In this article, I will share an overview and analysis of my top 8 most viewed articles. Each of these articles received at least 1K views. They collectively generated close to 50K views and they made more than $120. But, first things first…

Six Biggest Lessons on My Medium Journey

I have recently shared a reflective article on the six biggest lessons I have learned after writing 222 articles on Medium.

• In praise of persistence: Hang in there.
• In praise of showing up: Achieve tiny goals every day.
• In praise of hard work: Keep writing and publishing.
• In praise of authenticity: Find your own voice.
• In praise of curiosity: Astonish and amaze yourself. …

I have just realized that I have published 222 articles on Medium and I thought this deserves a little celebration and reflection. In this article, I will reflect on what I have learned up to now.

Here are the most valuable lessons I have learned

So, what did I learn from publishing 222 articles? Let me summarize my lessons in 6 overall lessons and in brief bullet points.

1. In praise of persistence: Hang in there.

• Do not expect quick returns, virality, or victories on Medium. Your growth as a writer takes time. Provide yourself a lot of opportunities for failure and experimentation.
• The world owes you nothing. You need to earn your place in this jungle — one piece at a time. …

ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEWS — 4

At General Motor’s peak in 1979, GM earned $11 billion and employed 850,000 workers. In 2012, Google earned $14 billion (1979 value) with 38,000 employees. Although technology creates new jobs, we can all agree that the employment prospects are not that bright for the labor force. Simply stated, the future is full of robots, but there are very few jobs for humans. This is surely unsettling.

As employees, we are all understandably anxious about the upcoming automation and AI revolution. As robots, machines, and algorithms do our jobs quicker and better than us, will we still be employed? …

The Top 10 Series — 10

We all strive for beauty and creativity in our lives, yet we often find ourselves in a rut. We are surrounded by never-ending hustles, goals, and business, so we forget smelling the roses. This post is about giving a break in our lives to notice and smell the roses.

Creativity is the purest way for us to connect with our deepest emotions, hopes, dreams, and childhood. We need art, beauty, and creativity in our lives as much as we need food and water. In short, experiencing beauty nourishes our souls. That is why we need to find creative activities that will nourish our souls. …

As we conclude in the year 2020, I would like to share the biggest lessons on creativity and productivity that I have learned from the past year. In doing so, I hope to share my reflections and learning on how to be super-creative and super-productive with you.

Let us kickstart this masterclass now — here are the five biggest lessons I learned in 2020.

1. Be clear and flexible in your definition of success in your life. This involves imagination and improvisation.

In my previous 40 years of life, I always defined success as academic achievement. I wanted to be the best in my classes. I wanted to become the best student. I wanted to graduate with distinction. I focused on getting academic medals and achievements. I wanted to be the best academic. …

ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEWS —3

Think Like a Rocket Scientist by Ozan Varol (2020) is an impressive book on thinking effectively and conducting experiments in business and life. Varol builds on his experiences of rocket science in the NASA operations team for the Mars Exploration Rover to offer practical problem-solving strategies to anyone searching for success in work and life.

To be successful, we need to make massive breakthroughs, question everything, open our minds to new (and unfamiliar) ideas, disrupt our dominant habits, embrace uncertainty, and run a lot of experiments. In short, we need to think like a rocket scientist.

The book is structured into three parts: “Launch”, “Accelerate”, and “Achieve.” The first part is about reasoning from first principles, moonshot thinking, and divergent thinking. The second part is about reframing our questions, thinking flexibly, and solving problems. The third part is about responding to failures, learning from them, and avoiding complacency. …

One of the biggest lessons I have learned in my life is to let go of what other people will think of me. Of course, I understand that it is impossible and undesirable to fully achieve this goal. However, I still believe that we should aspire to get ourselves free from the expectations of others, as I think this is one of the secret keys to being happy and creative in our lives.

In this article, I will introduce a reflective exercise that will help you become more creative and independent in your thinking. …