If you find an academic paper you want to read in full, just email one of the authors. You can meet somebody new, it’s a common practice, and they’ll be glad you’re interested in their work. (The more famous ones might not be able to respond). I just did this today and the author sent […]
I talked to my parents last night, and my mom was telling me about how she thought about my book while she was practicing her nagomi art. It was an awesome feeling. Obviously, that conversation wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t write the book. And I almost didn’t. I’d wanted to write a book throughout […]
Nicolas Cole wrote a thread today on how he’s gone viral a bunch of times, and still has no idea how to predict virality moving forward. This is a theme I’ve noticed that Ramit Sethi had written in an email I received in 2018, in which he shared that a post he spent a ton […]
I’m a big fan of services businesses (so much so that I’d started my own!). I’m an even bigger fan of those services businesses leveraging their teams to expand beyond client services, into building its own products. It’s tough—Metalab founder Andrew Wilkinson lost $10 million doing it!—but it’s not impossible. One great small bet can […]
Stick around longer and get to know people. Pick up the plastic bag that floated right in front of you. Try a new route. Stretch or do bodyweight workouts. Pet the dog. Take it all in for a couple of minutes, and notice what catches your interest. Pause the music and listen to what your […]
I’m reading Springfield Confidential by Mathew Klickstein and Mike Reiss, and it’s gotten me laughing out loud more than any book from my recent memory. It’s also inspiring me to write jokes every other sentence at this blog, which itself was going to be a setup for a joke but just ended up making me […]
When I worked as an editor-in-chief at QuickBooks, I managed a team of two deputy editors and around a dozen writers. I was usually the last pair of eyes on an article, and whenever I edited one, I would keep a second document open. It had the very exciting title, “First draft standards.” If I […]
What questions are you asking people? How do you ask the question? What questions do people ask you, and how? You can consider this from a voice and tone perspective—are you speaking monotonously? What emphasis are you putting on each sentence? Are you scripted or flying by the seat of your pants?—but also from a […]
True progress can be measured by the number of times the words, “I wish I did this earlier,” tumble out of your mouth. Sometimes, these words come with a sense of regret at the time lost not having this in your life, or perhaps even stupidity at how easy this other way is. If only […]
There’s a lot of power in talking through a problem, sometimes even if no one is around to hear it. You may be thinking out loud. This is known as rubber duck problem solving, because people often talk to rubber ducks. You make progress by talking to an inanimate object, or yourself; you either solve […]