I believe this because the primary attribute of youth seems to be a freedom of…
Fear of Failure is Debilitating
We pay a heavy price for our fear of failure. It is a powerful obstacle to growth.…
Manage What Matters, Not What’s Measurable
There’s a simple formula for effectively managing something using metrics.…
Start With Top Life Regrets and Work Backwards
I’m a proponent of reverse planning, i.e. deciding what you want and then…
The Secret to High Productivity
I get asked a lot about how I write so much. The answer is simple: I don’t…
Engineer Around Your Weaknesses
I have a friend named Andrew who used to play poker professionally. And when I…
Three Types of Employees
Typically, organizations tend toward a MacLeod hierarchy with three tiers: the…
Four Types of Project
If we classify projects into four categories by important vs. unimportant, and…
The Concept of Open Allocation
When open allocation is in play, projects compete for engineers, and the result…
3-Phased Information Processing: The IT Meta-skill
Having worked in IT for a good bit of time I have thought a lot about various…
Deleting Horizontal Lines From Word
If you’ve ever had a problem deleting a horizontal line in Microsoft Word,…
This Essay Might Improve Your Life
This is an essay about being productive to the world around you. Confused, you…
Using jk vs. jj for ESC Remapping in Vim by Steve Losh
Some people prefer using jj instead of jk, but I prefer jk for two reasons: jk…
9 Enhancements to Shell and Vim Productivity
If you enjoy the command line then you don’t need to be sold on efficiency…
3 Ways to Use Vim Commands in Other Applications
I recently converted (from TextMate) to using vim for all of my text editing,…
Avoid Junk Information Like You Avoid Junk Food
Smart, educated people tend to avoid junk food. They tend to be thinner and have…
Planned vs. Random Leisure
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the habits of productive people.…
Mandatory States for Human Happiness
I’ve been thinking recently about what states of being are required for…
A Potential Issue With Immersive Fantasy Games
I’ve been a role-player since junior high school, and I have been a reader…
Human Accomplishment: Engines vs. Fuels
I think a lot about why some people are highly productive and successful while…
Ideas Suck: A Tale of Lust vs Love
Ideas suck. Ideas are everywhere and pop into our heads all of the time. Ideas…
Searching Google Bookmarks from Chrome’s Omnibox
When Google first launched Google Bookmarks a few years back I immediately stopped…
I Wanted to Congratulate Malcolm Gladwell on His New Book, But Now That I’ve Read It I Know He Doesn’t Deserve Much of the Credit
Gladwell’s new book, Outliers: The Story of Success is phenomenal. It covers…
ROWE: Results-Only Work Environment
ROWE is a simple concept: let people do what they want at work — as long…
A GTD Approach to Organizing and Reading Your Feeds
The fundamental problem when managing feeds is input management. Most of us simply…
A Three-Dimensional Approach to Organizing Your Feeds Using Google Reader
I’m constantly optimizing how I do things, and nowhere is this more important…
How To Effectively Manage and Process Your RSS Feeds [GTD]
Those of us who use RSS tend to struggle constantly with two impulses: 1) the…
Firefox Quicksearches + Google Keywords = Sick Power
Back in 2005 I wrote about how you can use Firefox Quicksearches to vastly reduce…
My Letter To A Linux Desktop User
I know you don’t believe me, as we’ve had this conversation before. But there…
GTD Basics
Collect Capture everything that you need to track or remember or act on in what…
3 Steps to Highly Efficient News Reading
Few things are as important to geeks as how they stay informed. Knowledge is so…
How Managers Should Be
This is an excellent collection of 10 beliefs that managers “should”…
Reading News The GTD Way
The way most of us take in daily news is horribly inefficient. The problem isn’t…
The Power Of Firefox Quicksearches
One of the coolest (yet little-known) features in Firefox is the ability to search…
Books and Demons
I have an obsession with reading. Well, actually, as it stands now, it’s…
Addicted To Better
If you’re like me (which you likely are since you’re reading this),…
Podcasting + Excercise : A Perfect Match
I think a big part of a person’s strengths is knowing how to properly handle…