Movie tickets are sunk costs The idea of a “sunk cost” has always been interesting to me. I understand it rather well, but it often feels counter-intuitive. As a result, I love finding new ways to explain it to help me widen my understanding. If you’re not familiar with the term, Wikipedia defines it as “a cost that has already been incurred and cannot be recovered.“ In other words, if you can’t get your time or money back, then don’t factor that into your decision of whether to keep going do...

Movie tickets are sunk costs The idea of a “sunk cost” has always been interesting to me. I understand it rather well, but it often feels counter-intuitive. As a result, I love finding new ways to explain it to help me widen my understanding. If you’re not familiar with the term, Wikipedia defines it as “a cost that has already been incurred and cannot be recovered.“ In other words, if you can’t get your time or money back, then don’t factor that into your decision of whether to keep going do...

Writing down an idea feels like a detour At first glance, writing down ideas or thoughts seems like a waste of time. If you have an idea, act on it. If you have something to do, do it! When it comes to to-do lists, we’ve all learned the value of them (and the satisfaction of crossing off items), and the same should be true of other ideas that come to mind. In his book “How to Take Smart Notes“, author Sonke Ahrens says:“And while writing down an idea feels like a detour, extra time spent, not...

Writing down an idea feels like a detour At first glance, writing down ideas or thoughts seems like a waste of time. If you have an idea, act on it. If you have something to do, do it! When it comes to to-do lists, we’ve all learned the value of them (and the satisfaction of crossing off items), and the same should be true of other ideas that come to mind. In his book “How to Take Smart Notes“, author Sonke Ahrens says:“And while writing down an idea feels like a detour, extra time spent, not...

Authentic reach-outs I try to stay in touch with many people in my life, as relationships of all kinds are generally a great thing to have. I also notice when others reach out to me, which is always appreciated. While there are a lot of people that I know I need to reach out to, I also use some tools to remind me. Over the years I’ve used “Nat” and “Dex”, and later “Nimble”, but now I just have a list in my notes app to go from. What’s interesting to me is the authenticity level of people who...

Authentic reach-outs I try to stay in touch with many people in my life, as relationships of all kinds are generally a great thing to have. I also notice when others reach out to me, which is always appreciated. While there are a lot of people that I know I need to reach out to, I also use some tools to remind me. Over the years I’ve used “Nat” and “Dex”, and later “Nimble”, but now I just have a list in my notes app to go from. What’s interesting to me is the authenticity level of people who...

Attention spans aren’t getting shorter It’s popular to say that our attention spans are getting shorter (though not like a goldfish), but that may not be entirely true. Studies are mixed, but it’s not clear that they’re getting shorter. Tools like TikTok help play into this idea, where users are fed an endless stream of very short videos to help keep themselves entertained. On the flip side, many people still read books and watch movies, both of which take a great deal of focused attention. G...

Attention spans aren’t getting shorter It’s popular to say that our attention spans are getting shorter (though not like a goldfish), but that may not be entirely true. Studies are mixed, but it’s not clear that they’re getting shorter. Tools like TikTok help play into this idea, where users are fed an endless stream of very short videos to help keep themselves entertained. On the flip side, many people still read books and watch movies, both of which take a great deal of focused attention. G...

The Sunday Summary: Defining the problem, writing down ideas, and staying connected with others In an effort to help me keep up with everything I post each week, here is my latest “Sunday Summary” of my posts from the week. Mon, July 15: Three ways of learning You can learn from books, from others, or from your own experience. If you can do all three, everything will accelerate. Tue, July 16: Define the problem Sometimes the problem seems obvious, but it’s worth exploring a bit to make sure i...

The Sunday Summary: Defining the problem, writing down ideas, and staying connected with others In an effort to help me keep up with everything I post each week, here is my latest “Sunday Summary” of my posts from the week. Mon, July 15: Three ways of learning You can learn from books, from others, or from your own experience. If you can do all three, everything will accelerate. Tue, July 16: Define the problem Sometimes the problem seems obvious, but it’s worth exploring a bit to make sure i...

Multiplexity I know a lot of people through my personal life and a lot of people through my work life, but there’s an important third group — people that are in both. In the book “Friend of Friend“, author David Burkus calls this “multiplexity”. He explains:“While we may want to categorize people into just work and personal buckets, real social networks do not seem to operate that way. And that is to our benefit. Research shows that not only does multiplexity help us become more aware of real...

Multiplexity I know a lot of people through my personal life and a lot of people through my work life, but there’s an important third group — people that are in both. In the book “Friend of Friend“, author David Burkus calls this “multiplexity”. He explains:“While we may want to categorize people into just work and personal buckets, real social networks do not seem to operate that way. And that is to our benefit. Research shows that not only does multiplexity help us become more aware of real...

