Apr 21, 2019 | Perpendicular Thinking, Reinvention, Routines, Strategy, Thinking Tools
“If you are considering a change, you are past the point where you should have made it.” Tyler Cowen, Economist When was the last time you did something for the first time? When was the last time you took a risk, or even diverged from your usual routine? Don’t feel...
Apr 14, 2019 | Personal Brand, Reinvention, Strategy
To quote the great urban philosopher Ice-T, “don’t hate the playa, hate the game.” Some people might not like to think that we are “products” that have “brands”, but wishing it away does not make it so. If I say the names “Justin Trudeau” or “Oprah Winfrey”, certain...
Mar 14, 2019 | Acceleration, Strategy, Thinking Tools
What maps, plans and Mike Tyson have in common Maps — whether mental ones or cartographic ones — give the illusion of accuracy. But, as the saying goes, the map is not the territory. Only by recognizing the limitations of these constructs can we use them effectively....
Feb 14, 2019 | Acceleration, Deep Work, Routines
Here’s a trick borrowed from pro athletes that you can incorporate to become more consistently excellent: have a ritual. You probably don’t watch much rugby, but if you’ve ever seen the New Zealand All-Blacks you no doubt were stunned by their pre-game ritual: the...
Feb 11, 2020 | Acceleration, Habits, Lifelong Learning, Productivity
Did you know that there is a Japanese word for buying books that you don’t read? This habit – one that I exhibit, sadly – is actually so universal that they created a term for it: 積ん読 or tsundoku. It combines the words “tsunde” (meaning “to stack things”),...
Jan 25, 2020 | Acceleration, Perpendicular Thinking, Thinking Tools
If there was a holy trinity of crucial 21st-century skills, I would personally nominate the following: lifelong learning, stillness (of mind as well as of body) and contrarian (or least critical) thinking. The first one is obvious and the second is becoming more so....
Aug 7, 2019 | Attention, Deep Work, Modern Life, Stillness, Thinking Tools
Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker” As a reaction to fast food (and its more modern incarnation, fast-casual ), a countermovement rose up a number years ago extolling the virtues of ‘ slow food ’. Since then, we’ve seen the emergence of slow fashion, slow...
Jul 24, 2018 | Perpendicular Thinking, Thinking Tools
Have you ever wondered why we take summer vacations? The practice is a relic of the agrarian economy and was meant to allow farmers’ children (a critical part of the workforce at the time) to pitch in during harvest season. Small family farming began to recede...
Jun 5, 2018 | Acceleration, Modern Life, Reinvention, Strategy
I’m sometimes called upon to give my take on so-called Mega Trends and ‘the Future’, and tonight I’ll be a giving a different version of that talk. Rather than forecasting the future, however, I’m going to discuss the long one you have in front of you. I’m going to...
Apr 19, 2018 | Acceleration, Magnificent Mistakes, News, Strategy
The recent incident where two African-American men were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks was a deplorable example of the explicit racism that young black men experience across almost every aspect of their lives. On the heels of the recent shooting in Sacramento of...
