Lately, one of my guilty pleasures is watching one of the Food Network or baking shows before bed. I have a pretty out of control sweet tooth, and these shows really appeal to me. On an episode of Zumbo’s Just Desserts (it’s on Netflix, highly …
What people don’t tell you about morning routines, time management, and other systems
Many years ago, a good friend of mine introduced me to my very first productivity tool: Omnifocus. Omnifocus is a really cool piece of software. Even back in 2011, I couldn’t believe how detailed and flexible this tool was! It let me create categories of …
it takes time to become technically good
Last week I wrote about how easy it is to see the exceptional. The example I gave was Evan Spiegel, the then-23-year-old founder of Snapchat, or Mark Zuckerberg…but there is a standard distribution curve for ability in anything you’re interested in. Those at the far …
boundaries: the dark side of being motivated
As I’ve gotten better at building a life of my own design, I find myself really only spending time on things that I actually, really want to spend time on. What a great place to be. Rarely do I have any problem with “motivation” — …
waiting for the inevitable
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about how lucky I am to spend time around the people I spend time around. A lot of driven, intelligent, and caring people. Most of them are in the often-attacked, “millennial” generation. And we …
doing fewer + doing more
For a very long time, I said yes to everything that came my way. In fact, I distinctly remember a piece I wrote five years ago about saying “yes” to everything. Opportunities come in all shapes and colors, and rarely do they come when you …
here’s the problem with New Year’s resolutions
You’ve probably heard that the hottest time for new gym memberships is in January, when people are at the height of their New Year’s resolutions. There is something about the “new year, new me” mentality that brings a heightened sense of aspiration. This is my …
living like a tracker
One of the podcasts I’ve gotten into lately at the recommendation of my upside cohost, Eric, is Invest Like the Best by Patrick O’Shaughnessy. What I like about this podcast is that besides speaking with obviously great investors, the individuals he interviews have very interesting …
good writing is made in the edit
The more that I write, whether for this newsletter, my Linkedin Learning courses, or otherwise, the more I am reminded that good work is made during the editing phase. The problem is that getting started is the hardest, most daunting part. It’s the part that …
pacing // counterpoint
Yesterday I wrote about my recent focus on pacing and how to best utilize my energy. As with most of my viewpoints, there’s another side to the coin. There are very few things that are truly binary or black and white…and so I wanted to …