Three ways of learning I was recently listening to a great podcast about the life of Alexander Hamilton on “How To Take Over the World”. I encourage you to listen the full show yourself, but one piece that stuck out to me was a section about the three ways that Hamilton learned. From the show:If you can learn in all three of those ways, so that is book learning, experience, and from other people, they have this kind of synergistic effect, where if you’re just doing one of them you just aren’t...

Three ways of learning I was recently listening to a great podcast about the life of Alexander Hamilton on “How To Take Over the World”. I encourage you to listen the full show yourself, but one piece that stuck out to me was a section about the three ways that Hamilton learned. From the show:If you can learn in all three of those ways, so that is book learning, experience, and from other people, they have this kind of synergistic effect, where if you’re just doing one of them you just aren’t...

Benjamin Franklin’s self-doubt led to the signing of the Constitution On September 17, 1787, Benjamin Franklin gave a speech at the Constitutional Convention which led to the signing of the Constitution. Franklin wasn’t convinced that the document was perfect, but he also knew that maybe he was wrong and he encouraged everyone to move forward. Here’s part of what he said:“I confess that I do not entirely approve of this Constitution at present, but sir, I am not sure I shall never approve it:...

Benjamin Franklin’s self-doubt led to the signing of the Constitution On September 17, 1787, Benjamin Franklin gave a speech at the Constitutional Convention which led to the signing of the Constitution. Franklin wasn’t convinced that the document was perfect, but he also knew that maybe he was wrong and he encouraged everyone to move forward. Here’s part of what he said:“I confess that I do not entirely approve of this Constitution at present, but sir, I am not sure I shall never approve it:...

Change your defaults One of the biggest problems people face on their phones is getting sucked into a bout of “doomscrolling” — just mindlessly going through never-ending social media feeds. Most of us open social media apps with a bit of purpose in mind, but it’s easy to get sucked into the feed for longer than we intended. As I’ve been playing with different launchers for my phone, the one thing that has helped a lot is keeping the social media apps tucked away. They’re easy enough to get t...

Change your defaults One of the biggest problems people face on their phones is getting sucked into a bout of “doomscrolling” — just mindlessly going through never-ending social media feeds. Most of us open social media apps with a bit of purpose in mind, but it’s easy to get sucked into the feed for longer than we intended. As I’ve been playing with different launchers for my phone, the one thing that has helped a lot is keeping the social media apps tucked away. They’re easy enough to get t...

Is the meta work worth it? One of the big challenges of productivity is determining what meta work (the work around your work) is worth your time. For me, a big one is playing with productivity tools; while I might find some gains in new tools, I also tend to spend a lot of time tinkering with them. I internally consider this a mild form of entertainment as a way to justify it, but it’s likely not worth the time I put in. Two other big ones stand out, and I have opposing stances on them.Time ...

Is the meta work worth it? One of the big challenges of productivity is determining what meta work (the work around your work) is worth your time. For me, a big one is playing with productivity tools; while I might find some gains in new tools, I also tend to spend a lot of time tinkering with them. I internally consider this a mild form of entertainment as a way to justify it, but it’s likely not worth the time I put in. Two other big ones stand out, and I have opposing stances on them.Time ...

Define the problem It’s always good to be able to solve a problem, but it’s often far better to help make the problem crystal clear before you try to solve it. I was recently watching the excellent movie “Moneyball”, and this scene shows exactly what I’m talking about: The scouts are all trying to solve the problem and “we all understand what the problem is”, but they’re all on very different pages. As Dan Roam said (via “The Personal MBA“):“Whoever best describes the problem is the one most ...

Define the problem It’s always good to be able to solve a problem, but it’s often far better to help make the problem crystal clear before you try to solve it. I was recently watching the excellent movie “Moneyball”, and this scene shows exactly what I’m talking about: The scouts are all trying to solve the problem and “we all understand what the problem is”, but they’re all on very different pages. As Dan Roam said (via “The Personal MBA“):“Whoever best describes the problem is the one most ...

The balance between lift and attribution I’ve shared a few times on here how precise attribution of online activities is becoming more and more difficult to track. It feels like companies are collecting every bit of information that they can about us, which is true, but it’s becoming trickier to put all of the pieces together. Ad blockers and cookie policies are a big reason why, but there’s also just the fact that so many marketing activities simply aren’t done in ways that are trackable (pr...

The balance between lift and attribution I’ve shared a few times on here how precise attribution of online activities is becoming more and more difficult to track. It feels like companies are collecting every bit of information that they can about us, which is true, but it’s becoming trickier to put all of the pieces together. Ad blockers and cookie policies are a big reason why, but there’s also just the fact that so many marketing activities simply aren’t done in ways that are trackable (pr...