Skip to content2021
- Knowing When to Think vs. When to Act
11 Dec
- The More You Think You Don’t Have Time to Plan, the More You Need to Do it
20 Nov
- Which of These Two Approaches to Procrastination Works for You?
9 Nov
- Your Commitments Are Your Life; Guard Them Zealously
28 Oct
- What If an Index Card Could Make You More Productive?
19 Oct
- The Danger of the Fundamental Attribution Error and How to Avoid It
17 Oct
- How to Choose the Right Productivity System For You
10 Oct
- What My Spectacular Failures Taught Me About Jobs, Passions, and Finding My “Life’s Work”
6 Oct
- The Best Answer to Give to (Almost) Any Question
24 Sep
- I Built My Own Personal Productivity System Around a 3 x 5″ Index Card
15 Sep
- The Anatomy of Goals, the Sneaky Ego, and Higher Powers
13 Sep
- The Facts Don’t Speak for Themselves
8 Sep
- Love Doesn’t Work That Way…
30 Aug
- To Make or to Be Made
28 Aug
- The One Virtue Ben Franklin Prized Above Them All
24 Aug
- Known Knowns, Unknown Unknowns, and Everything in Between
20 Aug
- What I Do When Meditation and Mindfulness Practice is Too Much
16 Aug
- The $100,000 Salt Shaker and Other Worthwhile Investments
27 Jul
- The Merits of Never Fully Growing Up
14 Jul
- What Can You Do Without?
13 Jul
- “A Kingdom of Ends”
26 Jun
- Are You Rushing, or Are You Dragging?
20 Jun
- Who Are You, Anyway?
10 Jun
- Doing What You Love vs. Loving What You Do
30 May
- The Profundity of Everyday Things
10 May
- Of Crab-Catching, Chasing Happiness, and Strategic Sitting and Waiting
1 May
- What If I’ve Got This Productivity Thing All Wrong?
25 Apr
- The Fourth Mode of Creative Work
22 Apr
- Pleasure, Pride, and Procrastination
19 Apr
- Customer Service as a Way of Life
12 Apr
- The 7 Books That Gave Me a Productive Start to the Year
2 Apr
- 5 Valuable Life Lessons From a Year of Quarantine
21 Mar
- Happiness is…Scrubbing Toilets, Serving Time, and Flipping Burgers?
9 Mar
- Use ‘Drafting’ to Build New Habits More Easily and Overcome Procrastination
4 Mar
- The 4 Timeless Ideas That Changed the Way I Look at Personal Productivity
26 Feb
- Why Creators Should Give Their Stuff Away for Free
22 Feb
- A Better Way to Manage “Next Actions” in Your Productivity System
11 Feb
- Let’s Go Put Ourselves Out of Business
3 Feb
- Voluntary Hardships: The Gateway Habit to Mental Toughness
30 Jan
- A Guide to Reading Way More Than You Thought You Could Each Week
26 Jan
- Two Simple Questions to Help You Tackle Feeling Overwhelmed
22 Jan
- Can It Be Good to Be Self-Centered?
17 Jan
- The Best Book on Productivity You’ve (Probably) Never Heard Of
11 Jan
- How to Build Your Own Killer Morning Routine
5 Jan
- Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions This Year By Shrinking Everything
1 Jan
2020
- The 3 Types of Time Blocks You Should Schedule for a Productive Week
27 Dec
- How “Reverse Meditation” Tricked my Mind into Being More Productive and Mindful
21 Dec
- The 3 x 3 Matrix to Reframe Your Tasks, Projects, and Goals
18 Dec
- Why To-Do Lists Fail and How the Blue Work/Red Work Balance Can Fix Them
13 Dec
- Overcome Learned Helplessness By Wisely Investing Mental Energy
3 Dec
- How to Practice E-mail Empathy
27 Nov
- Creating and Using a Personal Code of Conduct to Enhance Decision-Making
20 Nov
- If It Doesn’t Apply, Let it Fly
16 Nov
- Doing Hard Work vs. Working Hard
14 Nov
- 10 Valuable Life Lessons I’ve Learned the Hard Way
12 Nov
- The Little Things Matter…A Lot
30 Oct
- A Method for Beating Procrastination Once and for All
27 Oct
- 4 Harmful Psychological Habits and 4 Simple Practices to Overcome Them
10 Oct
- Against the Straight and Narrow Path to Success
28 Sep
- The Unexpectedly Powerful Life Advice I Found in an Old Get-Rich Book
20 Sep
- Overcoming Defeatist Attitudes in Your Life and Developing a Possibility Mindset
