Life, 2013.
Focus, habits, family, and everything else
- 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 ...
- David and Goliath
Last week, I traveled to SF, and ended up on a flight with no internet (aaaaaaagh!). And, of course, I forgot to bring the book I’m currently reading. So, I went old school and bought a book at the airport bookstore. I honestly can’t remember the last time I did that. Actually, I bought two books...
- Organized vs. disciplined
I’ve been thinking a lot about this idea of being organized vs. being disciplined. It’s easy to want to “get organized” — or worse, to spend a lot of time and effort getting organized — but then not actually have the discipline to see it through (this is also known as “systems to cover up symptoms“...
- Systems to Cover Up Symptoms
Cescalouise and I have started using Wunderlist to keep track of shared to-dos (bills to pay, stuff to buy, etc). I’ve been a user of Wunderlist for a number of years now and have written about it before. The shared lists in Wunderlist actually seem to be working for us. Whenever she adds or… Con...
- Personal Equity
There are at least two startups that I know of (Pave and Upstart) that facilitate VC-style equity investment in individuals. Upstart describes this as “the startup is you”. In both cases, the idea is as follows: raise money from backers in exchange for a percentage of your future earnings. The ide...
- Happiness = meaningful social connections
I’m writing this from the DC metro, which I love. Getting from the airport to downtown dc is one of the great joys of traveling. I can’t think of a single airport that is as conveniently connected to a major city by mass transit. But the point of this post is not to talk about… Continue reading
- Social Connections: from Something You Inherit to Something You Earn
(I’m writing this on the amtrak to NY as my computer quickly runs out of battery, and I have no charger, so this’ll be short…) Somehow, earlier this week, I came across Zenep Tufekci’s piece from last spring in the Atlantic on Social Media’s Small, Positive Role in Human Relationships. I liked it, ...
- My Top 5 Personal Productivity Hacks
I can’t claim to be the most disciplined or organized person, but I’m working on both. I have, however, done a lot to smooth out my moment-to-moment work process, to help me do things more quickly & easily, and to help me avoid distractions where I can. I can only hope that I win more… Continue rea...
- Antifragility
At Albert’s suggestion, I’ve started reading Nicholas Taleb’s Antifragile. It really is a powerful idea to think of things that get better with stress, not worse. And it’s really interesting to think about how to build antifragility into your life in various ways. Here’s one (tiny) example: email...
- Living Scared
What happened yesterday in Boston so sad and awful. And it’s deeply scary. All of the communities I’m part of — family, work, school, city — have been shaken by this. But the most important thing we can do coming away from this is not get scared in our core. If that happens, they win… Continue re...
- Turning 17 for the Second Time
Today I turn 34. For some reason, I can’t get Fred’s post about turning 17 for the third time out of my head. As I have been approaching this milestone, I can’t help but feel like I’m turning the corner to a new phase. I definitely feel like the last 17 years have been about figuring… Continue readi...
- Subtle Discontent
For the past two months, Frannie and I have been doing yoga. It’s a totally new thing for me. I was skeptical about it at first, but it’s been totally awesome and perspective changing. Even though I am completely inflexible and unaccustomed to all of the poses (and perhaps because of this), doing...
- Coming Back Up for Air
The past three weeks have been really busy. First a trip to SF with the USV team, then to Austin for SXSW to put on We Heart Wifi, and finally to Iceland where we have been helping establish a new institute for internet policy at Reykjavik University. So as is typically the case, I have fallen… Cont...
- Prioritizing Ruthlessly
I met with an entrepreneur yesterday who, in passing, mentioned Warren Buffett’s method of prioritizing (ruthlessly). To sum it up: Jot down a list of the 25 most important things you want to accomplish (in a month, in a year, in life). Circle the 5 absolutely most… Continue readin...
- Living in the Fall Line
For the past few months I have been seeing an executive coach, which has been really helpful for me. One of my issues is that I tend to keep too much work bottled up in my inbox / in my to do list. This is a drain on productivity and a source of stress. Part… Continue reading
- Fighting for change: why and how
Happy MLK Day everyone. I just spent the last half hour reading MLK’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail. To be totally honest, I don’t think I’ve ever read it in its entirety before. It is incredibly powerful and moving. I encourage anyone reading this to take some time with it today. I pulled a few ...
- Reflections on two days with no phone
Sunday night, Cescalouise‘s iPhone mysteriously went dark. She had a lot going on Monday, so I gave her my phone to use, then I headed down to NYC for the day and following night. So I’ve been away from home for the last day and a half with no phone. Not a huge deal, obviously,… Continue reading