Volodymyr Vasylyna on Volodymyr Vasylyna Website

How to enjoy Lviv

Sat, 27 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

First things first: pick a place to rent wisely. I recommend choosing one of the old buildings not far from the old town. The old town itself is something to avoid living in.

As you’re probably hungry after a long trip to Lviv, start with a bowl of ramen at Ramen Mo. The food there is delicious, and their dishes are perfect for satisfying hunger.

Take a walk to the Lviv Art Center. It’s a wonderful spot to enjoy a coffee in a cozy setting, explore a small exhibition, and take a little break.

Life unfiltered

Fri, 02 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

One night, the Russians were attacking Kyiv with missiles and drones. A few hours passed. I was sitting in the office, trying to concentrate on work. Just a few meters away, in a meeting room, my wife and her team were working on a beautiful interior design for some apartment in Kyiv. She’s even working on an online course on decorating amidst the full-scale war.

There’s a war in my country, but we’re planning to have a baby, so we’re renovating the apartment — as fast as we can. We’re even borrowing money to do it. On top of that, I don’t have a military service deferment, so the risks are doubled.

Compass

Fri, 27 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

It’s the end of the year. I don’t have many tasks to complete at work as many colleagues are out of office celebrating Christmas. So these days I’ve been reflecting on some things in my life which I’d like to call as an inner compass, the guiding force that helps me both in my work and everyday life. It feels like something more personal than just a set of principles I’ve followed. It’s a fluid, evolving framework that shapes who I am, influenced by the values and mantras I hold close. This compass isn’t fixed. It’s a living, breathing part of me that shifts and grows over time.

My list of cabins in the Carpathians for solitude and privacy. Part 2

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This is a new list of cabins in the Ukrainian Carpathians I hand-picked to visit in the future and recommend others. This goes on top of the list I posted over a year ago – see part 1 here.

Breaking free from self-doubt

Tue, 26 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Recently, I’ve found myself thinking that I should read and write more. But I haven’t acted on this thought much. Sure, I read an article here and there, but nowhere near as much as I should. Writing, on the other hand, has been even more rare. I’ve come to realize that if I’m ever going to change this, the first step is to write about why I’ve been avoiding it and what I plan to do about it.

Freedom

Mon, 21 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Freedom is often understood as the ability to act without constraint. However, I think, in a modern society, it’s not merely the absence of restraint but the conscious choice to participate within a structure. A truly free person recognizes that they are part of a social contract, where they pay for services (like infrastructure, law enforcement, healthcare) through taxes. This transaction symbolizes an agreement between the individual and the government, framing freedom not as complete independence but as a form of interdependence.

Kurakhove

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Russia has now almost destroyed Kurakhove, a small town in the Donetska region of Ukraine, a place where I was born and raised.

I’m now experiencing a variety of new, odd emotions in regards to all this.

Lately the town has been bombarded with missiles, artillery and FPV drones almost every single day. There is no single building which was not yet hit by Russians. And it’s so weird to acknowledge the fact that your hometown will never be the same even if Ukraine manages to keep control of it and not let Russians occupy it.

Gregit

Mon, 26 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Last week, I had one of the best vacation experiences ever.

It was our honeymoon. Nastya, my wife, and I rented Gregit, a cabin located far up in the Carpathian mountains (Instagram | Google Maps location). Its remote location makes it a perfect place to hide from others, giving you a chance to enjoy nature and focus on yourself, your thoughts, and your feelings.

In the city, we’re constantly bombarded by tons of information, which we digest every single second. Noise, meetings, people, and their emotions—everything around you demands your undivided attention.

Some thoughts about growth

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Someone recently asked me if I’m satisfied with where I’m at in life now that I’ve turned 30. It’s the kind of question that makes you stop and think, right? And as I was thinking about that, my mind wandered to the lawsuits some big tech such as Apple’s caught up in these days.

Constant battles between corporations and government are a bit sad. Not because I’m some die-hard Apple fan or anything (although I am I guess), but because of the whole obsession with constant growth. It’s like this relentless drive that sucks everyone in.

Conversion rate optimization is not a panacea

Tue, 13 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Most of those who somehow address the topic of conversion rate at work don’t really control it. Be it website-specific, or offline. It’s a common temptation, especially in areas like A/B testing or UX improvements, to promise an increase in conversion rate from X to Y.

But we need to pause here. The conversion rate reflects absolutely everything about the business: market dynamics, customer experience, competition, branding, pricing, promotions, inventory, operations, and more. Can you truly claim responsibility for all that unless you’re the CEO?

