Betterment

Willpower is overrated. If you want to eat healthier, don’t work hard to avoid stopping at the cookie jar when you walk into the kitchen. Get rid of the cookie jar. Systems are long-lasting, …

One of the benefits of having attended a religious elementary school (despite being a fairly secular one as religious schools go) is exposure to the text of the Bible. There are two verses from the…

Momentum activities like public speaking, board sports and leadership all share an attribute with riding a bicycle: It gets easier when you get good at it. The first error we often make is believin…

The human brain is (still) the most sophisticated learning machine on the planet. Given the uncertainty of what skills will be most useful in an AI age and the high probability that learning will continue to rely on the same processes in the near future.

As most of the world knows by now, Joe Biden dropped out of the Presidential race, and within 24 hours Kamala Harris has jumped in to take his place as

It’s expensive. Hundreds of people were involved in getting you that simple bowl of rice. It involved countless gallons of water, hours of labor, gallons of fuel. A complex supply chain that …

A fundamental Johnny.Decimal question: what is an ID, and how much should it contain?

What a simple verb. A five-letter modifier that opens the door to discussion. If we state something as a fact, we’re asking for an argument. But seems opens the door to learning and discussio…

Some people have experienced an interesting phenomenon: when they were actively and eagerly looking for a romantic partner, they couldn’t find one; then, once they stopped looking, someone came into their lives. One of the paradoxes of life is that the more you desire something, the less suited you can be to have it. A […]

To really take a break, try vigorous exercise.

Uncover the secrets of Bruce Lee's legendary workout routine and how it helped shape his incredible physique and martial arts prowess.

The Index Card is a new book by Helaine Olen and Harold Pollack about simple advice for personal finance. The idea for the book

If consumption is the point (the engine of the economy, the focus of our marketing, the driver of our status) then it’s easy to get confused about the difference between something that’…

Finding a pattern that explains events that seem like chaos is a breakthrough. It offers us understanding and a lever we can use to make an impact. Sometimes, though, the breakthrough lies in under…

Walking along Harrow Road in London in the mid-1970s, the art-rock pop star and former Roxy Music band member, Brian Eno, suddenly tripped, fell off the

You’re on vacation, sitting on the beach, watching your children play in the water. Everyone is full of sunshine and smiles. You think to yourself, “I’ve got a great family here. We’re doing alright.” Then, you have another thought. You remember being a kid on vacation with your family growing up and the fun you […]

Once we all had knowledge of how to heal ourselves using plants and animals. The future would be sweeter for renewing it

In which I explain the esoteric magical discipline I practice, and invite you to join me in it. I also teach you a neat trick for avoiding writer's block, and tell you a mostly pointless story about an orange tree and a hamster.

Cable TV was a perfect storm. The number of channels that needed old movies and TV series to fill airtime almost exactly matched the number of worthwhile shows that were available. Which meant that…

Who is the best of the Greeks? According to Homer, it was Achilles, their greatest fighter of the Trojan War. Except Achilles was a demigod, having a

Voluntary simplicity, or simple living, is a way of life that rejects the high-consumption, materialistic lifestyles of consumer cultures and affirms what is often just called ‘the simple life’ or ‘downshifting.’[1] The rejection of consumerism arises from the recognition that ordinary Western-style consumption habits are degrading the planet; that lives of high consumption are unethical

We’ve managed to lionize, celebrate and elevate the mindset of “CHARGE!” Even when better judgment and experience would indicate that we’re often more likely to succeed with…

Now, are not those still full of their old carnal nature who ask us: ‘What was God doing before he made heaven and earth? For if he was idle,’ they say, ‘and doing nothing, then why did he not continue in that state forever — doing nothing, as he had always done? If any new motion has arisen in God, and a new will to form a creature, which he had never before formed, how can that be a true eternity in which an act of will occurs that was not there before? For the will of God is not...

In the 1991 comedy What About Bob?, Bill Murray plays Bob Wiley, a highly neurotic and anxious guy who seeks the help of an egotistical and ambitious therapist named Dr. Bob Marvin (played by Richard Dreyfuss). Dr. Marvin wants to be the next Dr. Spock — a psychologist who’s a household name. He thinks his recently published […]

Caretaking beats value capture every time.

How much exercise is "enough" to stay healthy? What about investing in diet, productivity or relationships? I explain why we often answer these questions badly.

My friend’s organization is working with a branding studio to think about how they appear to people who don’t know them well. This is sometimes called ‘rebranding.’ What is …

Recently, I’ve been thinking about developing domain expertise, and wanted to collect my thoughts here. Although I covered some parts of this in Your first 90 days as CTO (understanding product analytics, shadowing customer support, talking to customers, and talking with your internal experts), I missed the most important dimension of effective learning: getting your hands dirty. At Carta, I’m increasingly spending time focused on our fund financials business, which requires a deep understanding of accounting.

You know what the main trouble is with the old saying, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions?" The fact that it’s actually true. Not to mention,