13 Sep
- The Way to Live the Life You Want Is to Outline It
5 Sep
- You Won’t Boost Your Self-Improvement if You Don’t Develop This Basic Practice
31 Aug
- The 10 Books That Changed My Life
28 Aug
- Gretzky’s 3 Laws: Starting = Sucking Out Loud…For a While
19 Aug
- Writing Better, Even When You’re Not “Writing”
17 Aug
- 3 Small Ways to Make Today 27% Better
16 Aug
- I Used to Hate the Word ‘Spiritual’, Until I Learned What It Really Means
10 Aug
- Zhuang Zhou and the 3 Cooks: How Less Effort Equals More Results
7 Aug
- The Productivity-Killing Bias You’re Probably Not Aware Of, and How to Beat It
30 Jul
- What the “Other Cheek” Approach Is Really About
20 Jul
- When All Else Fails, Be of Service
13 Jul
- Harness the Power of “Synthetic Experience” to Supercharge Your Growth
6 Jul
- The Nearly Effortless Practice That Reduces Stress and Helps You Feel More Relaxed and Ready Every…
27 Jun
- How to Avoid 2 Hidden Dangers on Your Self-Improvement Journey and Feel Better About Your Progress
12 Jun
- Love Letter to a Resilient People
8 Jun
- Ichigo Ichie and Shoshin: Cultivating Inspiration in Your Daily Life
22 May
- A Universal Formula for Doing Big Things
13 May
- Showing vs. Telling, Feeling vs. Knowing
9 May
- The Little Things Are the Big Things
7 May
- Just a Spoonful of Mysticism
6 May
- What Do You Mean ‘Everything Happens for a Reason’?
4 May
- Living the Transactional Life vs. the Generous Life
3 May
- On the Magic of Mistakes
1 May
- I Wish I Had Heard This Advice on Finding My Life’s Path Years Ago
24 Apr
- Using ‘Pattern Interrupts’ to Transform Bad Habits into Good Ones
20 Apr
- How to Get Through Sheltering in Place and Emerge a Better Version of Yourself
8 Apr
- A Simple Framework to Help You Read More and Get More Out of What You Read
30 Mar
- The Most Indispensable Skill for Any Person in Any Job Market
20 Mar
- Why I Only Eat One Meal A Day
13 Mar
- The Einstellung Effect and Functional Fixedness: Two Dangerous Cognitive Biases and How to…
23 Feb
- The Most Meaningful Things You Can Do With 2, 5, 15, 30 or 60 Minutes
17 Feb
- The 80/40/10 Method: How to Feel Better, Accomplish More, and Reclaim Your Time
6 Feb
- The 3 x 3 Journal: A Quick & Easy Journaling Method for People Who Don’t Have Time to Journal
24 Jan
- How Your Choice of Words Can Reduce Stress and Empower You
15 Jan
- Look for the Helpers
7 Jan
- Gaining Personal Freedom by Living the Four Agreements
2 Jan
2018
- Slow is Fast, Small is Big, Soft is Hard
14 Dec
- The Undeniable Spiritual Nature of Work
6 Dec
- Harnessing the Power of Concentration
27 Nov
- My Enduring Intellectual Love Affair With Fight Club
20 Nov
- The Pleasure Trap and How to Escape It
14 Nov
- How to Practice Active (not Passive) Open-Mindedness
8 Nov
- Open Mind, Open Heart
1 Nov
- Against “Work-Life Balance” and In Favor of Something Better
23 Oct
- “What Wouldn’t You Do?” — A Question to Break Through Creative Blocks
17 Oct
- A Practice to Build Resilience and Learn to Endure Through Difficulty
10 Oct
- The Forest Analogy of the Mind: Radical Acceptance and Cultivating Inner Peace
5 Oct
- The Art of Influence: A Different Approach to Having a Bigger Impact
1 Oct
- Mindful Measurement: How to Measure (and Master) Personal Growth
24 Sep
- The Real Point of Meditating
14 Sep
- What My 1 Year-Old Son Taught Me About Procrastination
4 Sep
- Résumé Virtues, Eulogy Virtues, and the Impact of Small Moments
27 Aug
- The Master and Servant Model: How to Approach Goals and Time Management
24 Aug
- The Hidden Wisdom of Contradicting Yourself
15 Aug
- The Daily Habit I Never Knew I Needed
11 Aug
- Taking the Hundred-Year View
26 Jul
- Yes, And: Getting Ahead by Getting Along
13 Jul
- How to Topple a Tree With Two Fingers
29 Jun
- Love is Not Fire
22 Jun
- How Is Your Day?