I think slow at work

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Something that brings a flavor to my work is slow and deliberate thinking. That kind of thinking where you can let ideas marinate without the constant pressure of instant replies. While “fast” often seems synonymous with “efficient”, I’ve found that quality results emerge when you give yourself the time to understand issues deeply.

I’m not anti-speed. I’m all for a lively, dynamic work environment. The catch, for me, is in how we use that speed. I see a fast-paced workplace not as one that’s a chaotic whirlwind but as a space where individuals have the freedom to set their own pace, focusing on quality without feeling the need to sacrifice it for quantity.

The power of listening

Thu, 16 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been thinking that if you want to change somebody’s mind or persuade them, arguing might not be the right way. Instead, it’s all about tuning in and really listening. Just my two cents, but I’m aiming to elaborate why this could be the secret sauce to cooler discussions.

So, we live in a world that’s got its fair share of disagreements. And I’ve been thinking, maybe there’s a better way than throwing words like confetti at each other. What if the key is starting with curiosity, not trying to win a debate?

On simplicity, minimalism and stress

Sun, 12 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

As I strive for a more simple life, I’m learning that minimalism isn’t just about tidying up my place and organizing my possessions. It’s a journey that starts from the inside and goes way beyond decluttering.

Sure, when people talk about minimalism, they often begin by cleaning out their closets. It’s like trying to make your garden look perfect for your neighbours to envy. But in my opinion, that’s only scratching the surface.

Social media created too many rules

Mon, 23 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Noticing how traditional social media is tightening the screws, creating more and more regulations and boundaries.

I. They prioritize profits over functionality.

You can’t be sure you’ll see everything that people you decided to follow are posting. Algorithms embedded into feeds are designed to keep you engaged and increase your screen time to sell more ads and earn more money.

You can’t be sure your subscribers will see everything you posted for the same reason. Often, creators with huge audiences reach only a small percentage of their subscribers because the platform decides so.

Tech skills are not that important

Mon, 09 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

When I switched from marketing to an analyst job two years ago, I was convinced that the most important thing was to gain hard, technical skills. I felt stressed and anxious because it felt like I was lacking them.

Over time I realized that analytics is primarily a business discipline, albeit with technical components. In reality, analytics work should focus on the business side of things, and technical side is given far more importance than it actually deserves.

How to remind if they forgot to do their work

Fri, 06 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Sometimes there are situations when a client or a colleague says, “Yes, fine, I will do this tomorrow”, and you kind of make an agreement with them. But then a few days pass, and there is no news from them, and nothing is done. Work is not completed.

Obsiously you feel it is necessary to somehow remind them, but there is a typical mistake here. We usually write an awkward message, like “How are you doing with our project?”, or even a simpler “How are you doing?”. With this exact phrase (“How are you doing?”) it is implied that I seem to be interested in how they are doing, but in fact I am reminding them of the task. In this situation, it is better not avoid ambiguous phrases or texting stuff like “Hey, here’s a kind reminder”. This tone suggests that I believe they have forgotten something. Yet I don’t actually know if they have, or not.

The problem of understanding the task

Tue, 03 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

When you write any sort of an instruction, a technical specificaiton or a brief to your colleagues or contractors, you yourself are responsible to ensure that they understand the task. The problem here is you won’t be able to convey the task to these people, even with a super detailed specification, because they won’t read it carefully, even if it is very well written. And if it is short, some important details will be missing, so nothing will be clear.

RSS, and How To Subscribe To My Blog

Fri, 29 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

If you’re looking for a direct RSS feed of my blog, here it is https://vasylyna.net/index.rss

Intro

Many people do not know what RSS is, why & how to use it. Unfortunately, RSS is a bit of a geeky technology, not quite used nowadays. But if you master it, you’ll wonder how you could live without it before.

What is RSS?

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a subscription mechanism for blogs and other sites with regular updates. Instead of going to different sites yourself and seeing if there’s anything new there, it’s worth it to entrust this stupid job to a machine. Let it go to all the sites and carefully collect everything new in one place. This way new stuff comes to us, and we don’t have to chase them.

Improve your work by saying no more often

Thu, 14 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Most productivity advice focuses on speed and efficiency: more user-friendly tools allow you to get better results with fewer moves. High-speed Internet access means we can be contacted wherever we are, and predictive typing of words and sentences on the keyboard means we can respond faster than ever before. Google gives us all kinds of information in seconds, and AI may soon figure out what we need before we even know it.

