I often don’t feel smart enough to do what I do. I don’t say this out of false modesty or as an attempt to be more relatable. I spent the last decade taking on rather-immodest learning challenges. I’ve always been confident in my ability to learn new things. Instead, the insecurity comes from recognizing that, […]

I once met with a successful academic and author. He told me that he didn’t understand most of his peers. Getting tenure at a university is a lot of work. You need to produce a lot of the right kind of intellectual output to get recognized. But after that, you have total freedom to pursue […]

In a recent essay, I argued that most people are trying to do too much. In the attempt to do everything that interests them, they end up making little progress on anything. One reader noted a problem. Doesn’t this view of having a few serial projects contradict the idea of building good habits? Isn’t it […]

The majority of productivity advice is about the day-to-day. What tasks should you work on? When should you get up in the morning? How often should you take breaks? This granular perspective is valuable. For most, it’s daily life that makes the difference. Big goals and plans matter little if they don’t translate into action. […]