š© What Wordle Taught Me
Sunday Scoop #55 - We are back (on a trial basis)! Let's start with what Internet's Latest Phenomenon taught me and why Sunday Scoop is back.
Hey friends,
Last weekend, my friends and I took a Zipcar out to Alhambra and had lunch at Wong Java (has my top recommendations for anyone looking for an authentic Indonesian cuisine - its Halal too!).
While we were waiting for the food, we started talking about Wordle, which Iāve been hearing about for quite some time but never took the effort to try it out. For the fun of it, we tried out Wordle 224 and we eventually got it in 4 tries.
Then, we started talking about how simple but ingenious the idea was. By limiting players to one game per day and hence creating scarcity, it pulls players back to the game day after day. Quite an unconventional method to get people hooked on the game. Talk about thinking out of the box!
My thought process immediately jumped to how the creators were generating revenue.
Was it through ads on the website? (Upon re-checking, the website didnāt contain any)
Were they planning to set up a paywall once enough people were hooked on it?
Perhaps the game is owned by some big corporation that uses it to funnel customers into its business model (It wasnāt, but it is as of 31 Jan 2022)
A quick Google search later, I found myself incredibly ashamed.
Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, knew his partner loved word games, so he created a guessing game for just the two of them. As a play on his last name, he named it Wordle.
.
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Ms. Shah says she wakes up every day with a new routine: She warms up with the Spelling Bee, which gets her mind right for Wordle. She also loves the New York Times Crossword and cryptic crosswords.
Though Wordle is now shared with the world, she said she appreciated that Mr. Wardle originally created it for her.
āItās really sweet,ā she said. āThis is definitely how Josh shows his love.ā
Damn.
Why did my mind to hop over to profit so quickly? How was my thought process so automated and fixed?
This kickstarted a long process of self-questioning and I eventually landed on the topic of what happened to Sunday Scoop. Did I allow myself to be so pre-occupied with other projects that more directly āgenerated incomeā (and I found fun, of course) that I let go of what I started putting myself online with?1
To a large extent, I found that my mindset changed after the Sunday Scoop issue below, in which I talk about why āAnything is possible, but not EVERYTHINGā. So, weāll try out this out on a trial basis and see if Iām stretching myself too thin and how we can readjust.
One thing for sure, I want to continue to write and put value out there.
In a very timely manner, YouTubeās algorithm decided to show me Jeff Bezosā Regret Minimizing Framework, in which he projects himself at age 80 and tries to limit the number of regrets he has in life.
Iām currently reading Daniel Pinkās new book - The Power of Regret as I think through this a bit more but thatās a topic reserved for next weekās newsletter!
Anyways, I decided that one of the things that Iāll definitely regret when Iām 80 is if I completely let go of Sunday Scoop.
So, Sunday Scoop is back (on a trial basis)!
I plan to maintain the main newsletterās current theme which is productivity and life advice. But perhaps, Iāll create some sub-newsletters in which I share the college experience, mathematics, coding etc. Or maybe thatāll be over on my website, weāll find out!
Have a productive week ahead, friends!
Favorite Things This Week
Quote from Richard Templarās The Rules of Love - Always found the term boyfriend/girlfriend to be a bit juvenile for this exact reason. Resurfaced with Readwise.
Jeff Bezosā Regret Minimization Framework - Itās just 2 minutes long and I think the return of investment is absolutely worth it. (Maybe not the time spent overthinking afterwards, but you get what I mean)
Question of the Week
How can you minimize your regrets in the long term?
To be fair, it was also because I wanted to focus on my academics and stabilize myself in a new place. Especially after a big blunder.