When they complain to you, show respect

Sat, 09 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

If a person is not feeling good and complains about a problem, talks about some kind of pain, difficulties, then probably this problem is big and significant for them. If you, as a listener, suddenly saw a “simple solution” and rushed to share it with them, then you completely devalued the problem itself: “Okay, hold on. The fact that I’ve been sad for three days is not a problem for you at all? Am I stupid that I didn’t find a way to solve the problem? My problem is nonsense then?” At such a moment, it is difficult to even assess how well the proposed solution really fits, because it seems completely surprising that another person found it so quickly.

Digital reflecting physical

Sun, 03 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Yesterday morning, I was walking along Livoberezhna, Kyiv, looking at the huge multi-storey residential areas and thinking about how the things we create in the digital world reflect what we build in the physical world. Large social media platforms are metropolises: dense, noisy, and chaotic. These are cities that never sleep. You will always see or hear something new, but it is unlikely that you will keep up with all the events. There will definitely be some new video on YouTube or Tiktok that you haven’t watched yet, a new video on Instagram and a new tweet on Twitter that you missed. Such metropolises openly accept everyone, but they are not for everyone.

How to avoid being micromanaged at work

Sat, 02 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Approach your manager and start a conversation with care and attention to them. Do not try to convince or persuade them making them believe you’re an expert and should be trusted and given some freedom. Don’t do it.
Find out where your boss sees your value and support. Ask them directly, say, “Hey, what can I do to be of maximum service to you?”
Listen carefully and ask questions if anything’s unclear. Discuss the topics not to make your point but to really understand why and what the boss needs you for.
Evaluate whether you are able to support this work, and if not, then aim to understand what is needed to make you able to.
Decide if you want to do what your manager is expecting you to be doing. If it’s ok with you, keep going. If not, make a pause to think and find another suitable position.

There is no need to re-educate a person. Your mission is to help the part of the business that is entrusted to you. And if you can’t help there, help somewhere else.

Blog as a way of communication

Tue, 25 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction

For some time now, I have been carrying the idea of moving away from the model of social life on Instagram, Tiktok and Twitter. They hurt my ability to concentrate. So, I want to switch to a more productive setup. But how do you increase your attention span while satisfying your desire to socialize?

Traditional platforms are destroying our focus

Social media destroys concentration and undermines the ability to speak precise language or nuance ideas. By their very nature, they push for shorter, more abrupt, often imprecise communication, constantly changing contexts and moods, and force engagement as often as possible.

Should I share my plans in such detail?

Mon, 17 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

“The worst thing a writer can do is talk about their work.” These are allegedly Hemingway’s words. I don’t know if he really said that, but there is some truth and sense in it. When you have a plan, some intentions are important to you, and if you talk about it in detail, the brain will interpret these words as the implementation of these plans, and the energy for this will be depleted.

The kindest person is often the smartest one

Fri, 07 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

When we see someone who doesn’t look like us, doesn’t sound like us, doesn’t act like us, doesn’t love like us, doesn’t live like us, the first thought we have about him is rooted in either fear, or judgement, or both at the same time. This is evolution. We have survived as a species by being suspicious of things we do not know.

If we are able to turn off this animal instinct and force the brain to follow a different path, then we gradually become kinder, more patient, and gain the ability to accept people, facts and knowledge that we are not used to. Empathy and sympathy are signs not only of some kind of philosophical and spiritual development, but also of physiological development. They require the mental faculties to overcome our most primal impulses.

My list of cabins in the Carpathians for solitude and privacy

Mon, 03 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I was looking for nice houses / cabins for two for a vacation in the Ukrainian Carpathians mountains. The main requirements were relative remoteness from people, pleasant appearance and a good view of the mountains. I’ll share the list here down below.

Didova Khatchyna

Intsagram – Google Maps

Visited in 2022. Great place!

Gregit

Intsagram – Google Maps

karpateka

Intsagram – Google Maps

SpitzBergenHouse

Intsagram – Google Maps

Black Black House

Intsagram – Google Maps

How to get ready for Adobe Analytics certification exam

Fri, 30 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A couple of months ago I got certified for Adobe Analytics Business Practitioner - Professional Certification AD0-E212. In this post, I’ll describe what it is, who it’s for and how I prepared.

I know this will be a bit ironic since I’m using Bear as a blog platform known for its privacy respecting approach to web analytics. Hope you forgive me and this post helps if you seek guidance around this topic.

