# Why 37.8 matters

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent.
Calvin Coolidge

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle

If you've read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams you might be tempted to think 37.8 is somehow derived from the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything". Indeed 37.8 is 90% of 42, where 42 is the answer to the ultimate question according to Deep Thought, the enormous supercomputer that calculated this answer over a period of 7.5 million years.

While being so closely linked to the answer to the ultimate question alone would be reason enough to treat 37.8 with special respect, there is one more reason why this number is super important.

37.8 demonstrates the unbelievable power of compounded interest, the power of a growth mindset. By making very small but consistent efforts every day, you will achieve progress to your goals faster than you would have ever imagined.

$(1.00)^{365} = 1.00$

(1.01)^{365} \approx 37.8

This is the difference between doing nothing at all vs. doing small consistent efforts every day. It is not what we do occasionally that shapes our lives. Consistency in action is the hidden driver for success. This is true regardless of how you define success, be it a healthy diet, being fit or learning a new craft or knowledge.

I am starting this blog with a commitment to add a small bit of valuable content every day over the next 1 year. I am excited to test my perseverance to live up to this commitment, and to see where this experiment will take me.

### Showcasing Excalidraw

Conor ( @Conaw ) pointed me to Excalidraw last week, and I was blown away by the tool and especially about the opportunities it opens up for  Roam Research ! It is a full-featured, embeddable sketching component ready for web integration. This post will showcase key Excalidraw features and discusses some of the issues I still need to solve to complete its integration into Roam. I spent most of my free time during the week integrating Excalidraw into Roam. This article will introduce Excalidraw by showcasing its features.

### Mind mapping with Excalidraw in Obsidian

Mind-mapping is a powerful tool. In this post I will show you how and when I mindmap with Excalidraw in Obsidian and why mindmapping is such a good tool for Personal Knowledge Management. Like this post? Show your support.

### Roam Sex Ed

SEX IS GOOD. But as with all things, sex also has its "dark side". If you are not careful, you can get hurt. ROAM IS GOOD. I am a firm believer in Roam's vision. But as with all things... This article is about information security. While I will focus my discussion on roamresearch.com , my points are broadly relevant in today's online/digital world.

### Deep Dive Into Roam's Data Structure - Why Roam is Much More Than a Note Taking App

Which are the longest paragraphs in your graph? Which pages did you edit or create last week? How many paragraphs of text do you have in your database in total? Which pages do you have under a given namesapece (e.g. meetings/)?

contact: info@zsolt.blog