Jim Eagar Reading Time: 4 minutesHave you ever caught yourself living more in the future than in the present? Most of us do. We tell ourselves, “When X happens, then I’ll be happy.” I’m guilty of it too. My wife and I have a trip planned soon—a few days in a cabin in the Rocky Mountains. I keep daydreaming about …
Reading Time: 3 minutesWe’ve all been there. You have a project that needs to be completed by the end of the day. You block off an hour for a “quick” project. An hour later, you’ve barely started—and the rest of your day is wrecked. You wish you could do a better job of estimating how long projects will …
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe Trap of Toxic Productivity Have you ever felt uneasy sitting on the couch doing nothing? You’re not alone. Many of us have absorbed the idea that every moment must be productive. A healthy focus on productivity can help us prioritize what matters most in our lives. However, an unhealthy or excessive focus on productivity …
Reading Time: 4 minutesEnthusiastic promoters claimed that linking thoughts together in note-taking apps like Obsidian would spark a revolution in human thinking. Instead, they’ve mostly left us with bigger, fancier digital filing cabinets. The Hype: A Promised Revolution in Thinking When bidirectional linking note apps like Obsidian and Roam Research were released, some writers and podcasters trumpeted a …
Reading Time: 3 minutesWe Don’t See Ourselves Clearly It’s not unusual for us to hold limiting beliefs about ourselves and underestimate our abilities. We often fail to see ourselves objectively, and we tend to overlook the skills and characteristics we possess. We don’t think what we do is special because it’s just what we do. However, other people …
Reading Time: 2 minutesThe Illusion of Certainty Have you ever argued with someone about what really happened—only to discover you both remembered the same event differently? We assume that we know past events because we lived them. However, our memories might not be as accurate as we think. Author Derek Sivers reminds us that what we call the …
Reading Time: 4 minutesI don’t read books and blog posts to connect with algorithms. I read to connect with people. Writing Is More Than Words on a Page In her recent book, The Curious Reader’s Field Guide to Nonfiction, writing expert Anne Janzer points out that very often readers feel a personal connection with their favorite authors. They …
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Reading Time: 3 minutesFocus on What You Control We spend so much energy stressing over things we can’t control—traffic jams, canceled flights, rude comments. The Stoics warned us 2,000 years ago that this is wasted effort. They taught that freedom comes from focusing only on what is within our control. They divided everything in life into two categories: …