Is it possible to spend your life having adventures, but still make meaningful accomplishments? The answer to this question matters to me because, like many of you, I’d like to have both. The challenge is that most advice-givers put the two in either-or categories. Being good requires focus, perhaps decades of it. The world tends […]
Should You Learn New Skills or Master Old Ones?
A recent meme in the life-advice world is that anyone can make themselves an expert. Malcolm Gladwell suggested that 10,000 hours of practice were the key to becoming world class. Anders Ericsson’s research backs this up—if you want to be good, deliberate practice is key. A bigger question is, what’s the best way to spend […]
A La Carte Education
Whenever I bring up the possibility of getting an education without going to school, I quickly get objections: “Without credentials at the end, a university education is meaningless.” “You can’t learn without guidance from instructors.” “College is mostly about forming a network, not passing exams.” “Self-education only works if you’re exceptionally bright or dedicated. Most […]
Are Habits the Enemy of Mastery?
In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell helped popularize the notion of 10,000 hours of practice. The idea being that it takes around a decade of consistent practice to become world-class at anything. The idea of 10,000 hours evokes the sense that mastery is mostly a process of endlessly slogging away at a craft. What’s interesting […]
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.