15 Jun
- Pride and Productivity
7 Jun
- Faith and Reason: Why Can’t We Be Friends?
5 Jun
- The Superpower of Vulnerability
2 Jun
- The Importance of Spare Time and How to Create It
24 May
- 6 Intriguing and Effective Journaling Methods to Help You Make it a Habit
18 May
- Beyond Mere Knowledge: 5 Habits to Cultivate Greater Insight Through Reflective Learning
9 May
- Productivity is Dead. Long Live Productivity!
26 Apr
- Why I Fell in Love With Vedic Meditation: My Secret Weapon of Well-Being
18 Apr
- Uncertainty, Discomfort, and What Makes a Good Life
14 Apr
- The Myth of Laziness
10 Apr
- Fearless Thinking: A Manifesto for Intellectually Dark Times
2 Apr
- Satisficing: A Way Out of the Miserable Mindset of Maximizing
29 Mar
- Wu Wei: The Powerful Path of Non-Action
20 Mar
- In Defense of Distractions
15 Mar
- The Incomparable Power of Mornings
7 Mar
- The Interest Principle
3 Mar
- The Tragic Stigma of Help
23 Feb
- Anapanasati: The Subtle Art of Being Here, Now
21 Feb
- The Shultz Hour: How 60 Minutes Per Week Can Yield Tremendous Returns
13 Feb
- The 12 Steps for the Rest of Us: General Principles for Becoming a Better You
7 Feb
- How to Run GTD in Google Sheets
25 Jan
- Taking Back Your Time and Attention
23 Jan
- It’s Not Really About Consent
17 Jan
- Why Your Comfort Zone Might Be the Secret to Developing Powerful Habits
15 Jan
- Wabi-Sabi: Beyond Minimalism, and into a Unique Mode of Mindful Simplicity
8 Jan
- 3 Principles for 2018
2 Jan
2017
- A One Word Wish for 2018: Restraint
26 Dec
- The 4 Questions that Define You: Aristotle and a Deeper Dive into Self-Awareness
22 Dec
- 7 Things to Do Before You Can Say You’re “Self-Made”
18 Dec
- The 48 Tomatoes Method for Time Management and Productivity
14 Dec
- Friday Fasting: A Weekly Practice to Bring Back Focus and Strength
10 Dec
- What We Talk About When We Talk About Productivity
6 Dec
- We Need a Sales Force for the Humanities
1 Dec
- Kierkegaard and the 3 Stages of a Full and Happy Life
26 Nov
- 2 Foundational Principles of Personal Productivity, and How to Follow Them
23 Nov
- How to Implement a Killer GTD System in Google Sheets
22 Nov
- Second Arrow Syndrome: How We Multiply our Own Suffering, and How We Might Avoid It
19 Nov
- How to Get Exponentially Better at Generating Ideas
15 Nov
- A Few Pieces of Simple but Useful Wisdom
12 Nov
- We Are All Creatives: A Manifesto of Humanity in the Age of Automation
7 Nov
- The Powerful Mental Benefits of a Daily Morning Run, and How to Start the Habit
1 Nov
- The Quiet Voice: On Listening to the Noise in Your Head, and Using it to Your Benefit
31 Oct
- Some Unconventional Advice to Hungry, Passionate Creatives
25 Oct
- The Prisoner’s Dilemma of Online Content
23 Oct
- The Falsification Mindset: How to Change Your Own Mind
17 Oct
- The Enriching Effects of Humor as a Habit
17 Oct
- Why You Should Take “No” for an Answer
15 Oct
- How to Harness the Overlooked Power of Negativity
10 Oct
- The Problem With Teaching Entrepreneurship
4 Oct
- Mr. Sei’s Horse: A Cautionary Tale about Quick Judgments
1 Oct
- Radical Compassion: A Radically Different Approach to Productivity and Growth
28 Sep
- A Better, Easier Way to Journal
15 Sep
- A Simple Method for Mindfulness When Things Get Tough
8 Sep
- Productivity and the Placebo Effect
28 Aug
- The Mother of All Biases: The Action Bias and the Power of Restraint
24 Aug
- How To Dramatically Sharpen Your Attention And Focus
16 Aug
- Your Three Brains and How to Use Them
9 Aug
- How to Supercharge Your Learning and Self-Improvement: The Golden Ratio of Communication
2 Aug
- The Secret Sauce of Incredible Productivity
23 Jul
- 2 Big Obstacles to Clearer Thinking, and How to Overcome Them
15 Jul
- The Art and Science of Open-Mindedness
8 Jul
- What Does “Think Outside of the Box” Mean?
