Success in life is largely a matter of being good at things. Being good at things is largely a matter of pushing yourself to the edge of your incompetence. Your strength improves most by lifting the weight you can barely lift, and that principle applies well beyond fitness. What amazes me isn’t that this system […]
Don’t Know What You Want?
Bunker Hunt supposedly had a two-step policy for success: Figure out what you want, and the price you’ll have to pay to get it. Resolve to pay that price. I guess his philosophy is a bit more nuanced in implementation, but taps on a common theme in life-advice, that the first step to achieving anything […]
The Obvious Choice is Often the Worst: Why People Fail Choosing Jobs, Classes and Dates
Taking at least one or two economics or business courses should be mandatory. That way I’d hear fewer business ideas that start with, “It’s like Facebook, only better.” One of the first lessons of economics is the importance of competition. Specifically, that if you try to do what everyone else is doing, you’ll probably fail. […]
Does Dreaming Smaller Result in Living Happier?
How much is enough? What level of monthly income is enough? What level of fitness is enough? How good a relationship is enough? How much success and impact on the world is enough? We, as a culture, rarely ask these questions. The dominant viewpoint is always maximization: don’t ask what’s enough, but ask how to […]
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.