I used to believe a lot of the flaws in the personal development industry came from overselling. Everyone claims you can find instant wealth, health or happiness by giving them some money. People, gullible to these messages of immediate improvement, are duped into believing their exists a “magic bullet” for all their problems. While this […]
The Mathematics of Perseverance: The Formula to Help You Decide Whether to Strive or Settle
Say you’re unhappy about something in your life: your job, your health, your spouse, your skills. In all these cases you have many choices about what you can do, but they all largely fall into two different categories: Do something about it. Accept things as they are. Doing something about it can take many forms. […]
How Much Stress Do You Need for Success?
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 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.