Sometimes, we fall just short of a goal. We make $950 from a product launch when we hoped to make $1,000. We run that mile in 6:05 when we wanted to run it under 6:00. Or we read 50 books instead of the 52 we hoped to read this year. That’s what scientists would define […]
That’s your speaker list?
Tell me if this is familiar: you hear about a hot new tech/entrepreneurship/marketing/business conference being promoted around the web. You click through to check out the marketing site and see if it might be the kind of event you’d be interested in attending. The overall message resonates, so you head to the speakers page. Thirteen […]
Permission vs Submission
When I’ve never been to your website before, and you display a popup subscription box in the first 30 seconds, how does that affect my perception of you? How about when you make me click a button that says, “No thanks, I don’t want to improve my life,” just to avoid having to enter my […]
Every 42 Minutes
What’s the marginal value of that next article you’re about to schedule in Buffer? Will it matter to the people who care enough to listen to what you have to say? Did you even read it? Here’s the truth: I don’t trust you more because you tweet article links every 42 minutes. There’s no scoreboard. […]
Just One Project
Even if you think you’ll never be an entrepreneur, every single person should build some kind of side project. And it should happen sooner than later (later’s never promised). Maybe it’s showing your art at a friend’s gallery on an unbooked Tuesday evening. Maybe it’s a novel you write and print 25 copies to give […]
Logic & Story
The most effective way to get people to take action is to appeal to their emotional side – their heart – and create urgency at the same time. As The Atlantic so poignantly reveals, all too often, we’re convinced to give to a cause that does not make the most effective use of our next […]
Effective Altruism
What if you focused intently on earning as much money as humanly possible in the next five years? How much could you earn? How would that feel? Here’s a very different question that sounds quite similar: What if you spent the next five years focused on earning as much as humanly possible so that you […]
You Have Something to Say
Daily writing. Those two words are threatening. You say them, and people (like me) think, “Daily? Writing? There’s no way I could make that happen. Besides, I don’t want to be an author. Why would I write daily?” And so the internal conversation goes until we’ve sufficiently reasoned our way out of the value of […]
What Will You Do When It’s Your Turn?
Andre Iguodala won the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player award for the 2015 Finals. If you’re not a basketball fan, that probably means nothing to you, but stick with me. Iguodala has been in the NBA for 11 years, playing as a starter every season he’s been in the league… except for this season. Steve […]
My Number One Productivity Trick
Get enough sleep. Sorry, were you expecting something else? I will admit, it’s a bit easier said than done. After all, to get enough sleep, I also have to: Avoid drinking coffee after noon, and no more than 3 cups at that Exercise, otherwise I’m restless and unsettled Get up and move throughout the day […]