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Things I’m Not Going to Write About Today
Life has been crazy lately, and I haven’t seen my daily writing habit in months. I have a hundred blog posts written, but I forget exactly where they are, and I remember thinking none of them were amazing. So I’m in that position that I created that habit to get out of: it’s the night…
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Why Obsess About Productivity?
A guy on Twitter asked a pretty good question the other day: “Why do you worship productivity so much? Honestly? (I am currently sitting at a ski hill with an ear-to-ear grin from powder turns.)” I gave him an answer, but I think the question deserves an answer longer than one hundred forty characters. Something…
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Learn to Get Things Done
I have a group of friends that I have dinner with every Sunday. One of them owns a chocolate factory / cafe called Dandelion Chocolate, and another owns Three Babes Bakeshop (side note: best chocolate and pies ever, respectively). Once in a while the conversations swings to business, and the rest of us get a…
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Comfort is the Opposite of Training
Being comfortable should be a warning sign. It’s not that being comfortable is a bad thing by itself, but if we agree that growth comes from pushing your comfort zone, then any time we’re within our comfort zone we’re not growing. Whenever you find that you’re comfortable, ask yourself what you aren’t training. The answer…
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Think Long Term to Make Good Decisions
I’m on a Southwest Airlines flight right now, heading from DC to San Francisco. The way food works on Southwest is they hold out a big basket full of snacks, and you take whatever you want for free. None of the snacks are healthy; it’s crackers and cookies and chips. I have to admit, I…
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Thankful for my Family
Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday. The other ones are weird religious inventions or consumerized hijackings of religious inventions. And sure, the origins of thanksgiving are a bit murky, but it’s hard to argue with such a simple holiday: spend some time with your family and/or friends, and be thankful. I especially like that it’s…
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The Fake Newsletter Cruise Prank
I’ve written the equivalent of about 50 blog posts in the past couple weeks for a new habit book I’m writing, so you’ll have to excuse the off-topic post today. I can only write so much about serious stuff in a short time! — We got very lucky on our cruise. You’re assigned to a…
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What’s the Point of Traveling?
A few days ago reader “jd” had a great suggestion for a post: what’s the point of traveling? Seeing that I’m at the end of a long series of trips, it’s seems to me that it’s a perfect time for a post like that. Like anything, people travel for a whole host of reasons ranging…
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Random Notes on Places I’ve Visited Recently
I haven’t been writing travel stories recently, but since I’ve been through so many different cities in the past month, I figure I should share a few little notes on each, just in case you’re heading through one of them soon. Beijing I just can’t get into Beijing. It’s not a bad city, but it’s…
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Don’t Get The Job Done
I’ve found that there are two different mindsets that I can be in when I’m trying to get work done. One is the mindset that always accompanies a new project: excitement and the drive to make something incredible. The other, which sometimes creeps in after a while, is the feeling that the job must get…
