A lot of anxiety in life is both unwanted and involuntary. Often when I have an early morning flight, I can’t sleep deeply. The worry about sleeping through my alarm clock has me waking up involuntarily, every hour or so. Even when I should have enough sleep to feel rested, I wake up groggy. I […]
How I’m Continuing to Learn (and Hopefully Master) Chinese
I spend a lot of time writing about learning in intense bursts. Part of that is for efficiency’s sake—doing a short project forces me to think hard about how to learn more efficiently. Part of that is that a short project is more interesting to write about. But most learning doesn’t take place over an […]
I’m 27
Every year, on my birthday, I write a post reviewing the past year in my life and my plans for the future. You can see all the previous ones, starting with my 18th birthday shortly after I began writing this blog over nine years ago. Unlike most my other articles, where I try to extend […]
The Two Ways to Evaluate Ideas
I recently wrote an article where I changed my mind on speed reading. I had originally read a book on speed reading, practiced it, found it effective and logged my results. Years later, having had some personal doubts on the practice, I went back and did the research I wasn’t able to do the first […]
I'm a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, podcast host, computer programmer and an avid reader. Since 2006, I've published weekly essays on this website to help people like you learn and think better. My work has been featured in The New York Times, BBC, TEDx, Pocket, Business Insider and more. I don't promise I have all the answers, just a place to start.