Life 🪷

Education
Productivity
Nature
Philosophy
Meditation
The world's big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.
John Muir

When I realised that the boundaries between disciplines were artificial, my conception of what Education was shifted and my interests broadened.

Linguistics, History, Science and Philosophy all feel more magical when their boundaries are blurred. My work at Arti was a reflection of that, as are the my interests outside of work.

Skills Showcase

🧠

Pedagogy & User Psychology

🧠

Pedagogy & User Psychology

Pulling the key idea from your own mind, instead of just reading or rereading it on the page, is the critical idea behind active recall.
Barbara Oakley, Learning How to Learn

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.

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🌊

Meditation

🌊

Meditation

Zen pretty much comes down to three things:</em> <em id="">everything changes; everything is connected; pay attention. - </em><strong id=""><em id="">
Jane Hirshfield

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

🌱

Community Building

🌱

Community Building

This balance between tribe and individuality, community and uniqueness, was a surprise in a world that makes us think we have to make a choice between them
Gloria Steinem

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

  • I do weekly conservation & community outreach volunteering for Heath Hands  across 790ac woodland park.
  • I help administer a meditation and discussion group with 300 members, organizing events in London.
🏕️

Outdoor Education

🏕️

Outdoor Education

After a whole day in the woods, we are already immortal.
John Muir

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.

🤿

Deep Work

🤿

Deep Work

Less mental clutter means more mental resources available for deep thinking.
Cal Newport

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

🪨

Modern Stoicism

🪨

Modern Stoicism

What matters, in other words, isn't what we feel but how we respond to those feelings
Donald J. Robertson

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

🖊️

Clear Writing

🖊️

Clear Writing

One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.
Jack Kerouac

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.

🔗

Interdisciplinary Education

🔗

Interdisciplinary Education

Well, I am a dilettante. It's only in England that dilettantism is considered a bad thing. In other countries it's called interdisciplinary research.
Brian Eno

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've drawn to projects that are cross disciplinary and complex.

🌳

Conservation Work

🌳

Conservation Work

If you wish to become a storyteller, here is a hint: sell your labor, but not your mind. Give me ten hours a day scrubbing a deck, and oh the stories I could imagine. Give me ten hours adding sums, and all you’ll have me imagining at the end is a warm bed and a thought-free evening.
Brandon Sanderson, Tress of the Emerald Sea

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!

Hampstead Heath (the best park in the world...)

🎬

Video Editing

🎬

Video Editing

A lot can change in the editing room.
Diane Lane

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

🌍

Linguistics

🌍

Linguistics

Language, never forget, is more fashion than science, and matters of usage, spelling and pronunciation tend to wander around like hemlines.
Bill Bryson
🤝

Negotiation & Mediation

🤝

Negotiation & Mediation

Use soft words and hard arguments.
English Proverb

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

🛤️

Mental Models

🛤️

Mental Models

We're blind to our blindness. We have very little idea of how little we know. We're not designed to know how little we know.
Daniel Kahneman

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.

⚛️

First Principles Thinking

⚛️

First Principles Thinking

We're generally overconfident in our opinions and our impressions and judgments.
Daniel Kahneman

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.

Daniel Kahneman's System 1 & 2

Skills

Education

Productivity

Nature

Philosophy

Meditation

Get in touch...

If you want to chat about a nature, meditation or education project— email me on wjbourchier@gmail.com

Or let's connect: Will Bourchier | LinkedIn