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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Hi folks, thanks for your support here. To keep up with new sketches, please subscribe to the newsletter at sketchplanations.com/subscribe To do the best job I can, I'm cutting back on the number of platforms I'm posting to, so I won't be sharing new sketches here. Thanks again 🙏

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Weekly hand-drawn explanations of ideas from science, psychology, creativity and life. Click to read Sketchplanations, by Jono Hey, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Because of box breathing's simplicity and effectiveness, it's also used by the Navy SEALs—for example, ex-Navy SEAL Mark Divine can lead you through box breathing on video.

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

It's called box breathing or square breathing, as the four equal steps are like the sides of a virtual box. Counting to four is typical, though it can be more or less.

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Box breathing can help us focus on the present, reduce stress and anxiety by lowering cortisol levels, and generally relax and be calm. Box breathing involves four steps repeated in sequence, each for an equal count: Breathe in Hold your breath Breathe out Hold your breath

Box breathing illustration: a person demonstrates breathing in, holding breath, breathing out, holding breath, counting 4 each side around the sides of a box. Also called square breathing: breathe in, hold, breathe out, hold

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

"Only if we understand can we care. Only if we care will we help. Only if we help shall all be saved." — Dr. Jane Goodall The irresistible logic, sense and emotion of anadiplosis.

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

What would you see if you tried to travel alongside a light wave at the speed of light? And suppose you held a mirror in front of you, what would you see in it? This puzzle is known as Einstein's mirror and is a question he asked himself in his teens 🤯

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

On trying new things. This cycle was reinforced for me recently in the book The Amazing Generation by @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social and @catherine-price.bsky.social

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Forcing function A forcing function is an external stimulus that makes you get to where you want to be. One of the simplest and most effective behaviours that you can try to help you level up is to keep creating forcing functions for yourself.

Forcing function: a person is forced into getting into shape after signing up to a marathon

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

I’ve met very few people who can’t relate in some form to the Diderot Effect: a spiral of consumption. New episode on all podcast players or here: podcast.sketchplanations.com/the-diderot-...

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Yesterday was a rare blue moon — 2 full moons appearing in May

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Little openings: small moments that invite connection

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Perhaps this scenario will resonate: after cruising at a steady speed for miles of a long journey you slowly catch up with a car traveling just a few miles an hour slower.

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

We all know that racing drivers overtake on the inside — it's the shorter, faster route. It was only relatively recently that I found how useful it can be on a long drive, too, not for racing but for using the bend on a multilane road for easier, safer overtaking.

Time passing on an inside bend illustration (UK edition): showing a two-lane carriage way bending to the right with a red arrow to show the shorter route for overtaking

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Understanding El Niño El Niño is complex and varied, and the effects are widespread. I don’t profess to cover everything here. ENSO does not follow a perfectly regular cycle. Events vary in timing, strength and duration, and not every El Niño is followed by a La Niña. More in the newsletter.

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

While languishing may not be necessarily dangerous in itself, if you're languishing you may be at higher risk of mental illness.

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

While not having a mental illness or being clinically depressed, many of us associated with a general stagnation or apathy towards things — an absence of, or poor, mental health. Languishing is a counterpoint to how we might feel in prime mental health, full of wellbeing or Flourishing.

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Meh. Blah. Can't be bothered? Not excited about the future? Perhaps you're languishing. Adam Grant's NYT article, There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing , resonated with so many people as the coronavirus pandemic drew on.

Languishing illustration: an unmotivated, apathetic figure sits slumped in an armchair with a TV remote in hand, clearly fed up and demoralised - for the time being at least.

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Can’t open a jar? Here are my personally tried and tested methods of escalation. And other #firstworldproblems #lifehacks

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards. — Vladimir Nabokov

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

“I will study and get ready and perhaps my time will come.” —Abraham Lincoln I take from Lincoln’s quote: - Work hard. - Do my best. - Stay humble. - Prepare if I can. _ Look out for opportunities. - Don’t rush it. Be patient. - Don’t be too hard on myself if things come slowly or not at all.

