Reading Time: < 1 minKnowing your limits is one of the best ways to grow. If you know where your understanding ends, you can choose to develop further in that area (if you want to), or accept help when things get beyond your grasp. I first shared this a few years ago when talking about “Alex” and “Joan”, and […]
Learning
Present with Word, not PowerPoint
Reading Time: 1 minPowerPoint (and Keynote and Google Slides) can be a powerful tool, but it’s very often misused. Beyond just presentations, I’ve seen it used to design layouts and even create logos. However, it can be even worse when people use it to avoid having to really think through an issue. In the book “Working Backwards” about […]
The two greatest misuses of AI
Reading Time: < 1 minI’m using AI more and more in the work I do. I talk with ChatGPT quite often, I generate many of my “featured images” for this post using AI, and I’m always looking to do more with it. However, I’m noticing two recurring patterns of AI use that are making things worse. The first is […]
Good notes are worth it even if the notes get destroyed
Reading Time: < 1 minI spend a lot of time working on my note-taking system, as it contains thoughts on future blog posts here, podcasts, books to read, and much more. It’s taken a long time to put together, but it’s become an amazing tool for me. I create regular backups of it just in case, but what would […]
Where do you want to find your notes?
Reading Time: 2 minNote-taking systems have changed a lot over the years. Like most people, I was a “sort notes by topic in folders” kind of guy for a long time, but back in 2020 I switched to Roam Research and it changed my whole philosophy of how to store notes. I’ve changed systems a few more times […]
My only job is to react
Reading Time: < 1 minRepetitions can lead to greatness. In a recent episode of “The Long and the Short of it” podcast, Jen Waldman shared a quote from a football player who explained: “The point of practice and running all of these drills and studying over and over again is so on gameday my only job is to react.” […]
You are trained on the content of your life
Reading Time: < 1 minAI can do some amazing things, and I’m using it more and more frequently. However, it has a major limitation — it hasn’t lived your life. Jay Acunzo worded this well in a blog post about his “Idea Impact Matrix” where he said: AI is trained on internet content. You are trained on the content […]
Finding the “middle place”
Reading Time: < 1 minSocial media has some serious flaws, no doubt, but there is still a lot of good to be found on there. I enjoy seeing what my friends are up to and celebrating or grieving as we all go through life together. The problem, as social media sites are specifically designed to do, is that we […]
Blameless Postmortems
Reading Time: < 1 minThe idea of a “postmortem” is something we try to do after every major project. We look back at how things went, be glad about what went well, and work on things to improve for the next one. The key to a solid postmortem, and to leading a solid team, is to focus on the […]
What are libraries for?
Reading Time: < 1 minWhat is the purpose of a library? Really, what is it? There are two ways to look at it: While the two are similar in practice, the philosophy behind each is very different. In Seth Godin’s famous “Stop Stealing Dreams” article (which you should think of a free two-hour book, not just a super long […]