Reading Time: 5 minutesPurpose Is Plural and Seasonal — and That’s Normal There is no single true calling, no grand goal or purpose you’re supposed to find or pursue. Purpose is plural and seasonal. It shows up in curiosity and in the roles you fill, and it changes over a lifetime. Moving between purposes or holding several at …
Reading Time: 6 minutesThe Case Against My Own Advice Two years ago, I wrote a blog post arguing for planning your day in the morning rather than in the evening before. I said that I did my best daily planning in the morning, and that the last thing I wanted to do in the late afternoon was to …
Reading Time: 5 minutesA lot of people don’t actually know what they like. They know what others like and what they think they’re supposed to like. Some respected friends raved about a great new book. I bought it, started it, and was immediately bored. It didn’t resonate with me at all. I pushed through most of it because …
Reading Time: 6 minutesI regularly use my Claude Cowork robot assistant to interview me on various topics across different settings. Being interviewed by the AI doesn’t change what I think. It helps me say it more clearly in my own conversational voice and surfaces aspects of a topic I hadn’t consciously addressed. The thinking stays mine. The AI’s …
Reading Time: 5 minutesPosition Yourself, Don’t Fix Yourself So many times I’ve walked away from a conversation thinking, “This is what I should have said.” I’ve always sucked at thinking on my feet. It’s when I have time that my best thinking happens. Actively position yourself in circumstances where you can excel in your strengths, rather than staying …
Reading Time: 5 minutesWhen Writing It Yourself Becomes the Opt-Out Having AI write for us is not only an option in most apps, but in some it’s now the default. For instance, in the Superhuman email app, an email that’s in your inbox will be analyzed by the AI, and it will automatically provide several replies that you …
Reading Time: 5 minutesI’ve been doing quarterly reviews as a part of David Sparks’ Productivity Field Guide role-based system since January 2021, but I’ve never had a review as thorough and enjoyable as the one I did with Claude Cowork last month. Cowork strips the drudgery out of the quarterly review: it handles the calendar scanning, reading three …
Reading Time: 5 minutesWhat Theological School Taught Me About Groupthink When I studied theology in graduate school, I observed that religious groups, including my own, typically required members to adhere to a particular theology or system of beliefs. It wasn’t acceptable to deviate from the set system. Those who did were attacked and ostracized. Those who asked piercing …
Reading Time: 4 minutesWhen Saying Yes Means Saying No A little over a year ago, I had to say no to something I really wanted to do because I’d already said yes to other things. A creator friend offered me the opportunity to work with him by helping with backstage administrative support. I had to say no because …
Reading Time: 4 minutesYour Brain Is Set to Wander — and That’s Not a Problem A landmark Harvard study found that people’s minds wander 46.9% of the time — nearly half — regardless of what they are doing. Most people secretly think something is wrong with them when their mind wanders. You’re not broken, you’re human. As Steve …