Rob van den Brand lives in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands. He loves to read, think, take walks, cook meals with his wife, and travel. His main skill is optimizing systems, which he applies in his work as a bookkeeper and financial advisor. He also has many thoughts about societal systems and how to improve them. He might write them down one day.

I can be found on LinkedIn and Instagram.

PHYSICAL

• Schneider Slider Rave XB. This is my favourite pen. It feels comfortable and well balanced in my hand. It’s also inexpensive and just writes well. I have one pen and then buy refills whenever I need them.
• Nano tape. My wife recently discovered Nano tape. We used it for fixing a bunch of power strips to the wall. It’s amazing how well they hold, it feels (and is) very solid. For someone who doesn’t like to drill when not absolutely needed, this was a lifesaver.
• HP Smart Tank 7001. This is an anti-recommendation, can I do that? Not wanting to deal with ink cartridges any longer, I decided to try an ink tank printer and chose this HP model. The first one was “incontinent”, it spilled little yellow ink blots over the prints. I submitted it for repair but got a new one. On that one, the scanner didn’t work. I submitted it for repair but got a new one. That one had incontinence like the first one, but I decided to live with it, because I didn’t want to go through all the hassle again. Aside from the occasional yellow spots on my prints, I’ve been pretty satisfied for about a year. But now, it decided to stop printing blue. My favourite colour!! It’s all very frustrating, don’t buy this one!

DIGITAL

• Deep Questions (Cal Newport’s podcast). I love listening to podcasts doing chores around the house. This is one of my favorites, because it combines the topics of productivity, learning and (the conscious use of) technology. Recently, there have been a lot of episodes on AI. His perspective is critical and anti-hype which has helped ground my own stance about AI, which is enthusiastic (long term) and skeptical (short term) at the same time. All the other episodes are good as well and are about “cultivating the deep life”.
• Emotional Exploration Tool. I use writing to “process” my emotions. That sounds rather technical, I know, but it’s about discovering, feeling and releasing emotions that have been stuck somewhere. The thing is: I have no interest in saving these types of notes. The value is in the act of writing. That’s why I enjoy this tool. I just write freely or based on a prompt. Afterwards, the words disappear into the void. Wonderful!

INVISIBLE

Goals, plans, vision documents, mission statements…I get what they are about, but somehow these have never worked for me. I can write one, sure. But then I just go about my life and some things happen and others don’t. Still, I do like to reflect about my life and the direction it could take. That’s why I’m experimenting with this question:

What wants to happen?

My theory is that if I align with what the universe wants to happen, the actions/projects that come up in my mind can be completed with ease and flow, having the support of invisible but real forces. And that has been my experience so far. It does mean I have to bypass my rational thinking brain, but that’s working overtime anyway. It’s lovely to be able to trust this question.

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