Imagine that when you die your life is converted into an extremely long, first-person YouTube video, which you may review at your leisure. While you’re fast-forwarding through it, looking for certain memorable moments, one thing you’d see frequently is a person you know entering … | Continue reading
Why we get in ruts, and how to get out | Continue reading
Humans are good, and to argue otherwise is usually very boring. | Continue reading
I grew up believing that following the news makes you a better citizen. Eight years after having quit, that idea now seems ridiculous—that consuming a particularly unimaginative information product on a daily basis somehow makes you thoughtful and informed in a way that benefits … | Continue reading
Mostly, I use the internet to delay the rest of my life | Continue reading
Let's use the internet like it's 2005 | Continue reading
One financial lesson they should teach in school is that most of the things we buy have to be paid for twice. There’s the first price, usually paid in dollars, just to gain possession of the desired thing, whatever it is: a book, a budgeting app, a unicycle, a bundle of kale. But … | Continue reading
This article was originally about writer's block -- a particular kind of procrastination -- but as some readers have pointed out, it applies to anything you've been avoiding. Writing is my example here; you know better what it is you're avoiding right now. Getting myself writing … | Continue reading
I’m 41 now and finally learning to read. Getting through novels is something I’ve always found extremely difficult. As much as I enjoy a good story, most of them seemed to take forever get to the straightaway – the point in the book where I no longer had to effort my way through … | Continue reading
Ease up on the gas, that's the first thing. Drop your speed to just a little slower than 'necessary', because to do this right you can't be getting ahead of yourself. And there could be kids around. Maybe yours even, if this is one of those times when you don't know what they're … | Continue reading
I grew up believing that following the news makes you a better citizen. Eight years after having quit, that idea now seems ridiculous—that consuming a particularly unimaginative information product on a daily basis somehow makes you thoughtful and informed in a way that benefits … | Continue reading
During a very famous moment, Krishnamurti asked the audience if they wanted to know his secret. The lecture hall went silent, and everyone leaned forward. 'You see,' he said, 'I don't give a shit.' I'm paraphrasing. By most accounts he said 'You see, I don't mind what happens,' b … | Continue reading
When I had a job, it was easy to know how much work to do in a day: somewhere between as much as I could, and as little as I could without someone calling me out on it. Now I’m my own employer, and that clear standard for “a respectable day’s work” is gone. I’m constantly negotia … | Continue reading
In a last-ditch effort to enjoy my social media experience again, I unfollowed 90% of my Twitter feed—and I think it worked. When I check in now, in just a few minutes I catch up on everything said by the ninety or so people I follow. I have time to consider what they say. I don’ … | Continue reading
A friend told me a touching story about his high-school classmate—a story that I now believe happens, in some form, to almost everybody. It happened to me, and probably to you. The classmate was known as a gifted athlete and a bad student, and acknowledged it himself. He played w … | Continue reading
Jamie lives in a large city in the midwest. He's a copywriter for an advertising firm, and he's good at it. He's also good at thinking of reasons why he ought to be happy with his life. He has health insurance, and now savings. A lot of his friends have neither. His girlfriend is … | Continue reading
Last post I talked about having mixed feelings about donating money to charity. Society's prevailing attitude is that giving money is always helpful, and is always motivated by genuine altruism. I'm not so sure about either, and I know I'm not alone. My suggestion for people who … | Continue reading
Before I get into it, I must say that I don't recommend that you do this. I'm sharing this strategy for information purposes only, so that you can understand the playing field you're working with, and can make better personal choices for how you make and manage your money. I do e … | Continue reading
A no-phones-allowed show illuminates something about smartphone use that’s hard to see when it’s so ubiquitous: our phones drain the life out of a room. | Continue reading
Well I'm in the working world again. I've found myself a well-paying gig in the engineering industry, and life finally feels like it's returning to normal after my nine months of traveling. Because I had been living quite a different lifestyle while I was away, this sudden transi … | Continue reading
Each of us has a few professional-level skills—usually ones relating to our jobs, or hobbies we’ve been trained in formally. But when it comes to everything else we do, we’re amateurs. Being an amateur just means below pro level—you may do some aspects quite well, but you still m … | Continue reading
For the month of May I time-traveled back to 2007, when social media platforms were still just websites you visited. I removed Facebook, Twitter and Reddit from | Continue reading