My 5 principles for selecting a home

Fri, 02 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Living with an architect and interior designer, along with reading “Soft City” by David Sim revealed to me several important principles for finding and choosing urban housing. I want to carefully note them down. First, this will help put structure in my head when the time comes to select where to live. And secondly, maybe it will show some new useful point of view to those who like me are far from the topics of urbanism and housing design.

Just admit that you don't know something. It's fine

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Noticed that many people, especially in the corporate world, do not answer “I don’t know” to questions which they have no idea about. In the same way, they do not clearly answer any questions if the answer carries something that is considered somewhat negative.

During 7+ years of work for an international team, in corporate, I realized that folks not knowing the answer will often try to avoid it. Same applies if the answer is not entirely desirable. And instead, they will find detours, ambiguous expressions, express uncertainty about some external factors. It will come to the point that they will answer off-topic, hoping that no one will clarify their words after their endlessly long tirade.

What is love

Mon, 12 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

«Love, it seems to me, is that condition in which one is most contentedly oneself. If this sounds paradoxical, remember Rilke’s admonition: love consists in leaving the loved one space to be themselves while providing the security within which the self may flourish.»

(The Memory Chalet by Tony Judt)

The book itself is a sometimes melancholic story of a terminally ill person, where they recall episodes and stages of their life, reflect on topics of interest in the form of essays. About half of them are not close to me, but I enjoy the other half.

Embrace our own flaws to better understand others

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

There are times when we are getting annoyed by someone’s weaknesses. A friend can be unable to quit unhealthy relationship, which is driving you crazy. Relatives can be toxic enough to make you cry. A girlfriend can lack energy and resilience to work under pressure and uncertainty. A classmate’s mind can be taken over by propaganda.

These things might make us feel angry and powerless. When feeling that way, it’s super hard to avoid blaming these people and stay away from offering unsolicited advice. 99% chance the advice will not work. On the contrary, this would only drain our energy and make it worse for everybody.

Why skills are more important than passion in getting the work we'll love

Sun, 12 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

There is a long-held belief that “following your passion” or “following your dreams” is pretty good advice. But in reality, this may just be a false cliché. Moreover, it can be dangerous and lead to anxiety and chronic jumping from one job to another.

Why Is It A Problem?

Pre-existing career passions are rare. Obviously, most passions such as reading cannot be turned into careers. They have little to do with how most people end up loving their work.

How to read more

Wed, 18 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Stop using your phone for entertainment and see what happens.

5 ways in which social media and tech are harming our attention

Thu, 14 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Social media and tech are designed to train our minds to crave frequent rewards. They make us hunger for likes. This craving will drive you to pick up your phone more and more. You’ll break away from your work and your relationships to seek a sweet, sweet hit of retweets.
These sites push you to switch tasks more frequently than you normally would—to pick up your phone, or click over to Facebook on your laptop. When you do this, all the costs to your attention caused by switching kick in. The evidence there shows this is as bad for the quality of your thinking as getting drunk or stoned.
They get to know what makes you tick, in very specific ways—they learn what you like to look at, what excites you, what angers you, what enrages you. They learn your personal triggers—what, specifically, will distract you. This means that they can drill into your attention. Whenever you are tempted to put your phone down, the site keeps drip-feeding you the kind of material that it has learned, from your past behavior, keeps you scrolling. Older technologies—like the printed page, or the television—can’t target you in this way. Social media knows exactly where to drill. It learns your most distractible spots and targets them.
Because of the way the algorithms work, these sites make you angry a lot of the time. Scientists have been proving in experiments for years that anger itself screws with your ability to pay attention. They have discovered that if I make you angry, you will pay less attention to the quality of arguments around you, and you will show “decreased depth of processing”—that is, you will think in a shallower, less attentive way. We’ve all had that feeling—you enrage, and your ability to properly listen goes out the window. The business models of these sites are jacking up our anger every day.
In addition to making you angry, these sites make you feel that you are surrounded by other people’s anger. This can trigger a different psychological response in you. Imagine that one day you are attacked by a bear. You will stop paying attention to your normal concerns—what you’re going to eat tonight, or how you will pay the rent. You become vigilant. Your attention flips to scanning for unexpected dangers all around you. For days and weeks afterward, you will find it harder to focus on more everyday concerns. This isn’t limited to bears. These sites make you feel that you are in an environment full of anger and hostility, so you become more vigilant—a situation where more of your attention shifts to searching for dangers, and less and less is available for slower forms of focus like reading a book or playing with your kids.

(Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention by Johann Hari)

Why context switch is bad

Wed, 06 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

… So if you check your texts often while trying to work, you aren’t only losing the little bursts of time you spend looking at the texts — you are also losing the time it takes to refocus afterwards, which can be much longer. This means that if your Screen Time shows you are using your phone four hours a day, you are losing much more time than that in lost focus.

Slow productivity

Fri, 14 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been an opponent of the so-called productivity hustle culture for quite some time now. The workaholism topic is clearly overestimated and often considered in a wrong way. Work must be sustainable.

Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean that working less hours will just put you behind the competition or kick out of the labor market. There shouldn’t be any fear of missing out.

On the contrary, it seems like slowing the workday down will significantly improve the overall quality of life. So will do the harmonization and finding the right balance between working hard and working smart.

Productivity and self-development hustle all over Youtube

Sun, 09 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Slowly yet steadily my Youtube recommendations have got an enormous amount of youtubers «selling» productivity and self-development content. Each of them started really well and interesting, but as their audiences grew their content strategy transformed into a quite simple clickbait story.

To my opinion, it’s important to not get hooked into all of that. Here’s why.

When I’m watching one of such videos it actually does sound pretty inspiring, trustworthy and valuable. So it’s not surprising why these creators get so popular in a very short period of time. The tricky part here is that their messages are often super trivial and high-level, therefore the videos are easy and fun to watch. In the meantime, the essence of the videos is then getting compensated by neat production with clickbait headlines and thumbnails. As a result, I’m always tempted to click a link fast and feel like I’m not simply wasting my time on Youtube but rather attending a self-development session, as short and non-sense it may be.

Root cause for empathy

Sun, 07 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I got an interesting idea during one of the conversations the other day.

Some people might be empathic, to a larger degree, due to the mental health issues of their parents.

In particular, based on this hypothesis, if parents are unstable in or uncertain about the way they express their emotions or attitude regarding the world surrounding them, then their children are struggling to foresee how their own actions would be judged. Even the smallest misbehavior might be punished hard today, while tomorrow the very same action might be, on the contrary, highly encouraged, following the current mood of an uncertain parent. So, children are often confused and, hence, are forced to adapt to that kind of a situation by putting extra effort to identify current mood of their educators to simply not get in trouble again. This, in turn, get them really trained in being empathic to every person they interact with.

Youtube has become ubiquitous

Tue, 26 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve just come to realization that my shift to consuming less social media content has been relatively easy mostly because I replaced it with the Youtube feed. I’ve been discarding this thought for quite some time, and now I just have to admit it. Youtube is becoming a new addiction.

Whenever I feel bored, lonely or need something to watch while eating, Youtube is the place to go to. And it’s been there for such a long time that these days I open it simply by default not only when I have nothing to do but also when my mind is seeking some place to hide and procrastinate. Basically it’s functioning the same way as Instagram or Facebook bulding a solid foundation for my impusive and uncontrolled consumption of content.

About dopamine

Wed, 29 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I got several interesting — yet, perhaps, somewhat trivial — insights after reading Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke.

Experiencing pain is necessary to live sustainably. Facing difficulties is paramount to finding a balance between pleasure and pain, which, in turn, allows to feel pleasure in its full capacity.
Hedonistic behavior, avoiding pain and constant craving to receiving pleasure will eventually put you in a position when, quite ironically, nothing will be bringning pleasure anymore.
Theoretically, it is possible that practicing full honesty would stimulate the part of brain responsible for decision-making, emotional regulation, planning of future and other vital processes.

Basically, my idea to sticking to some rules is aimed at stopping myself from impulsive generation of dopamine. Avoiding difficulties and hiding from pain has nothing to do with fighting the cause of the negative feelings.

Why you must not stay out of politics

Fri, 24 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

There’re lots of people who claim that they stay out of politics, that politics is dirty and they have more important business than this nonsense of voting.

You can only be out of politics in two cases: if you live on a desert island or are not very good at logic. When you say that «I am staying out of politics», it’s better to verbalize the whole truth saying honestly, «I do not care about my future and the future of my people, I voluntarily refuse to participate in the life of my country». By refusing to participate in politics, you delegate your power to people who may turn out to be far less conscientious than yourself.

Why to write

Thu, 09 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

A quote from The Comfort Book by Matt Haig clearly articulating yet another reason of why I am pushing myself to write more:

… Nowadays, I sometimes write about what I want. The key to this is honesty. Be brutally, humiliatingly honest. I recommend this.

For instance, you could write “I want a six-pack.”

