Betterment

It is impossible to make a perpetual motion machine, you’ll waste your time if you try. It is possible to write a book of poetry that will sell 10 million copies. It is unlikely, it probably …

Large organizations are purpose-built to do what they do, under prevailing conditions. People are hired, assets are acquired, measurements are put in place–all to optimize what’s happen…

One sort of delusion is believing that we’re smart and skilled simply because we got lucky. This perpetuates a cycle of bad decisions that just happened to lead to good outcomes, and causes p…

When we fall behind, it’s tempting to hustle to catch up. When the competition heats up, it’s imperative we hustle to get ahead. Hustle is a particular kind of shortcut. Hustle is pushi…

I’m now entering the final month of my year-long Foundations project. This month’s focus is service. While the previous foundations have all focused on making one’s own life better, this one centers on contributing to the well-being of others. I thought service would be a good capstone for the project, a reminder that the point […]

Have you ever heard the old thought experiment about the indecisive donkey? A donkey is equally thirsty and hungry. He’s placed halfway between a pile of

Don’t swallow Polonium-210. You won’t last long, and it won’t be pleasant. There are poisons all around us. The arsenic in your rice, the drain cleaner under your sink. Alas, some…

Conversations and projects usually revolve around an axis. It could be a goal or an urgency or a person. It might be the boss. Wondering what they want, what they need, what sort of mood they&#8217…

The NASA astronaut legend, Jim "Houston, we have a problem" Lovell, passed away recently. He was the astronaut immortalized by Tom Hanks' portrayal of him

I’ve written here plenty of times that I’ve switched from one type of productivity system to another lots of times. Lately I’ve been using technology but when I got overwhelmed yesterday I switched…

At some point in our lives, we all feel stuck. Stuck in our lives, stuck in our careers, stuck in our marriages, stuck in our mindsets – wherever.  So we

If 1,000 people toss a fair coin three times, 125 of them will get three heads in a row. Perfect score. And 125 will lose every time. We probably shouldn’t give the winners too much credit. A…

Since I was born, humans have created 6 billion jobs. All while technology relentlessly disrupts existing industries. The pin making machine replaced the hand-crafted pin. The ox-pulled plow replac…

Writer & designer Frank Chimero took the summer off (“I quit my job at an opportune moment and called it a sabbatical”) and wrote a short post about the experience: The summer is now mostly spent, and I am writing to say: not much has happene

Frank Chimero’s Personal Website

Rob Walling is a serial entrepreneur who has started six companies (five of them bootstrapped). He runs MicroConf, the original community for bootstrapped SaaS founders, and TinySeed, a category-leading accelerator for B2B SaaS. He has invested in more than 200 startups.

How building out of passion boost your craftsmanship

A shared canon equips Staff+ engineers with the language, ideas and tactics for an ecosystem bigger than any one person.

Most people can make a plan. Planning is fun. You get to dream, scheme, and visualize a future where everything is awesome. But executing plans? A lot of people struggle with that. A few months ago, I did a poll on the AoM WhatsApp Channel (give us a follow!) asking what members were struggling with the […]

This post will look at why networks drive change more effectively than enclaves and why Future Mending is happy to talk about businesses, money and markets despite being deeply concerned about extractive capitalism. Many people see the seemingly intractable problems within our society and feel an u

Peel back the layers of group interaction with Bion's Basic-Assumption Groups theory. Discover the powerful influence of unconscious assumptions on our collective endeavors.

Shortly after the 1969 moon landing, Volkswagen published a magazine ad. The ad was just a simple tabletop photo of a model of the Lunar Landing Vehicle,

Once they win elections, it’s already too late.

“Maybe” is the problem. If you’re serious, say, “yes.” And if it’s not for you, walk away. But endlessly reconsidering opportunities without forward motion is a …

Many organizations have a widget or service, something people already need or want, and they work to sell it to people. Some seek monopoly power so they can force others to do what they want them t…

“Who’s it for?” is not simply a question about your target customer. Milton Friedman offered to let us off the hook–the only thing the work is for is to maximize shareholder…

Where does hope come from? It’s probably hard-wired, the result of an evolutionary process. A creature with hope is less likely to give up and more likely to raise offspring, thus passing dow…

Not really. Just a post about sponsors. Even if you don’t run a media company, the way media companies run matters. That’s because media shapes our culture and how we spend our time. Th…

I've been writing about how AI is likely to affect white-collar (or no-collar or hoodie-wearing) computer programmers for a while now, and one thing is clear:…