Measuring productivity is hard. A lot of the form and (dys)function of working life can be derived from this fact. Consider this perspective on Japanese salaryman work culture: Your first obligation, in all things, will be to your company. You will work incredibly hard (90+ hour weeks barely even occasion comment) on their behalf. The […]

I just finished the excellent, Good Work if You Can Get It, by Jason Brennan. An insider’s account into academia, the book shares what it takes to become a professor, backed by statistics. What jumped out at me from the book was how surprisingly narrow the path to becoming a professor at a good school […]

A mental model is a pattern in reality that shows up again and again. Once you recognize one, it starts to pop-up everywhere. Understand how it works, and you can recognize something deep about the universe. Here are the ten mental models that have impacted my thinking the most: 1. The Margin Listen to this […]

A common misunderstanding is to confuse an effective strategy with a merely effortful one. Effective strategies are usually effortful. It’s rare that something is both effective and effortless. If you’re doing the real thing, it’s going to require some work. But the real thing done slowly and patiently is still the real thing. A fake […]