And seeing that wish on the page might automatically make you realize something about it. It might make you feel silly for having it. You might already be awakening another part of you that helps you diminish the craving. But either way, it is good to ask a single-word question after it. “Why?” Why do I want a six-pack? Then to be entirely honest in your answer. “I want to look good.” And again: “Why?” “For myself.” And then you might stare at that answer for a while and feel you weren’t being entirely honest. So you add: “To impress other people.” And then, like some incessant Socrates, ask it again: “Why?” “Because I want their approval.” “Why?” “Because I want to belong.” “Why?” And you can keep going, deeper and deeper, through the tunnel of whys, until you reach the light of realization. And the realization may be that wanting the six-pack wasn’t really about the six-pack. It wasn’t about your body. It wasn’t even about health or strength or fitness. It was about something else entirely. Something that wouldn’t be fundamentally addressed or solved by gaining the six-pack.

Why digital minimalism

Fri, 03 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The purpose of this post is to structure my reason and understanding for why I stick to the Digital Minimalism concept.

What is Digital Minimalism? As defined by Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism is a philosophy that helps you question what digital communication tools (and behaviors surrounding these tools) add the most value to your life. It is motivated by the belief that intentionally and aggressively clearing away low-value digital noise, and optimizing your use of the tools that really matter, can significantly improve your life.

Likes and shares teach us to express more outrage online

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Social media encourages more emotional communication. Moderate and calm posts get less engagement than more radical posts. If you want to get more likes and reposts, you should add more emotions. It is quite intuitive and familiar to any active social media user. But the Yale researchers proved it with their experiment.

They researched the emotional status and engagement of 12.7 million tweets with outrage. This resulted as expected: the more reactions users received on their outrage posts, the more similar emotions their put into their subsequent posts.

A better version of yourself

Tue, 10 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

During my endless attempts to become the best version of myself, I always made one big mistake: I constantly compared my experience with someone else’s. I tried to be better than other people in something, comparing myself with them. And here I had no chance to win, even if trying really hard, because there will always be someone in the world who will inevitably be better than you in some way.

Struggle to think positively

Fri, 09 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

It feels like I’m having some unpleasant consequences of a non-positive attitude in life. This thought has been growing over the past several years.

This week I had a follow-up call after my job interview. The words which are now really stuck in my mind are the following:

I wish you were less concentrated on the things which can’t be done. It would be great if you told me more of the steps which are doable.

My travels

Wed, 07 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

So while exploring Batumi why not to list here all the countries and cities I ever visited abroad? Hopefully, this post will be continuously updated as I will be traveling in the future.

#	Country	City
1	Austria	Vienna
2	Azerbaijan	Baku
3	Belgium	Antwerp
4	Cyprus	Larnaca
5	Czech Republic	Prague
6	Denmark	Copenhagen
7	Estonia	Tallinn
8	Finland	Helsinki
9	France	Strasbourg, Marseille, Nice
10	Germany	Berlin, Hannover, Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Dresden, Cologne, Walldorf, Dusseldorf, Heidelberg
11	Georgia	Batumi
12	Hungary	Budapest
13	Italy	Rome, Florence, Siena
14	Lithuania	Vilnius
15	Netherlands	Maastricht
16	Poland	Krakow, Wroclaw
17	Slovakia	Bratislava
18	Spain	Barcelona, Palma de Majorca
19	Sweden	Malmo
20	Turkey	Istanbul
21	Uzbekistan	Tashkent

Update 1: added Estonia, Finland — Sep 20, 2021

Why creative people should be working like accountants

Wed, 26 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I am convinced that creative work and basically any work requires being organized and disciplined, even though there’s a strong preconception that creative tasks want us to be inspired first while leaving discipline, focus and concentration behind.

There is a popular notion that artists work from inspiration—that there is some strike or bolt or bubbling up of creative mojo from who knows where… but I hope [my work] makes clear that waiting for inspiration to strike is a terrible, terrible plan. In fact, perhaps the single best piece of advice I can offer to anyone trying to do creative work is to ignore inspiration. In a New York Times column on the topic, David Brooks summarizes this reality more bluntly: “[Great creative minds] think like artists but work like accountants.”

