A key concept I learned when I worked at Xtreme Labs was the idea of agility. Agile development was one of the distinctive features of their services. Xtreme believed that this style of programming, driven by weekly releases of a project to their clients at the end of every week, enabled better speed and quality. […]
Your Success Does Not Depend on Productivity Rules
Your productivity settings should evolve to keep up with you, not the other way around Image: Helena Lopes/Unsplash Productivity advice seems to be everywhere these days, but the more you read, the more you’ll see its contradictions. For example, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen used to advise against keeping a schedule, but now he keeps a […]
An Alternative to College this Fall
Image: Nathan Dumlao/Unsplash If you’re enrolled in college for September, there’s a strong case to defer your semester in September. There are better ways to learn during the four months. For example, you could start an online business, or build projects to learn new skills. Both of these ideas have small risks (e.g., four months), […]
Keep Your Expectations Small
When your skills evolve, so does your fear. Here’s what you can do Image: Eunice De Guzman/Unsplash “Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor,” Truman Capote’s saying goes. The inversion is equally true; even just a sample of sweet success provides failure with its bitterness. Three weeks ago, I decided to make a […]
If You’re Starting to Write, Here’s the #1 Thing to Focus On
When the writing process met the theory of constraints Image: Damir Spanic/Unsplash “Should I write at my own blog, or at Medium?” Of course, the question is worth considering if you’re a new writer. But a more pressing question you need to focus on is: “How do I write something I’m proud of?” Writing is […]
Hard Decisions Become Easy When You Do This
4 Ways to Gain Clarity When Opportunity Knocks Last week, a friend had a job offer come up. It was a stable job opportunity in a chaotic time. It would be a step up in his field of work, it promised good money, and it could open up very interesting doors. He also experienced high […]
The Power of the 10% Read
Remember, 10% Is Better than 0% “I wish I knew about this 10 years ago!” I exclaimed this after I started organizing my notes and writing with them. And I only did that because after I read parts of How to Take Smart Notes. The book had been on my shelf for years; I’d even […]
Respond, Don’t Create
Creating Content that Shares Your Perspective and Personality Image: Joe Calomeni/Pexels For many of us writing online, finding something worth saying is half the battle. And yet, this problem runs counter to one strategy to making ourselves heard: speak loudly and frequently. VaynerMedia CEO Gary Vaynerchuk, a successful user of such a strategy, has talked […]
How to Learn, and Earn, like Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson
6 simple lessons, for a complex world, that will change your life Image: Alex Const/Flickr You may know Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson for selling 30 million records, for his hit TV show Power, or his lollapalooza business successes (including owning Vitamin Water, which sold to Coca-Cola for $4.2 billion). What you may not know is […]
The Creative Failure that Led to Sigmund Freud’s Success
Why Even a Dead Page can have Purpose In 1895, Sigmund Freud started Project for a Scientific Psychology, a monograph where he tried to explain all neuroses under a single framework. The ambition and expectation of the task brought trouble of equal magnitude. In Creating Minds, Howard Gardner writes that Freud “reveals his own despair […]