As I write this, I’m concluding the first month of my year-long foundations project. The first month’s foundation was fitness. You can read my opening update here and my post covering all the books I read this month here. In this essay, I’ll be focusing on how the first month went for me personally, as […]
What I Learned About Getting in Shape After Reading 13 Books This Month
As I write this, I’m wrapping up the first month of my year-long project to improve my foundations. This month was focused on fitness, where I concentrated on establishing a daily, thirty-minute exercise habit. Next week, I’ll share an update on how my first month went. But today, I’d like to focus on the other […]
How to Form Habits in Real Life
Making any new habit is not usually one habit, but many. Not a cue-response relationship, but a collection of flexible strategies that deal with most scenarios reality throws at you. When you’ve done that, you’re acquired a kind of expertise—not of a subject, but of yourself.
5 Tips for Staying Focused (When You’re Stressed)
Focus is essential to productivity. But it’s tough to stay focused when you’re anxious. This is a dilemma I’ve faced quite a bit in my own work. As I’ve written before, I’m a somewhat anxious person by nature—and that can wreak havoc when I’m worried about the things I need to work on. Worries deal […]
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.