Life 🪷

On the UCL Edtech Labs Programme, I gained insights into pedagogy and user psychology that shaped my approach to learning design, product development and language learning.

Meditation is important to me because it cultivates clarity, patience, and self-awareness. I've practiced meditation for 10 years.

• I facilitate a weekly meditation group with Waking Up Community.
• I volunteer my time as a video editor at Adventures in Awareness - YouTube, which has interviewed leading meditation teachers, scientists and philosophers such as Anil Seth, Rupert Spira and Bernado Kastrup.
• I enjoy writing about meditation and related topics here: Toybox 3D Blog - Ideas Worth Toying With...

Cal Newport's work is a big influence on my approach to work, he has convincedly argued that Knowledge Work is beset with distractions and perverse incentives that degrade productivity and wellbeing.

Deeply understanding of the costs of context switching, distraction and modern work habits has borne fruit in all aspects of my technical and creative work.

I believe concise, clear writing is universally useful - it is a byword for clear thinking.

It applies to coding, marketing copy, negotiation, documentation, collaboration and much else besides.

My first boss helped reshape my conceptions of what education could be. Their polymathic interests led to countless discussions on Linguistics, Big History, Philosophy and the Arts. Learning from someone who could so easily blur the boundaries of disciplines made me see how fruitful and inspiring interdisciplinary approaches can be!

I'm drawn to projects that are cross disciplinary and complex.

Hampstead Heath is one of my favourite places in world. I run, walk, socialise and occasionally (only if blazing hot) swim there.

Since last year, I also wrestle with brambles there, having started voluntary work with Heath Hands.

Helping the Heath team manage the diverse ecosystems on the heath has taught me an immense amount and is a highlight of my week!

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Video-editing for Adventures in Awareness, a Youtube channel with 13k subscribers and 890k views

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I cofounded Arti Languages  an educational games company based on novel pedagogies and approaches.

I believe that strong communities are essential for human well-being, yet modern secular society has deprioritized them to our collective detriment.

Mental models simplify complex concepts, enhancing my understanding and decision-making. They provide frameworks that help me navigate and interpret the world more effectively.

A personal favourite is Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by ignorance"

This blogpost Mental Models: The Best Way to Make Intelligent Decisions (~100 Models Explained) is immensely valuable.

Modern Stoicism, especially Donald J. Robertson’s work, resonates with me because it offers a practical framework for resilience, rational thinking, and emotional balance.

I defined the negotiation strategy for 2018 Acquisition of Fintech startup Parrish Blake by Waverton Investment Management.

Outdoor education is important to me because it fosters a direct, immersive connection with nature—something I’ve valued through my voluntary work at Heath Hands and my love of birdwatching

• Currently building Field Guide, a 'nature appreciation app' that augments open source datasets to teach about the natural world in fun ways.

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Daniel Kahneman's Thinking Fast & Slow  is a humbling book as it reveals how often our decisions are shaped by biases and cognitive shortcuts without us realizing it.

It is a call to slow down (engage "System 2") and continuously question our assumptions, it has huge impact on how I approach problems.