Reading

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

All time reading stats

Year	Number of books
2010	20
2011	53
2012	12
2013	8
2014	8
2015	8
2016	5
2017	2
2018	N/A
2019	N/A
2020	11
2021	19
2022	24
2023	37
2024	15
2025	9
2026	1

These are the books I read

2026

Аркан вовків – Павло Деревʼянко

2025

Арабески – Сергій Жадан
В очікуванні варварів – Джон Максвелл Кутзее
Б-52 – Анатолій Дністровий
Точка нуль – Артем Чех
Вівці цілі – Євгенія Кузнєцова
Звіяні вітром. Книга 1 – Маргарет Мітчелл
Гра в перевдягання – Артем Чех
Звіяні вітром. Книга 2 – Маргарет Мітчелл
Найбагатший чоловік у Вавилоні – Джордж Клейсон

2024

Служниця – Фріда Мак-Фадден
Катананхе - Софія Андрухович
Напрочуд кмітливі створіння - Шелбі ван Пелт
Робінзон Крузо – Даніель Дефо
Пісня відкритого шляху – Артем Чех
Перший Кий Будича – Анатолій Дністровий
Привиди – Анатолій Дністровий
Ніколи не йдіть на компроміс. Техніка ефективних переговорів – Крісс Восс
Сіра Пейна – Анатолій Дністровий
Там, де заходить сонце – Олена Пшенична
Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout – Cal Newport
Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You – Ali Abdaal
Небовись – Брендон Сандерсон
Вибір – Едіт Егер
Assassin's Apprentice – Robin Hobb

2023

Перші – Марія Олекса
Не озирайся і мовчи – Макс Кідрук
Швеція. Модель для збірки: вілла, "вольво", песик – Юлія Юрчук
Невеличка драма – Валерʼян Підмогильний
Що мій син має знати про світ – Фредрік Бакман
Земля крилатих – Ірина Грабовська
Перші – Марія Олекса
Пиво і чорнило. Як жили київські студенти 19 – початку 20 ст. – Тарас Самчук
Зірки й кістки – Ірина Грабовська
Доця – Тамара Горіха Зерня
Пляжне чтиво – Емілі Генрі
Пиши. Легкий шлях від ідеї до книжки – Таіс Золотковська
НепрОсті – Тарас Прохасько
Ворошиловград – Сергій Жадан
Не бійся спитати. 10 кроків до вдалих переговорів – Александра Картер
Інститутка. Оповідання – Марко Вовчок
Завтра, завтра, завтра – Ґабріель Зевін
Три лини для Марії – Сергій Осока
Недуга – Євген Плужник
М'яке місто – Девід Сім
Драбина – Євгенія Кузнєцова
Бот. Ґуаякільський парадокс – Макс Кідрук
Дівчина з ведмедиком. Доктор Серафікус – В. Домонтович
Інтернат – Сергій Жадан
Неймовірна історія сексу, Том 1: Захід – Філіп Брено, Летісія Корен
Остання імперія – Брендон Сандерсон
Бот. Атакамська криза – Макс Кідрук
1984 – Джордж Орвелл
Записки Кирпатого Мефістофеля – Володимир Винниченко
Гаррі Поттер і в’язень Азкабану – Джоан К. Роулінг
Нові Темні Віки. Колонія – Макс Кідрук
Танці з кістками – Андрій Сем’янків
Дюна – Френк Герберт
Гаррі Поттер і таємна кімната – Джоан К. Роулінг
Там, де співають раки – Делія Овенс
Гаррі Поттер і філософський камінь – Джоан К. Роулінг
Я бачу, вас цікавить пітьма – Ілларіон Павлюк

2022

The Forty Rules of Love – Elif Shafak
The Memory Chalet – Tony Judt
Білий попіл – Ілларіон Павлюк
Танець недоумка – Ілларіон Павлюк
Медицина доказова і не дуже – Андрій Сем’янків
Six of Crows – Leigh Bardugo
Нестерпна легкість буття – Milan Kundera
Соляріс – Станіслав Лем
Повість про санаторійну зону. Сентиментальна історія. Я Романтика – Микола Хвильовий
The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
Правда про справу Гаррі Квеберта – Жоель Дікер
Канцлерка. Дивовижна одіссея Ангели Меркель – Кеті Мартон
Віщі сестри – Террі Пратчетт
Нова карта світу. Енергетика, клімат, конфлікти – Деніел Єрґін
Нормальні люди – Саллі Руні
Стоїцизм на кожен день. 366 роздумів про мудрість, стійкість і мистецтво жити – Раян Холідей
Варта! Варта! – Террі Пратчетт
Право на чари – Террі Пратчетт
Колір магії – Террі Пратчетт
Морт – Террі Пратчетт
Волоцюги Дгарми – Джек Керуак
Мистецтво зосереджуватися. Як у нас украли увагу – Йоган Гарі
Shadow and Bone – Leigh Bardugo
Что вы несете? Дмитрий Дубилет рассказывает самые интересные истории о флагах всех стран мира – Дмитрий Дубилет

