articles

1. Finding your true self is an act of love. Expressing it is an act of rebellion. 2. A sign of growth is having more tolerance for discomfort. But it’s also having less tolerance for bullshi…

In my latest essay for The New Yorker, published earlier this week, I tackled the topic of "quiet quitting." This idea careened into mainstream discourse last summer, powered by a viral TikTok video posted by a twentysomething engineer named Zaid Khan. Here's the transcript: "I recently heard about this idea of quiet quitting where, you're

You said, “All the returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest.” How does one know if they’re earning compound interest? Compound interest is a very powerful concept. Compound interest applies to more than just compounding capital. Compounding capit

Gareth Morgan’s Images of Organization is a must-read for those who want to develop a deeper understanding of a lot of the stuff I talk about here. Though I’ve cited the book lots of ti…

What exactly is Amazon? This is the question that has consumed me for the last ten years. I have sold to and bought from Amazon in about as many ways as one person can; I built an auto parts brand …

A distillation of the year's wisdom

The other day I sat down to write. But it didn’t happen. It just wasn’t there. The words. The momentum. One thought leading into the next. I knew I wanted to say something. I knew what I wanted it to be about. But I couldn’t get much further than that, beyond just a few sentences. A classic case of writer’s block, right? Maybe. Except I happen to think that writer’s block doesn’t exist. I’m with Jerry Seinfeld who said, “Writer’s block is a phony, made-up, BS excuse for not doing your work.” The words I chose above were illustrative: It just wasn’t there. What is it? It wasn’t the muses. Or inspiration. And I’ve never been a genius so that hadn’t abandoned me. What wasn’t there then? The work. I hadn’t done the work. Writing is a byproduct of hours and hours of reading, researching, thinking, making my notecards. When a day’s writing goes well, it’s got little to do with that day at all. It’s actually a lagging indicator of hours and hours spent researching and thinking. Every passage and page has a prologue titled preparation. The solution to my writer’s block that day was not to write at all. It was to stop for the day and go research the topic more. It was to go for a run and a walk. It was to do the prep work. Success as a lagging indicator is a phenomenon that holds true across most areas in life. When I look in the mirror and I’m a little flabby, that is a lagging indicator that, for weeks and months, I’ve slacked on eating healthy and exercising. When I’m grouchy and frustrated and anxious or short with my wife, that is usually a lagging indicator that I need to eat (in 2014,  Researchers from Ohio State University found  that most fights between couples are because someone is hungry). When I’m getting sick a lot, that is a lagging indicator that I have not been taking care of myself, working too hard,  not sleeping enough . Your retirement accounts are a lagging indicator of whether or not you have your financial act together—earning enough, saving enough. Pulling an all-nighter is not a sign of dedication but a lagging indicator of the exact opposite. It means you plan poorly, you procrastinate, you aren’t proactive enough, you don’t know how to effectively manage your work and your time. Not being able to  fully disconnect from your devices  on vacation is a lagging indicator that you don’t have good systems in place. Hitting a personal record on the bench press is a lagging indicator of a lot of discipline and hard work. Receiving a promotion is a lagging indicator of a lot of quality work. Delivering a keynote with confidence is a lagging indicator  of a lot of preparation . All my books are lagging indicators.  They are a culmination of years of work . That’s actually Robert Greene’s definition of creativity. He says, “creativity is a function of the previous work you put in.” Creativity is not mysterious or romantic. It’s tedious, Robert says. “If you put a lot of hours into thinking and researching and reading, hour after hour—a very tedious process—creativity will come to you.” But so are their sales.  The Obstacle is the Way  sold in its first year what  Discipline is Destiny  sold in a week. How? Because day after day after day, I worked to build a system, a platform, that has become a flywheel that day after day spins faster and faster. Combined, over a million readers have subscribed to  Daily Stoic ,  Daily Dad ,  The Reading List Email , and this RSS email lists. Of course, I have social media, too (you can follow me on  Instagram ,  Twitter ,  TikTok  and  YouTube ). In other words, I’ve filled a dozen football stadiums worth of “true fans” who I have built a relationship with. This is what keeps me moving—knowing that I have to keep filling and refilling the creative well. Knowing that creative output is a lagging indicator of a lot of hours of tedious work. Knowing that if I want to publish more books in the future, the only question is, am I doing the work now? It’s what keeps my priorities straight as a parent. I want to have a relationship with my kids as long as I am able to—which means investing in it now. In twenty years, attendance at Thanksgiving will be voluntary.  Attendance will be a lagging indicator of who I was as a parent today . It’s true as a spouse too. Fifty years of marriage is a lagging indicator of how quickly arguments are resolved today, how mistakes are handled today, the pressure of (or better yet, the lack thereof) today. And it’s true of fame and celebrity—at least the good kind, not the famous-from-a-sex tape kind. Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden  would say in an interview  that “fame is the excrement of creativity, it’s the shit that comes out the back end, it’s a by-product of it.” It’s a lagging indicator of years of making stuff that people like and get to know you through. Even this article is an example. It’s a lagging indicator, a byproduct of a process that started with an idea on a notecard, to an idea I kicked around with others in conversations and with myself on walks, which led to a first draft I spent time on across several days, which I returned to across several weeks whenever I had tweaks and improvements, which was edited by a team, and then finally published. Nothing comes from nowhere. Not success. Not inspiration. Not the muses. Not writer’s block. Everything is a lagging indicator. Of whether or not you did the work. Tweet Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn

Victory Through AttritionIn a book on the major wars that shaped the course of history, the strategist and historian B.H. Liddell Hart found that in only 2% of campaigns “did a decisive result follow a plan of direct strategic approach to the main army of the enemy.” The majority of campaigns are won through attrition.

Hey, you. You're doing great. Click here to read this on the web. Welcome to the 127h issue of Total Annarchy, a fortnightly newsletter by me, Ann…

​ ​ ​ I've been thrilled by the response to my note in the last edition about The Art of Imperfect Action, a live online masterclass in two two-hour sessions that I'll be offeri...

Here’s my iPhone Home Screen layout and the apps I’m using for Winter, 2022.

I was surprised and a little bit gutted to learn that the quote "I hate to write, but I love having written" cannot be a

My favorite investment pieces from one of the most difficult years in financial history.

An end-of-2022 reminder from the photographer Sally Mann (and me)

Digital hoarding isn't harmless. It's often associated with anxiety and other mental health conditions. It's time to let go of those emails.

Is it worth writing about?

BTI360 teammate Joel Goldberg recently retired after working in the software industry for over four decades. When he left he shared with our team some of the lessons he learned over his career. With his...

Part one of an inside look at my new studio

Meditation has reached an interesting place in Western culture. It’s popular, well-reviewed by clinicians and scientists, and most people seem to have tried it. Yet for all the acclaim meditation receives, it’s not very common to actually meditate regularly. As hobbies go, meditation isn’t known for being beginner-friendly. Its learning curve can seem nearly wall-like at the beginning, mainly because

“I A/B tested 103 YouTube titles last month. Here’s what worked:”

In a recent interview for the BBC podcast Spark & Fire, the novelist Ann Patchett discusses some of the difficulties that come along with finding success as a writer. "It used to be a novel lived very nicely in my head as a constant companion," she explains. "As time goes on and I now have

When markets are in turmoil, like they have been for most of this year, I like to have a buy-and-hold mindset when it comes to making new investments. It is hard to know when you’ve reached the bottom and can start buying again, but if you think about a ten or twenty-year hold, then it […]

If you want to be rich, you need multiple streams of income. It’s almost impossible to get wealthy by your salary alone. The good news is, with the right mindset and skills, you can use your salary to create investments that will generate wealth for you. It’s not too good to be true. It’s simple […]

An interview with Keith Blount, the founder, director and lead developer of Literature & Latte.

16 votes and 15 comments so far on Reddit

​ ​ ​ ​ Before diving into this week’s edition… I’m thrilled (and a little nervous) to announce The Art of Imperfect Action, a live online masterclass in two two-hour sessions I...