do as a startup founder. But how do you actually get users to talk to you? Here’s 10 ideas from startup founders on how to talk to more users. LINK: https://www.tella.tv/blog/how-to-talk-to-users I have a set of baseline CSS styles that come with me from project to project. In the past, I’d use a typical CSS reset, but times have changed, and I believe I have a better set of global styles! LINK: https://www.joshwcomeau.com/css/custom-css-reset 📖 A curated list of Awesome Userscripts. Contribute to bvolpato/awesome-userscripts development by creating an account on GitHub. LINK: https://github.com/bvolpato/awesome-userscripts A set of little RxJS puzzles to practice your Observable skills - GitHub - AngularWave/rxjs-challenge: A set of little RxJS puzzles to practice your Observable skills LINK: https://github.com/AngularWave/rxjs-challenge LINK: - [[How to Capture Your Thoughts and Ideas (Article)]] - https://www.dsebastien.net/how-to-capture-your-thoughts-and-ideas// LINK: - [[Unlocking Founder Success - The Essential Guide to Journaling for Business Growth (Article)]] - https://www.dsebastien.net/how-to-approach-journaling-as-a-founder// LINK: - [[You Need a Fourth Place A Space to Think (Article)]] - https://www.dsebastien.net/you-need-a-fourth-place-a-place-to-think// LINK: - [[Knowii Community]] - https://www.store.dsebastien.net//product/knowii-community