articles

I was lucky enough to spend the weekend with some very successful people. My friend Shaan Puri put together a group of 24 entrepreneurs, rented a few big Airbnbs and scheduled a chef and rented a basketball court in Raleigh NC. There were a few billionaires and famous people. A handful of folks...

“20 types of squats.”

It used to be well lit. Apply to a famous institution, get picked. Get the agent of an agent or A&R person. Get picked. Get good grades… get picked. Now, many of the “pickers”…

Some parents can give their kids real power. Think of Queen Elizabeth, who literally gives a kingdom to her children. Some parents can give wealth. Think of Warren Buffett’s children. Some parents can give talent and access–Jabari Smith, for instance, just helped his son enter the NBA at the top of the draft, through a...

In about a month, an important moment will happen in the world of crypto/web3. The Ethereum blockchain will move from a proof of work consensus mechanism to a proof of stake consensus mechanism. This event is known as “The Merge” in Ethereum land. There are many reasons why this is an important moment for the […]

Why burnout happens more in middle age, the value of just thinking, and...logos are for closers!

Years of notes on business, productivity, courage, stress, success, relationships and more.

Hey, you. You're doing great. Click here to read this on the web. Source: Getty Welcome to the 119th issue of Total Annarchy, a fortnightly newsletter…

Last week, I unveiled the new brand of my business and this newsletter. Previously known as Creative Companion, I made the transition to the new name: Creator Science. I’m proud of how smoothly the transition has gone thus far, but I wish I could have avoided a rebrand entirely

We simply copy an existing and functioning machine and then focus on modifying one or maybe two of the moving parts

(Credit: Wired magazine. ) Time to read: 50 minutes We touched down in Las Vegas only three hours before, but we were already back in the plane and flying home to San Jose on a brisk winter day in …

Mochary Method Curriculum After reading a sub-doc, please write on this main doc your answers to the following questions: Does it resonate, yes or no? What questions or comments do you have about this writing? Will you apply it? If yes, exactly what actions will you take? First-time Onboard...

​ ​ ​ No escape One of my favourite books on writing is How To Write A Lot, by Paul Silvia, despite the fact that it's not really aimed at people like me (it's for academic soci...

Beethoven started going deaf in his late 20s.   Already famous by age 25 for his piano sonatas, at 31 he was traumatized by losing his hea...

My friend Lynn coined this phrase, and it really resonated with me. Parents or other adults who are irrationally committed to a kid’s well being make a huge (perhaps the biggest) difference i…

Why are traditional brands so into NFTs and how are they entering this space? After researching 60 NFT launches, here's the 5-step playbook that the world's best brands use to launch NFTs.

Napoleon Hill is the most famous conman you’ve probably never heard of. Born into poverty in rural Virginia at the end of the 19th century, Hill went on to write one of the most successful self-help books of the 20th century: Think and Grow Rich. In fact, he helped invent the genre. But it’s the untold story of Hill’s…

In my book Digital Minimalism, I emphasized the danger of a newly-emerged condition that I called "solitude deprivation." As I wrote, the introduction of the smartphone caused our relationship with distraction to mutate into something new: "At the slightest hint of boredom, you can now surreptitiously glance at any number of apps or mobile-adapted websites

Everything you need to know about the science of motivation. Unravel the mystery of what makes you driven to act (or slack).

A while back I wrote about What 80% Comprehension Feels Like, and I quoted the English examples used in Marcos Benevides’ excellent presentation which simulate 80% comprehension in English by including made-up English-like vocabulary words. I’ve been thinking about that presentation a lot, both about the impact of such a demonstration, as well as about how it could be accomplished in Chinese. I ended up... Read More

How influencers become brainwashed by their audiences

Life is a never ending maze of decisions. I’d love to make the right decisions all the time. I’d also like to have George Clooney’s charming good looks. Those two outcomes are equally likely. Instead of obsessing over the right decisions, which is hard, we can simply avoid the worst decisions, whi

Researchers have found that the way a teen's brain functions has a significant role in the quality of health, both physical and psychological.

You may have noticed it's practically impossible to contact me. I did that on purpose so I can spend my time how I want to spend it. I don't really use email and I have my private message inboxes on every platform closed. And they have been like that for

I didn’t write a single line of code for this 🤯 pic.twitter.com/0Xyp17UbXH— Meng To (@MengTo) August 2, 2022

Brittle systems are weak. Short-term wins feel like a demonstration of will by those that seek to be strong. But the only run is the long run. When we embrace flexible, renewable and diverse approa…