29 Jun
- The Productive Power of the Wandering Mind
23 Jun
- Think Like No One Else
11 Jun
- The Movement Method: How to Leverage Your Short Attention Span and Little Time to Learn More…
7 Jun
- The Problem With Going Viral
31 May
- The Pursuit of Happiness v2.0
30 May
- The Listening Palace: How to Get More out Of Conversations, and Become a Better Listener
20 May
- Have We Become Too Cheap for Our Own Good?
14 May
- The Power of Powerlessness
9 May
- Nothing is Meant to Be, and That’s Awesome
6 May
- The Illusion of “Outside Your Comfort Zone”
3 May
- The Hunger of Our Time
30 Apr
- The Curiosity Quadrant: Becoming Smarter Through Strategic Ignorance
25 Apr
- Less Passion, More Compassion
19 Apr
- What Your First Question Should Always Be
14 Apr
- Youth, the Secret of Life, and Other Alchemy
11 Apr
- A Few Useful Things I’ve Learned — No Fancy Title
9 Apr
- Ethical Business Conduct for the Rest of Us
7 Apr
- The Benefit of Single-tasking and how to Get Yourself to Do It
3 Apr
- Trains, Cars, and Bicycles
27 Mar
- Leverage the Difference Between “Doing” and “Getting Done”
24 Mar
- Hanlon’s Razor: How to Avoid Common Missteps in Judgment
20 Mar
- A March Madness Manifesto
16 Mar
- How to Cultivate an Effective Gratitude Habit
15 Mar
- The OODA Loop: A Tool for Better Decision-Making
11 Mar
- What Productive People Know that Others Don’t
7 Mar
- The Woolgatherer’s Handbook — Selected Thoughts
2 Mar
- 4 Mental Habits to Help You Get the Most Out of Your Mind
1 Mar
- What Has Free Speech Done to Us?
26 Feb
- When Goals Become Limits
23 Feb
- Less, But Better
20 Feb
- Why We Never Feel Successful Enough
17 Feb
- What Most Productivity Advice Misses
14 Feb
- Success Through the Positive Self-Interview
11 Feb
- Times Like These
7 Feb
- No Goals, No Passion, No Problem
5 Feb
- How Priorities Really Work
1 Feb
- I Say
30 Jan
- The Problem With “Results” Thinking
29 Jan
- Off Demand
25 Jan
- The Unexpected Power of Stillness
20 Jan
- Against the Concept of “Speaking Your Mind”
17 Jan
- Content for Content’s Sake
15 Jan
- Writing As Soulcraft
13 Jan
- The Real Power of “Inbox Zero”
9 Jan
- Slower, Fewer, Less
5 Jan
- The Wisdom of the Granny Shot
3 Jan
- 3 Principles for 2017
1 Jan
2016
- Intellectual Honesty
29 Dec
- The Power of Negative Thinking
27 Dec
- Simple, But Not Easy
22 Dec
- The Paradox of Pursuit
19 Dec
- Simple Writing vs. Lazy Writing
17 Dec
- How to Pick the Right Chocolate from the Gift Box in the Break-room
13 Dec
- What Does a “Recommend” Really Mean?
