I’ve heard the claim that, a few years out of college, most of what you’ve learned will be useless. It’s repeated so often it’s taken as fact. Obviously the claim about the value of education varies on what you study. I doubt an engineer or statistician could claim academic knowledge has no impact on their […]
What if Luck Matters More than Effort?
How would you live if success in anything were mostly luck, not effort? It’s an interesting question to ask, because I’m not sure it’s hypothetical. Life being mostly about luck isn’t as fatalistic as it sounds. But, living would require a different perspective. This is article is a thought experiment on what that perspective would […]
Building Cool Things
If you were given a room of 200 people, and only had time to ask one question about each person, which question would you ask to guess whether or not they would be wildly successful in life? The obvious candidate questions would be, “are you smart?”, “are you ambitious?”, “hard-working?” But, as I think about […]
Day Jobs vs Side Projects
Somehow I feel the expression, “Don’t quit your day job,” may be truer than people realize. Not in the disparaging sense, but in an optimistic one. Optimistic because, I believe, side projects have many strong advantages over having a “real job” and that being a person who regularly tackles side projects is a likely heuristic […]
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.