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What do you need?
This is worth being curious about. But for starters, you need to be mindful and not distracted—sometimes, bored—in order to remember to ask yourself this question. “Our changing moods and energy levels, and how inspired we’re feeling on any given day, are part of the hard reality we must accept in order to take effective…
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You vs. the package of you
Personas are packages for people. But of course, they’re not actually people. When you see someone with a crafted persona, you don’t actually know who that person actually is. Sure—you know that they’re ambitious, chasing status, wealth, and power. You could say that they are “moving up in the world.” But without living up to…
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Meeting people with cold emails
An extraordinary professional moment happened to me in a very ordinary finance class. Instead of paying attention to what the teacher was saying, I read an article in HBR and emailed the author asking for advice about how I could find my passion. They graciously responded with valuable advice—essentially, to try a lot of things!—and…
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A path to consistency
An earlier blog post I wrote has been bouncing around my mind lately: consistency starts with inconsistency. If the fear of commitment—or the avoidance of hard, consistent work—prevents you from getting started on something, the best solution is to find another way to see it. What could make the work easy? Do you need to…
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The right to make a classic
An architecture student asks her professor for advice. As they review her work together, he challenges her, “Is your design as good as the Chartres Cathedral?” The student grimaces in confusion, looks out the window, and responds earnestly, “Of course not, I could never do that.” A few seconds pass, and she glances at the…
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Polish as a commodity
Here’s an interesting idea: don’t use your editing time to polish a post (i.e., tightening up sentences, making line edits, rephrasing, etc.). Instead, use it to do more research. For example, find a better example—one that surprises you (and, hopefully, the reader). You could also look for a related concept to tie into the piece.…
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The secrets of the tree
An old Cambodian tale suggests that if you carve a hole in a tree and whisper into it, it will keep your secret. In the closing scene of In the Mood for Love (spoiler alert!), a man who had his heart broken—twice—travels from the bustle of Hong Kong to the trees of Cambodia to leave…
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Primary focus
“Figure out what your primary focus is and make progress on that every day, first thing in the morning, no exceptions,” Nabeel Qureshi writes (while hat tapping Tyler Cowen). “Days with 0 output are the killers.” This was the gentle reminder I needed, and I shared it in case it might help you. 0.1 output…