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

I am a part of all that I have met. — Alfred, Lord Tennyson, from the poem "Ulysses"

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

In the latest episode we talked about one of my favourite quotes on entrepreneurship from Twitter co-founder Biz Stone. Now is also a good time to try the Sketchplanations podcast (on all the usual places) as, not so long ago, we turned off all ads. podcast.sketchplanations.com/how-to-becom...

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Thermocline More on the newsletter and site if you're curious.

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

You can. Please go ahead. That’s a great expression, I didn’t know it.

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter. – James A. Michener, Writer's Handbook For somebody who draws a lot, I find I have a lot of books about writing.

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

What do you get if you have a lake on an island with an island on it? A recursive island. Canada, with its vast archipelagos and watery lowlands, seems to have an abundance of higher-order islands.

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Earth is a big magnet 🤯 The magnetic field is produced by some remarkable result of the convection of molten hot iron alloys in the core of the Earth.

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

“Live a big, interesting life. Think, share your thoughts. We need a world like that. We don’t need a world with a bunch of bobbleheads doing what they’re told by so-called experts.” — Former nuclear submarine captain, David Marquet Listen: podcast.sketchplanations.com/submarine-le...

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Sneezes And Coughs ‘Tis the season for these powerful things. Turns out sneezes can travel up to 8 m, coughs up to 6m and they can linger in the air for up to 10 minutes. All the more important to make sure you’re doing your Dracula sneeze into your sleeve.

Sneezes can travel up to 8 metres and coughs up to 6m. Cover your coughs and sneezes.

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

An Eminem rhyming masterclass from the 60 mins show where he said: "People say that the word orange doesn't rhyme with anything, and that kind of pisses me off because I can think of a lot of things that rhyme with orange."

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Exciting to have some new amazing photos of Earth and the moon. Here are some moon sketches. Thank you Artemis II

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

The McNamara Fallacy: Measuring what is easy to measure, ignoring what is hard to measure. From the social scientist, Daniel Yankelovich

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

As a metaphor, it describes a powerful and pernicious shortcoming in how we perceive the world. What a frog does, in this case, is not, apparently, true—don't try it—it's much better as a metaphor, not an experiment.

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

The frog boil metaphor illustrates how it's easy to miss small changes that build up over time until it's too late. The scenario, as told, is that of a poor frog who would leap away from hot water but, if put into cooler water that is gradually warmed, won't respond in time to getting boiled.

The frog boil metaphor illustration: showing a frog put into cool water that is slowly raised not complaining until it's too late. Poor frog. Don't try this.

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

“All models are wrong, but some are useful.” — George Box

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Listen: podcast.sketchplanations.com/hitting-the-...

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Icebergs have been mobilised in the name of better understanding psychology, culture, and, in this case, systems. I like the model because it prompts us to question what could be “under the surface” and, in terms of observed behaviour, what’s driving what we see?

Iceberg model systems thinking diagram showing Events above the surface and Patterns, Structures, and Mental Models below the surface

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

From the outside, marriage often seems like a complete merging—becoming one, but perhaps also losing part of yourself in the process. I love that this passage says that two people can and should unite and support each other without lessening each other individually.

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

"And stand together yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow."

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

The reading from our wedding I remember most clearly is a passage from Kahlil Gibran's beautiful book, The Prophet . We were drawn to it then, and I still am now. The end of the passage offers one of the most beautiful, uplifting, and—at the time—surprising perspectives on marriage.

An illustration for Kahlil Gibran’s On Marriage from The Prophet: an oak and a cypress tree with two figures holding hands, grow not in each other’s shadow.

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Ha! Yes, just doesn't connect with some people. We can discuss dashes together though =)

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Sketchplanations @sketchplanations.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

If there’s a lot going on in your head this week, I hope you can find time for a walk in a strong wind to blow your worries away.

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