I’ve been wanting for a while to start making short video clips about topics, and I’ve finally made my first one. The topic here is presentation, and the focus is on identifying the underlying rules of what makes a good one and a bad one. The goal is to separate what appear to be fundamental truths (but may…
Never Get Old
I believe this because the primary attribute of youth seems to be a freedom of lifestyle, and a freedom to follow one’s passions—not the age of our bodies. Getting old, in other words, means embracing an external, society-defined set of restrictions on ones behavior. Some examples: Old people work jobs they don’t like, because they have to Old…
Fear of Failure is Debilitating
We pay a heavy price for our fear of failure. It is a powerful obstacle to growth. It assures the progressive narrowing of the personality and prevents exploration and experimentation. There is no learning without some difficulty and fumbling. If you want to keep on learning, you must keep on risking failure — all your life. It’s as…
Manage What Matters, Not What’s Measurable
There’s a simple formula for effectively managing something using metrics. Determine what matters to you and your organization Figure out how to capture it into a simple metric Manage that metric to improve your outcomes Number one is crucial, and it’s the step most people miss. People instead skip to two and three by picking from metrics that…
Start With Top Life Regrets and Work Backwards
I’m a proponent of reverse planning, i.e. deciding what you want and then working backwards until you get it. That’s one option for pursuing happiness, but it’s hard to do because people don’t know what they want. A better approach may be figuring out what went wrong and then doing the opposite. Regrets Considerable research has been done…
The Secret to High Productivity
I get asked a lot about how I write so much. The answer is simple: I don’t watch TV I don’t use Facebook It’s remarkable how much time is available when you don’t do those things.
Engineer Around Your Weaknesses
I have a friend named Andrew who used to play poker professionally. And when I say professionally, I mean he’s made hundreds of thousands of dollars doing it. One of the lessons he learned from that experience is the concept of figuring out what your natural tendencies are, and engineering around the weaknesses of those tendencies. More specifically…
Slaying It in 2014
I don’t know what it is about 2014, but I’ve been killing it already this year. I’ve never been more organized at work, and the projects I have lined up for my team are super exciting. I’m making massive progress with my apartment (organization, getting a housekeeper, putting up art, etc.) I’ve produced more (and more interesting) code…
From Evernote to Apple Notes
I’ve moved from Evernote to Apple Notes (and Reminders) for 2014. Here’s how I saw the notes landscape: Evernote Pros: Cross-platform, collaborative notes Cons: Complexity, paid, non-integrated Apple Notes / Reminders Pros: Integration, simplicity Cons: No collaboration, not cross-platform Anyway, I decided to go ahead with the switch after a conversation with @tbwolfe about it. The OS X…
Merlin Mann on Life Planning
My narrative is that I’ve never known what’s coming next—I still don’t. I fell down the right set of stairs and have been surrounded by people who have picked me up and said, ‘Let’s try this again.’ It’s been one anxious block of uncertainty after another. ~ Merlin Mann This is a strong quote from a brilliant article.…
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