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How I Prioritize
I’ve realized that I prioritize in a pretty different way than others. I don’t know that my way is the best way for everyone, but by sharing it I think I may at least expose a few ideas that will be useful for others. One of my very top priorities is self sufficiency. Not in…
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First Solo Week on the Island
Due to somewhat bungled plans and a cheap flight available to Halifax, I randomly decided to go to the island for a week by myself. Even though the bones of the cabin were pretty much finished by the last time I left, it wasn’t fully bug or water proof, so I was eager to go…
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You Don’t Need Permission
I’ll never forget the first moment I stepped foot on our island. We hadn’t actually bought it yet, but the seller had agreed to let us camp on it the night before to “test it out”. As soon as we saw the island from the boat I knew it was a done deal. But the…
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Envisioning Your Future
A lot of people don’t reach their true potential not because they aren’t capable of it, but because they keep using their actions to go into the wrong directions. Or, even worse, directions that are sort of like the right direction, but just enough degrees off that they won’t ever get there. We tend to…
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Thoughts on Materials
I visited my girlfriend’s new apartment this week and after one night there insisted on getting her cotton sheets to replace the poly-blend sheets she already had. I think she thought I was a little bit nuts, but materials matter a lot to me. And because I’m more obsessed with these things than the average…
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Write a Monthly Review
I always look forward to the first of the month, and ironically it’s because there’s a bit of work that I do every first that I really look forward to. I write a couple monthly reviews. One of them is for CruiseSheet, but another is just for life in general. I send it to two…
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Building an Island Cabin
I had intended to come back to the island once more before building the cabin, but the timing didn’t work out. I nervously climbed up the hill to check the spot that I had decided to build on. Was it as clear as I remembered it? I forgot to take pictures. At first it looked…
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Good and Bad Value
One of my friends remarked that I’m really obsessed with value. It’s true. I love spending money on things that are great value and I hate spending money on things that are a bad value. I thought I’d share a few examples of ways I’ve spent money that feel like good and bad values. Island…
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Removing Friction
The glamorous side of productivity and self improvement is the big changes. You put your stake in the ground, decide to make a change, and you do it. You start a new set of habits or a new project. These are positive things, but we sometimes forget about the other side of forward progress. Throughout…
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Why I Bought a Bentley and What It’s Like
In 2003, Rick Rubin offered me a ride in his Bentley Arnage. I declined because I thought the place we were going was within walking distance, and only after he drove off did I realize that I was thinking of the wrong place and had missed a chance to ride in what I still believe…
