I spend a lot of time thinking about how to get better at things. I agree with Aristotle that excellence itself, rather than money or status, is the aim worth pursuing. Recently, I’ve been thinking that the concept of excellence itself hides a subtle distinction. That is, there are different ways something can be considered […]

The height of a tree depends on not just the seed, but the size of the pot you plant it in. Without space to grow, you’ll only end up with a shrub. Similarly, the amount of progress you’re able to make depends on your spare capacity. Without time and energy to invest in growth, your […]

Previously, I wrote about the importance of doing the real thing. Skills are narrow. Transfer is hard. Fake substitutes work less than you think. Yet getting stuck on the fake stuff is easy. The writer who doesn’t publish anything. The artist who buys paint but struggles to put it on canvas. The entrepreneur that spends […]

A reader wrote to me saying his confidence was destroyed. He used to be a good student, but for the last few years that’s started to slip. Recently he just failed an important exam, and doesn’t know what to do. Rebuilding confidence is different from simply building confidence.Building confidence, you’re trying to do something you’ve […]