February 2017 - nik.art

How To Tell If Somebody Is Intelligent

February 17, 2017January 2, 2024 Nik

In 2014, I took an official IQ test by Mensa in Heidelberg (Germany). I just had to know. Here’s a picture right before the test:

About a week later, I got my result: 131. Just above the requirement threshold to be eligible for a Mensa membership, which corresponds to the highest IQ category in most ranking systems.

That immediately gave way for a follow-up question: If I’m so god-damn smart, then why the fuck am I not rich and successful yet?

Three years later, I think part of the answer is this: Intelligence isn’t just about logic. It’s about emotions, too.

Liquid Sleep: How To Get More Out Of Life By Staying Up Longer

February 17, 2017June 15, 2021 Nik

Last June I bought a Garmin Vivosmart HR activity tracker, primarily for two reasons:

My daily step count is visually present to me at all times, which makes me more likely to get those 10,000 steps.
If I sit for longer than an hour, it vibrates and nags me to get up and move. Since sitting is the new smoking, I think moving regularly might be more important than moving a lot.

While I happily would’ve shelled out 125 € for just those two features alone, there are a few other perks to wearing one of these around the clock. One of them is sleep tracking.

What I’m about to say as a result of it is not going to be popular and it’s definitely not politically correct. At the very least though, it’s food for thought.

For the past five months, I’ve been sleeping less and I think it’s the right choice. Let’s put that into context.

The Best Life Hack I’ve Ever Learned

February 14, 2017August 14, 2023 Nik

In 2001, my biggest dream came true: I used my Christmas money to buy the brand new PlayStation 2.

It wasn’t a dream come true because it was new, or because of the latest games. I was excited because it meant I could finally play all of those old PlayStation 1 games I used to play at my neighbor’s house or sit next to and watch.

One of the first games I bought was, of course, Tomb Raider III. I got a used copy, because it was cheaper.

When I opened the case to take out the CD, a little piece of paper fell out, with some weird scribblings on it. It looked like this:

How to Come Up With REAL Startup Ideas

February 12, 2017December 31, 2023 Nik

“Fruit salad!”

I had to blink a couple times. She couldn’t possibly be serious, could she?

“What do you mean, ‘fruit salad?’”

“I want to create a fruit salad brand. The best one ever! You know, I want to become the Hershey’s of fruit salad!”

My roommate and I were attending a startup event at a reputable VC fund in Munich. Free food, free booze and more hot air than in Richard Branson’s balloon, most of which came straight from the founders’ mouths.

Do You For Love: The Best Way To Meet Women (Or Men) You’ll Like

February 10, 2017June 15, 2021 Nik

I like to do the opposite of what everyone else is doing. It started in 2014. When everyone else was finishing their theses, I “procrastinated” with an internship. While all my friends optimized their resumé, I started a blog. Whereas most people would long have published a book, here I am, patiently writing for free.

So back in 2014, when Tinder was just two years old and few people in Germany were using it, I thought it was a good idea to jump on. And then I used it in a different way than everyone else. I met an awesome girl and we were together for almost two years. The reason it ended has nothing to do with the way we met. We just reached a gap we couldn’t cross. That’s okay.

In 2017, Tinder feels like the new norm. I now know more couples whose relationships began on Tinder than elsewhere.

I think it’s time to do the opposite. Again.

The Most Important Thing to Do in Your 20s

February 4, 2017September 25, 2023 Nik

Learning how to pay for your own shit. You’ve spent enough time sponging off your parents. It’s time to start living in the real world.

One of my biggest “I wish’s” is “I wish my parents had forced me to take a job when I was younger.” I never had to work for anything growing up. If I wanted an Xbox, I could just wish for money for Christmas or my birthday and boom, there it was.

It’s not that I was horrible with money – I knew it was limited in supply. But I had no idea just how limited.

One time I remember trying to get a paper route. It would have meant delivering papers for 8 hours a day, twice a week – for 200 bucks a month. That’s a little over $3/hour for hard, manual labor.

In the end, my parents told me not to take it. I wish I had. Because after that, I would’ve learned an incredible valuable lesson: It’s fucking hard to make 200 bucks. And I never want to do it this way again.

The GaryVee Matrix: Your One True Way To Win

February 3, 2017June 15, 2021 Nik

On 29th of September 2016, I moved to Munich. Two days later, my mattress still lying on the floor in the middle of my room, I went to one of the many college libraries at 11 AM and opened my laptop. I worked on Four Minute Books all day until 6 PM, before going home and assembling my bed.

(yup, left it like this)

Moving to one of, if not the most expensive city in Germany was an all-in move for me. No more half-assing. No more part-time freelance, part-time writing. It’s all-in or nothing on two fronts:

Getting a (free) graduate degree from one of the country’s best schools in my favorite city while saving money on tax and health insurance is my practical all-in.
Paying my own way through it, without taking on debt, while going for a full-time writing career is my impractical all-in.

What’s surprised me is the ease with which I’ve catapulted my work ethic into high gear. Today, I’d like to give credit to the man, who’s largely responsible for it: Gary Vaynerchuk. Welcome to the GaryVee Matrix.

The 5 Most Powerful Questions Every 20-Something Should Ask Themselves

February 3, 2017January 1, 2024 Nik

It was a random moment. Not one you’d celebrate. Or even notice, for that matter.

I was walking along the sidewalk, like every day. Morning snack from the bakery in hand, headphones in my ear, Kygo playing on repeat.

Suddenly, I stopped dead in my tracks.

*Ping!*

The insight hit me like a stun grenade. I actually had to step aside, into a little alleyway, so people could pass me by.

“You will never figure out life. There will never be an end to all the questions. You’ll just get better at dealing with them and learn to do it faster.”

Are Your 20s Really the Best Years of Your Life?

February 2, 2017January 2, 2024 Nik

Here’s a picture of me when I was 16:

That year, I went to England. All by myself, in a foreign country, for the first time ever away from home. I spent two weeks in a language school, parts of which looked like Hogwarts.

It was the year the last Harry Potter book came out. The camp supervisors took a couple of kids into London to get their copies on release day. I missed it. One day later, one of the guides brought me one. I read it in 3 days.

It was the best year of my life.

The 7 Uncommon Habits of Not-Yet Successful People

February 1, 2017December 31, 2023 Nik

What you see up there is not a CGI rendering from a movie. It’s a real animal. An inhabitant of the Australian desert called the thorny dragon.

Let’s call him Trey. Trey does a few very uncommon things:

He collects dew drops falling from plants on his back, where they remain on his spiny, rough skin.
Trey then sends those dew drops to his mouth via his capillaries with one simple “chewing” motion.
This means he can literally “suck up” water by just standing in it.

He follows a simple, one-item diet: ants. Trey eats nothing but ants.
Lastly, Trey has a second, fake head on top of his real one, which he can present to enemies by bowing down and hopefully get away without much damage.

Pretty cool, huh? So how come you’ve never heard of Trey? I mean, he’s not the national animal of any country, there are few clips of him on Youtube and he hasn’t been on the cover of Forbes.

However, Trey, much like his fellow thorny dragons, has a lifespan of 15 to 20 years, which is an eternity in animal land. A few more evolutionary cycles and they’ll close in on the masters of longevity: turtles.

When we look for success, we usually turn to the commonalities of those, who’ve made it to the top. But what if we’re wrong?

Maybe, the only commonality of making it to the top is to not share many commonalities with others.

Month: February 2017