Productivity

On this episode, I chat with Cal Newport about his fantastic new book, A World Without Email. We chat about: How the cost of email is higher than we realize The differences between “asynchronous” and “synchronous” ways of communicating, and why they matter Cal’s idea of the “hyperactive hive mind” How email scrambles our thoughts

Takeaway: Two ways to frame the way you think about money: you could live until you’re 100 or you could die tomorrow. Planning for both scenarios simultaneously allows you to minimize financial regret. Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes, 55s. My mom once told me a story about money that I’ll never forget.   A long time ago, she worked with

On this episode, we chat about five productivity experiments you can try out while stuck at home—including how to wake up early, reset your caffeine tolerance, and replace TV time with books. Topics covered include: How our wakeup time doesn’t affect our income or success level The downfalls of caffeine How to optimize your caffeine

Takeaway: Track only the time you spend on your most important tasks. This makes the exercise less of a pain, and allows you to see, at a glance, how productive you actually are. Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes, 3s. Like most people, I find tracking my time a huge pain. While devices like the Timeular make the process somewhat

On this episode, we chat about how to avoid “all or nothing” thinking—also known as the “eff it” effect, or the abstinence violation effect, if you want to get technical about it. Topics covered include: ⁃ Not being satisfied by partial success⁃ How the effect plays out across different time scales⁃ The idea of “sunk

Takeaway: Reflect deeply on where your goals come from—whether you accept the default goals that are expected of you, or choose them for yourself. Accepting the default script puts you at risk of living out of alignment with your true self. Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes, 38s. I’ve been thinking a lot about goals lately.

Takeaway: Some problems are best solved by continuously chipping away at them. For others, there’s a real benefit in letting your mind wander. This allows us to connect the future, past, and present and come up with new ideas and be intentional about our goals. Capture mode, problem crunching mode, and habitual mode are two

Takeaway: It’s only possible to connect the arc of your career in hindsight. There are ways to work within this uncertainty of your future pathway, like by asking whether you’re pointed in the right direction, not worrying if you can’t figure things out, and by planning (while expecting that things will change). Estimated Reading Time:

Takeaway: Capturing ideas helps us log what’s on our mind and think more clearly throughout the day. What you capture can be super broad, from tasks, to follow-up reminders, to actual insights. The ways of logging those ideas are equally diverse, and include digital and physical notepads, task managers, and messaging tools. Estimated Reading Time:

Takeaway: Traditional goals are kind of overrated: they don’t have a natural end point, and sometimes not much even changes when we accomplish them. It’s far more productive to focus on projects and habits.  Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes, 18s. I’ve been thinking a lot about goals lately. This post is the first of three in a short series sharing a few disparate ideas I