Today is my birthday. Continuing a tradition I’ve had on this blog since I was 18, I use this opportunity to write about myself. If you’re a new reader, or otherwise uninterested in my self-indulgence, feel free to skip it and I’ll have more useful writing next week. Side note: Cal Newport and I are […]

I spend a lot of time thinking about how to get better at things. I agree with Aristotle that excellence itself, rather than money or status, is the aim worth pursuing. Recently, I’ve been thinking that the concept of excellence itself hides a subtle distinction. That is, there are different ways something can be considered […]

The height of a tree depends on not just the seed, but the size of the pot you plant it in. Without space to grow, you’ll only end up with a shrub. Similarly, the amount of progress you’re able to make depends on your spare capacity. Without time and energy to invest in growth, your […]

Previously, I wrote about the importance of doing the real thing. Skills are narrow. Transfer is hard. Fake substitutes work less than you think. Yet getting stuck on the fake stuff is easy. The writer who doesn’t publish anything. The artist who buys paint but struggles to put it on canvas. The entrepreneur that spends […]