Betterment

Want to learn how to meditate? Scientists have a new theory that might change how you practice.

Money is a story. But money is also an exchangeable commodity, valued by different people in different ways. And time is the wildcard. Situational spending is a trap that seduces us into forgetting…

The Kafkaesque surreality that is this place.

When I made breakfast this morning, I didn’t begin by making the blender. Someone else, a team with more skills, resources and scale, built the blender. I simply bought it. That seems obvious…

It can be difficult to fit self-expression into your schedule, but the benefits are huge. Jem Collins explores five fresh ways to be creative every day

It’s a new year and millions of people around the world are making resolutions to improve themselves in the months to come. A large portion of those resolution-makers are probably making the same well-intentioned vows they made last January: “This is the year I’ll get in shape…learn a new language…get the garage organized… ” But […]

The best methods are low-tech and free.

An artifact is an object that holds or signifies an idea. A book on paper is an artifact: it’s the object plus the words. Now that you can get the words in many other ways, the value of the b…

I noticed something about the way I read books, yesterday. When I start a book, it’s like I’m sitting in an empty space, completely surrounded by the fog of war. Over some number of pag…

We all make mistakes. We all do things that we then realize weren’t in our interest, or useful to the community. If we do it a second time, it’s worth taking a hard look at the system t…

Hello.

That’s the first question. The second question is, “how do we make it work better?” These two questions, patiently repeated, lead to incremental improvement and an understanding o…

Tech and culture have enabled a new sort of informality. Not simply the end of suits and ties and heels at work, but the office itself is fading away. But there’s a difference between being i…

The first time I heard about Wardley Mapping was from Charity Majors discussing it on Twitter. Of the three core strategy refinement techniques, this is the technique that I’ve personally used the least. Despite that, I decided to include it in this book because it highlights how many different techniques can be used for refining strategy, and also because it’s particularly effective at looking at the broadest ecosystems your organization exists in.

A lot happened for me this year. I continued learning the details of fund accounting at Carta, which is likely the most complex product domain I’ve worked in. My third book was published, and I did a small speaking tour to support it. We started the unironically daunting San Francisco kindergarten application process. I was diagnosed with skin cancer and had successful surgery to remove it. All things considered, it was a much messier year than I intended, but with many good pockets mixed in with the mess.

Working solo has its difficulties. For one, my income is somewhat tied to my productivity, and my productivity highly correlates to my state of mind. This is...

I’ve been part of the internet startup scene for a while. There are so many different camps: the bootstrappers, the VC-backed tech-bros, the crypto “investors”,

My process for starting new projects

How I'm using paper notes as a supplement to my digital note-taking.

New years bring resolutions, but those resolutions rarely stick. Creating change is difficult, and it’s hard to do it alone. New years remind us that we might need a better strategy. A philos…

Writer Karen Attiah recently wrote about the pleasure of perusing other people’s personal libraries and then asked her followers what their “personal foundational texts” were…those books that people read over and over again durin

I’m now rounding out the third month in my year-long project to improve my foundations. 
This month’s focus was money. In particular, the keystone habit I asked students of my course to work on this month was setting up a system to track their expenses and reviewing it at least monthly. Monthly expense tracking has […]

Don't demote yourself to a passive processing machine. Start with an intent when you process a chapter. Ask yourself: What do I want to build?

there is nothing lamer than a ill-planned dinner

There is a parasite, I see it everywhere. It consumes your health and wealth. It preys on ignorance and is easy to catch. It’s so common you may not even not...

Specialization is too heavily encouraged as a career path. The world needs more hybrid people.

40 questions that delve into your personal philosophy and traits, for you to reflect on now and revisit in 10 years.