You are gonna hear A LOT about Bitcoin this year

Bitcoin crossed $61,000 this morning and is on its way to an all time high. Oh what a time to be alive! In this newsletter, I’ll go into why it is surging and then I’ll shift gears into topics like how to learn and how to get things done. Happy reading.

On Technology

I am not a crypto bro, I promise. But I am fascinated by Bitcoin (BTC). Whether you think it is all a scam or believe that crypto is the future, either way, you should know about the Bitcoin halving. It is coming in 50 days, and it's a pretty big deal.

What is the halving?

Simply put, Bitcoin halving reduces the pace at which new bitcoins enter circulation by half. The halving is a feature written into the code by Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator. It's designed to regulate Bitcoin's supply and ensure the steady, controlled introduction of new bitcoins into the system. In theory, slowing down the rate at which new bitcoins are issued should lead to a price increase if the demand stays constant.

The halving, which occurs just about every four years, has so far decreased the reward for mining a block to 25 BTC on November 28, 2012, then to 12.5 BTC on July 9, 2016, and most recently to 6.25 BTC on May 11, 2020. This rewards system will continue until about 2140, when the proposed limit of 21 million coins is reached.

But why does it have to halve?

Halving serves different purposes:

• Inflation Reduction: By decreasing the rate at which new bitcoins are generated, the halving event reduces the rate of inflation over time. This is intended to increase the value of Bitcoin as its scarcity increases.

• Incentive for Miners: Initially, miners are incentivized to secure the network by the block rewards. As these rewards diminish over time, transaction fees are expected to become a more significant part of the reward, ensuring that miners are still incentivized to process transactions even after the last Bitcoin is mined.

• Controlled Supply: Again, Bitcoin has a capped supply of 21 million coins. The halving ensures that the total number of bitcoins doesn't exceed this limit.

Why you should care?

• It’s fascinating. Every four years, Bitcoin becomes a very newsworthy event. This will be something people are talking about in 2024 and 2025. At the very least, having a primer on it makes you seem interesting at parties.

• It could be an investment opportunity. Historically, the halving has led to notable price surges in the months that follow. While that’s not an explicit aim of the halving, the trend has been for prices to climb significantly, primarily because the supply of new bitcoins diminishes while demand remains steady or grows. Platforms like Coinbase and Paypal make it easy to invest. So, you might be able to make some money out of all this.

• Bitcoin might be too large to ignore. The market capitalization of digital assets, now sitting at over $2 trillion, surpasses the GDP of many countries. While the total number of people who own Bitcoin is still small, it is growing. And, we are in uncharted waters with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approving 11 spot bitcoin ETFs in January . More and more scarcity should continue to reinforce Bitcoin’s status as a store of value and a hedge against monetary inflation.

In conclusion

It is important to note that this is not financial advice. This newsletter is written for entertainment purposes only. And Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as a whole are very volatile. Just because history has a history of repeating doesn’t mean it will again. Long story short, this should all be taken with a grain of salt, as the cryptocurrency market is known for its unpredictability.

But…

One of Bitcoin’s key features is scarcity. Scarcity makes Bitcoin anti-inflationary, unlike fiat currencies. And the dream here is that Bitcoin becomes a powerful global store of value. At the very least, it promises to be quite a spectacle to behold

On Learning…

My parents were teachers. I went to school every day and then came back home to the behind-the-scenes of teaching and education. Because of this, I’ve always been fascinated with learning and also how people learn. Why can some people grasp concepts while others struggle? Great teaching plays a significant role, buuut so does being a great student. Learning cannot be a passive exercise. But we don’t really ever learn how to learn. We read books, sit through lectures, do projects and cram for exams, but how do you actually learn?

Enter the Feynman Technique.

The Feynman Technique a learning method that involves teaching a topic to an imaginary student to better understand and retain the information. Named after the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman who was known for his ability to explain complex subjects in simple terms, Feynman developed this technique as a way to deepen understanding and retention of material. The method consists of four key steps:

1. Choose a Concept: Select a topic or concept you want to understand better.

2. Teach it to a Child: Explain the concept in your own words as if you are teaching it to a child. This forces you to simplify the language and break down the concept into its most basic elements. If you cannot explain a concept simply, you do not understand it well enough. It’s basically, Explain Like I'm Five.

3. Identify Gaps in Your Understanding: As you explain the concept, pay attention to areas where you struggle to find the right explanations or where you rely on overly complex terminology. These are the gaps in your understanding.

4. Review and Simplify: Go back to the source material to fill in the gaps in your knowledge. Then, simplify the explanation further. This process of review and simplification helps to solidify your understanding and retain the information.

The Feynman Technique works because it encourages active learning over passive reading or memorization. By attempting to teach a concept, you have to organize your thoughts and make the topic clear not only to your audience but also to yourself. This technique can be applied to a wide range of subjects, from physics to philosophy, and helps learners develop a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of the material. I think mom and dad would have approved.

On Productivity

Cyril Northcote Parkinson, a British naval historian and author, introduced this observation in a 1955 essay for The Economist with the opening line, 'Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.' This adage means that a task will take as long as the time one allocates for it, regardless of its complexity. Schedule a meeting for an hour, and it will last an hour. Allocate a whole day to clean your house, and it will take the entire day. Have a week to finish a project? It will fill that week.

Work can expand if you let it. Here are a few tips to overcome Parkinson’s Law:

• Awareness. The first step in solving any problem is identifying it. Being aware of the potential to succumb to Parkinson's Law can aid in steering clear of its pitfalls.

• Control Time. Shift your thinking from "how much time do I have?" to "how much time do I realistically need?" for each task and set your deadlines based on that assessment. For example, you might end up scheduling your next meeting for 30 minutes instead of an hour.

• Stop the Scope Creep. Understand your project's requirements clearly and prioritize tasks and activities based on their urgency and importance. Not every task has the same level of significance. Tackle those high-priority tasks first.

• Try Timeboxing. Timeboxing is a time management technique where you allocate a fixed, limited amount of time to a specific activity. You work on the task for that period and then stop once the time is up.

• Work within designated time intervals. Similar to Timeboxing, these intervals could range from a brief 25-minute session, similar to the Pomodoro method (more on this in future newsletters), to up to 90 minutes. No longer though. Research suggest that the brain's focus tends to diminish after 90 minutes. So make sure you take at least a 15-minute break.

Parkinson's Law has stood the test of time, continuing to resonate in today's discussions. It’s not so much a law, but rather an observation of human behavior, but it highlights the need to set realistic deadlines and constraints.

On Gratitude

I work with amazing people. Each day, I get to tackle problems with some of the smartest people you could ever hope to meet. I'll be honest; it can be tiring trying to keep up with all the big brains on my team. But I wouldn't have it any other way. I am so lucky to have the opportunity to work with these individuals. I learn something new every single day. May you all be challenged and rewarded by the amazing people in your lives.