2021

Влейте в нее свое сердце. Как чашка за чашкой строилась Starbucks – Говард Шульц
Петровы в гриппе и вокруг него – Алексей Сальников
So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love – Cal Newport
Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence – Anna Lembke
The Comfort Book – Matt Haig
Meditations – Marcus Aurelius
Весь невидимый нам свет – Энтони Доерр
A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload – Cal Newport
Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations – Ronen Bergman
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World – Cal Newport
Любовь к себе: 50 способов повысить самооценку – Анастасия Залога
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos – Jordan B. Peterson
No Room for Small Dreams: The Decisions That Made Israel Great – Shimon Peres
Простими словами. Як розібратися у своїх емоціях – Марк Лівін
Асканио – Александр Дюма
Гордость и предубеждение – Джейн Остин
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry – Rachel Joyce
Ясно, понятно – Максим Ильяхов
Ангелы и демоны – Дэн Браун

2020

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith
The Midnight Library – Matt Haig
Тревожные люди – Фредрик Бакман
A Man Called Ove – Fredrik Backman
Пиши, сокращай – Максим Ильяхов
You Are a Badass – Jen Sincero
Сторітелінг для очей, вух і серця – Марк Лівін
Ася – Иван Тургенев
Королева Марго – Александр Дюма
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry – Fredrik Backman
Beartown – Fredrik Backman

2019

Did’t track what I was reading

Renovation

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This was a log of the work we were doing to renovate a 60 sqm apartment located in Kyiv, in one of so-called ‘Stalinka’ buildings. These residential structures date back to the Soviet era and were built during Joseph Stalin’s reign, roughly from the late 1930s to the mid-1950s. Our building was built in 1957.

Oct 27, 2023
Contract signed and the apartment is ours.

Dec 17, 2023
Starting designing the space thanks to Anastasiia, my wife, and MUSO, her interior design studio

Things I Use

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This page contains a somewhat up-to-date listing of all hardware and software that I currently use. Seeing similar pages on other people’s personal websites have proved quite valuable to me, so I figured I would do the same!

Services

Claude Pro plan - $20/month
iCloud+ 200 GB – $3/month
Youtube Premium family membership – $4/month
Cloudflare Registrar renewal fees for 2 domains – $2/month
Github Pages hosting – $0/month

Work Laptop

MacBook Air 2022 M2

Devices

iPhone 14
Jabra Evolve2 85

Software

Safari
Databricks, SAP Analytics Cloud, Adobe Analytics
Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Excel, Powerpoint, Word, Teams), Google Sheets, Google Docs
Visual Studio Code

Volodymyr Vasylyna on Volodymyr Vasylyna Website

How to enjoy Lviv

Life unfiltered

Compass

My list of cabins in the Carpathians for solitude and privacy. Part 2

Trylis

DEREVA

Haylis

Skhovok

Prostoneba

SILENCE

ChaletNaBrusnyci

Breaking free from self-doubt

Freedom

Kurakhove

Gregit

Some thoughts about growth

Conversion rate optimization is not a panacea

I think slow at work

The power of listening

On simplicity, minimalism and stress

Social media created too many rules

Tech skills are not that important

How to remind if they forgot to do their work

The problem of understanding the task

RSS, and How To Subscribe To My Blog

Intro

What is RSS?

Improve your work by saying no more often

When they complain to you, show respect

Digital reflecting physical

How to avoid being micromanaged at work

Blog as a way of communication

Introduction

Traditional platforms are destroying our focus

Should I share my plans in such detail?

The kindest person is often the smartest one

My list of cabins in the Carpathians for solitude and privacy

Didova Khatchyna

Gregit

karpateka

SpitzBergenHouse

Black Black House

How to get ready for Adobe Analytics certification exam

My 5 principles for selecting a home

Just admit that you don't know something. It's fine

What is love

Embrace our own flaws to better understand others

Why skills are more important than passion in getting the work we'll love

How to read more

5 ways in which social media and tech are harming our attention

Why context switch is bad

Slow productivity

Productivity and self-development hustle all over Youtube

Root cause for empathy

Youtube has become ubiquitous

About dopamine

Why you must not stay out of politics

Why to write

Why digital minimalism

Likes and shares teach us to express more outrage online

A better version of yourself

Struggle to think positively

My travels

Why creative people should be working like accountants

Reading

2026

Renovation

Things I Use

Services

Work Laptop

Devices

Software