Reading Time: < 1 min It can be hard to separate the two, particularly when it’s something big that happens to us personally, but anecdotes are not the same as real evidence. We seem to be in the midst of that right now with COVID vaccines, but it’s hard to see while we’re still in the middle of it. Going […]
Learning
Don’t have all of the answers; have all of the questions
Reading Time: < 1 min At the end of most episodes of Seth Godin’s Akimbo podcast, they run an ad for the altMBA that includes a great line from T.K. Coleman that includes the quip that “there is no great thought leader who can outthink the internet“. While I personally work hard to have many answers available in my head, […]
Knowing versus understanding
Reading Time: < 1 min As time goes on, I’m getting better about knowing more and more (thanks to tools like Anki). However, “knowing” and “understanding” are two very different things, and I need to make sure I’m getting enough of the latter. Aytekin Tank wrote a great post about this last year, best summarized by a quote he shared […]
Don’t face the blank page
Reading Time: 2 min I’ve published a blog post for over 300 days in a row now, but I’ve got to admit something; sitting in front of a blank page is a killer for me. If the page is blank, so is my mind. The solution is pretty easy, though — I don’t sit in front of a blank […]
You don’t have to have all of the answers if you’re willing to learn
Reading Time: < 1 min It’s tempting to try to have the answer for every question, and it’s admittedly something I fall into myself. It’s kind of like the idea of “proving versus improving“, and trying to be an expert on everything. You don’t need to try to do that. It can take a degree of humility to know you […]
Proving versus improving
Reading Time: < 1 min There are two types of people in the world: those that set out to prove their competence, and those that work to improve their competence. A great example was Donald Trump. He was clearly a smart enough man to get elected, but he very much focused on proving how smart he thought he was, rather […]
Remembering what I wrote
Reading Time: < 1 min A challenge with blogging every day is that it’s hard to remember everything that I’ve said. While the main goal is to help sharpen my thinking in broad strokes, remembering some of the details I share can be a useful thing and I’ve been finding it somewhat elusive. The issue is similar to my “who […]
Who is that person we had lunch with last month?
Reading Time: < 1 min I’ve mentioned before that I’m a very dedicated user of the Anki app. It helps me learn and remember a lot of things, and it’s something I spent at least a bit of time with every day. Like most things, though, it’s only as good as the information that you put into it. I’m pretty […]
Procrastination can be productive
Reading Time: < 1 min Productivity and procrastination are often direct opposites, but they can sometimes go hand-in-hand. This isn’t to say you should be slow on purpose, but sometimes letting your mind wander can help you unpack big problems. That’s true for me on this blog. Some posts are written immediately after I have the idea, and then are […]
I am now less wrong than I was before
Reading Time: < 1 min Being wrong about something often feels bad, but if you view it with the right lens it can be a great thing. I’ve mentioned Daniel Kahneman on here a few times, previously when he talked about using simple language when possible. I’ve also talked a good bit about Adam Grant, particularly in the past few […]