Reading Time: < 1 minA few years ago I wrote about the idea of intentionally making some things more difficult and I recently discovered that this concept has a name: interleaving. The book “Hidden Potential” has some great examples of that: I assumed it would be ideal to practice one skill until you make progress, and only then move […]
Learning
Finding material to deploy attention
Reading Time: 2 minIn Daniel Kahneman’s classic book “Thinking, Fast and Slow“, he said something simple that I’ve been chewing on for a long time. He said: “Intelligence is not only the ability to reason; it is also the ability to find relevant material in memory and to deploy attention when needed.” The reason this stuck with me […]
Never stop doubting
Reading Time: 2 minI recently read the book “Superforecasting“, which shared the stories and processes of those that are able to make predictions far better than most people can. While there is a lot of nuance in the book, and it’s well worth reading, one theme that came up over and over was that the best forecasters never […]
Shortform for long books
Reading Time: 2 minI’ve been using Blinkist for some book summaries for a few years now, and it’s great! However, I’m noticing a growing problem in the gap between long books and Blinkist, in that the “Blinks” just aren’t long enough to really share the heart of the book. Blinkist and most related platforms are proud of the […]
Repetition is the foundation of clarity of thought
Reading Time: < 1 minIn recently listening to the Founders episode on Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue for the last 37 years, they shared a simple sentence that tied together a number of ideas I’ve had. The sentence was simply “repetition is the foundation of clarity of thought“. One of my early posts in my daily blogging streak […]
They all love to read
Reading Time: 2 minI recently decided to dig in to understand the reading habits of some of the most successful people in recent decades, and quickly found one common thread: they all love to read. All of them. I have no doubt that there are exceptions, but my initial digging didn’t find any. Here are ten people that […]
What books do you like?
Reading Time: < 1 minAnother great segment from the recent “Founders” episode about Sam Walton is related to finding ways to hire creative people. More specifically, how do you determine the creativity of someone during an interview? Here’s a bit from the show: One of the best ways to find creative people is to ask a simple question. What […]
Accumulating little notes
Reading Time: 2 minI recently shared the question of whether meta work is worth the effort. It’s certainly situational, but I’m finding that it often can pay off quite well in the long run. In that previous post, part of the thought was around tracking books from lists that people suggest. Similar to the list that I shared […]
Is the meta work worth it?
Reading Time: 2 minOne of the big challenges of productivity is determining what meta work (the work around your work) is worth your time. For me, a big one is playing with productivity tools; while I might find some gains in new tools, I also tend to spend a lot of time tinkering with them. I internally consider […]
Benjamin Franklin’s self-doubt led to the signing of the Constitution
Reading Time: 2 minOn September 17, 1787, Benjamin Franklin gave a speech at the Constitutional Convention which led to the signing of the Constitution. Franklin wasn’t convinced that the document was perfect, but he also knew that maybe he was wrong and he encouraged everyone to move forward. Here’s part of what he said: “I confess that I […]