Life.
Focus, habits, family, and everything else
- Hello, 2016
Breaking the ice — been off the blogs for quite a while now. Looking forward to this year, the way I tend to every year. 2015 was a tough one for me personally — went through a bunch of shit on the family front that both demonstrated how tough life can be and also how… Continue reading
- Pain x Resistance = Suffering (the case for throughput)
For the past nine months or so, I’ve been seeing a therapist specializing in mindfulness. Perhaps the best decision I’ve ever made. One of the things we spend a lot of time talking about is resistance – everyone has their own quirks and issues, and that’s one of mine. The tendency to hit the brakes...
- Brutal honesty delivered kindly
On my way to SF this week, I stopped over in Boulder, visited Techstars and then had dinner with Brad Feld, where got to talking about the dynamics inside and around venture firms. He has obviously been doing this for a long time, and for me, less of a long time (3-1/2 yrs at this point).… Continue...
- Anti-workflow: to-dos
A while back, I wrote about Anti-Workflow Apps — apps that solve problems for you without forcing you to adopt a workflow that you may never fully be able to adopt. Workflow apps (CRMs, to-do lists, project management tools) are super hard to drive adoption towards, as everyone works differently an...
- Failure is the tuition you pay for success
I couldn’t sleep last night, and was up around 4am lurking on Twitter. I came across an old friend, Elizabeth Green, who is an accomplished and awesome education writer — you’ve probably read some of her recent NYT mag cover stories, and it turns out she has a new book out, Building a Better Teache...
- Financial Planning for the 90%
A few weeks ago as I was walking down Beacon Street in Brookline, I happened upon something amazing: The Society of Grownups. The Society of Grownups is a self-proclaimed “grad school for adulthood”, the idea is to give people the tools they need to manage their grown up lives. The primary focus is...
- The Light Inside, The Fire Inside
Last week, a friend passed away after a relatively brief but intense battle with lung cancer. I didn’t know Paul well, but he was very close with a few of my very close friends, and I had spent enough time with him to understand that he was special: he had a light inside of him. A… Continue readi...
- Everyone is broken and life is hard
That’s a pretty depressing and fatalistic post title, but I actually mean it in a positive and encouraging way. Let me explain. It’s easy to go about your life, every day, feeling like everyone else has their shit together and that the things you struggle with are unique to you. But then, when you ...
- Finding Flow: writing vs. coding
When I first started to learn programming, about 15 years ago, I remember being surprised at how easy it was for me to get focused and stay focused. I loved (and still love) the feeling of getting lost in a project, and could easily spend hours upon hours “in the zone”. No procrastination, no resis...
- The Professional Amateur
One way I have described myself is as a “professional amateur”. I am both deeply proud and deeply ashamed of that. Let me explain. For basically my whole career, I’ve been learning new fields and professions from the outside-in. While I have an undergrad degree in Urban Studies, which ostensibly ...
- Disgusting
I got this in the mail: It’s an ad for an extended warranty, disguised as an urgent extension of existing coverage. This makes we want to throw up. A business blatantly based on tricking people. “Immediate response to this notice required…. Our records indicate that you have not contacted us to hav...
- Becoming a leader of men
In terms of leadership, I’ve done some hard things. Building teams, reorganizing a company, dealing with failure (and success), letting people go, navigating competition, etc. But I suspect all of that will pale in comparison to what’s up next: this weekend I begin my career as a little league coac...
- The sweetest pitbull
I had crazy week last week. On Monday, I went to NYC for the day for work, and was overcome by a strange dizzy feeling. Walls spinning; hard to concentrate; nauseous. I thought — maybe I’m just dehydrated. I took a rest during the middle of the day; I drank a lot of fluids. I made… Continue readi...
- Turning 35
Today I turn 35. 30 was certainly a milestone, but somehow 35 feels more solidly different than 30 did (or maybe I’m just 5 years in to being used to 30-level grownup-ness). Closer to 50 than to 20. Gives me shivers thinking about it that way. For a while now, it’s seemed that every… Continue rea...
- I don’t know how to shop anymore
The sole is starting to peel of from my snow boots, so I’m in the market for some shoe goo or Gorilla Glue. I’d really like to get it today because the flapping sole is getting annoying. As I was thinking about this just now, I realized that I don’t know how to shop anymore.… Continue reading
- Pond hockey
Happy New Year everyone. I love new years. It always feels to good to turn the page and have a shot at a fresh new year. And new years in New England is always so so cold — which I think really helps mark the beginning of the real part of winter and the turn… Continue reading
- Momentum on my mind
A few weeks ago, Brian asked Brittany and me: “do you think it’s better to build your career around skills or around ideas?”. Brittany immediately said “skills” and I immediately said “ideas”. We argued about it for a few minutes, and ultimately we both agreed that skills and ideas are both importa...
- Happy Thanksgiving everyone
Mmmm Continue reading
- The no list (or, do less better)
Saying no to things is something I’ve always been bad at. I have always been (and to some extent, have prided myself on being) more of a “why not” guy than a “why” guy. This has many of advantages — I’m open minded and I end up doing tons of interesting things w interesting people.… Continue readin...
- Swimming like a shark
Andy and I were talking yesterday about how both of us really struggle on email, especially during busy weeks when we’re really focused on something (travel, a project, etc). I can’t tell you how many emails I start with: “I apologize for the long delay here…” I described it as being afraid of the ...