12 Dec
- How to Ask Better Questions
11 Dec
- On Survivorship Bias and the Pursuit of Dreams
9 Dec
- 5 Things About Productivity and Success that I Learned from Watching Baseball
6 Dec
- The 10 Commandments for Con-Artists
4 Dec
- The Unexpected Power of a Newsletter
29 Nov
- The Dangers of the New Entrepreneurial Mindset
27 Nov
- Sticks and Stones: On the Underappreciated Power of Words
25 Nov
- Writing Is Magical
22 Nov
- Sometimes, the Answer Really is “No”
22 Nov
- There Is No Self-Improvement if You’re Not Already Pretty Good
20 Nov
- Learning Isn’t Collecting, It’s Connecting
17 Nov
- The Real Danger of the Fake News Debate
15 Nov
- When You Think About It
13 Nov
- Please, Please, Please Don’t Quit Your Day Job
13 Nov
- Like You
10 Nov
- After the Election: Let’s Work on This One Thing
9 Nov
- What a Pizza-Eating Champion Taught Me About Goals
8 Nov
- The Illusion of Fiction
6 Nov
- Guard Your Inbox Better
6 Nov
- Seek First to Understand
4 Nov
- Creative Work is Impossible
2 Nov
- A Meditation on Cool
30 Oct
- Dear Entrepreneurs: Your Startup is About the People — Or at Least, It Should Be
25 Oct
- Red Blood, Blue Tears
24 Oct
- On the Concept of a “Side Hustle”
22 Oct
- Write, To Remain Silent
20 Oct
- Two Quick Notes
20 Oct
- I Don’t Read
18 Oct
- The Best Leaders Follow
15 Oct
- Self-Help Titles and The Sincerity Gap
14 Oct
- In Our Rush to Be Great, Let’s not Forget to Be Good
13 Oct
- Dear Medium, Thanks for the Sidebar
13 Oct
- What If You Invoiced Yourself for All of Your Time?
12 Oct
- It’s Just Practice
11 Oct
- What Old-School Manufacturing Can Teach New-School Entrepreneurs
10 Oct
- We Forget to Breathe
9 Oct
- Improvement, Not Success
8 Oct
- The Most Important Relationship In Your Life
7 Oct
- Your Work is Never Done
2 Oct
- Kill the Buddha, Kill Your Teachers
30 Sep
- The Miyagi Method for Better Creative Work
28 Sep
- The 3:1 Principle for Radically Better Communication
26 Sep
- The Practical Case for Mercy
23 Sep
- The Most Creative Thing You are Already Doing
22 Sep
- Give Way to Your Worst Impulse
18 Sep
- The Next Obesity Epidemic
13 Sep
- 15 Years Later, the Goal is Still Peace
11 Sep
- Actually, It’s Not Passion You’re After
10 Sep
- We Should All Work in Food Service
8 Sep
- Make Your Procrastination Work for You
6 Sep
- Happy Labor Day
6 Sep
- What’s Wrong With Inspirational and Personal Development Writing on Medium
4 Sep
- On Being Stuck, And What We Should Do About it
4 Sep
- Why Startups Need Philosophers
3 Sep
- You Are Doing Better Than You Think You Are
2 Sep
- Greetings, followers!
28 Aug
- Innovation Through Ignorance
26 Aug
- Please, Stop Calling it ‘Content’
25 Aug
- How to Think About Your To Do List
25 Aug
- Sometimes, It’s Simply a Matter of Work
22 Aug
- In Which I Replace the Word ‘Passion’ with ‘Boner’ on the Web
22 Aug
- A.B.L — Always Be Learning
20 Aug
- 10 Aphorisms for You
19 Aug
- A Cool Little GTD Trick I Found
18 Aug
- Rethinking the Concept of “Life’s Work”
17 Aug
- Is All Our Hard Work Killing Our Future?
15 Aug
- What Water Has Taught Me
13 Aug
- I am Not The Pancakes — Neither are You
12 Aug
- Thank You
10 Aug
- The 10 Commandments for the Next Generation of Content
6 Aug
- The Wisdom of Groucho
29 Jul
- The Real Secret of Productivity
28 Jul
- What Business is Really All About
26 Jul
- When is Your Routine Perfect?
25 Jul
- Do You Even List, Bro?
23 Jul
- Better Leadership in One Simple Principle
22 Jul
- A Little Hack to Make Your Day Go Better
20 Jul
- My Crippling Addiction
19 Jul
- Do We Need the News Every Day?
19 Jul
- Would it Kill Medium Publication Editors to Actually Edit?
14 Jul
- Dear Medium: I Just Want to Write and Get Better At It, Can You Help Me?
13 Jul
- Let’s Stop Calling it “Racism” and Call It What it Really Is
11 Jul
- Tonight, I Looked Up at the Stars
10 Jul
- Dat First Cup, Doe
6 Jul
- What Self-Help and Inspirational Writers Might Never Want to Admit
5 Jul
- You Know What? Succeeding is Actually Hard.
1 Jul
- It’s Happened: Medium Posts Have Repeated Themselves
28 Jun
- I Gave Myself 10 Minutes This Morning
26 May
- Your Creation Is an Instrument
17 May
- Is It Finished?
18 Apr
- How to Be a Non-Douchey Self-help Guru
1 Apr
- Settling for Martin, Hoping for Malcolm
19 Jan
- My Resolution for 2106 — Be Oblique
1 Jan