Sacrifice: What Lengths Are You Willing To Go To?
As some of you know – mainly those of you who get my exclusive weekly content on Fridays – I’ve invested a little bit of my work day into building an online gift shop. It’s an area I’ve always been interested in. So when I was presented with the opportunity to start learning the ins […]
Simplify: 9 Small Objects That Make a Huge Difference
Cooking is my jam. I enjoy the process of hanging out in the kitchen, building something to eat. Sometimes it takes a few minutes. Sometimes it takes an hour. Either way, I find myself in the kitchen at several points in the day: chopping, sauteing, baking, mixing, and (of course) cleaning. This wouldn’t be as […]
Optimization: When is perfect “too” perfect?
A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a cheap online course on how to build an e-commerce store with Shopify. The idea had always intrigued me, but I hadn’t pursued it because I didn’t want to lose a bunch of money, and I knew that it would be a significant commitment of time that I […]
Practicality: The One Principle to Remember When Goal Chasing
In the summer of 2009, I was at a crossroads. My business was not doing well. At all. In fact, it was the worst it had ever been to that point – over a year into freelancing full-time. My clients were drying up, and projects were few and far between. I went from making thousands […]
Overinformed, Part 1: The Fetishization of Success
Two nights ago (at the time of this writing), I was lying in bed at midnight, wide awake. My body wanted to sleep. I was craving it. Sleep was the only thing that I wanted to do in that moment. But instead of drifting off peacefully, I stared at the ceiling. I tossed and turned. I […]
How Thinking Like a Ronin Warrior Can Get You Back On Track
Centuries ago, there was a great honor associated with being a samurai warrior. You’ve already seen it in movies, and are familiar with the samurai in pop culture. But in Japan, samurai was serious business. It came with a code of honor that granted each warrior a certain amount of power and status among Japanese. […]
My 3 Favorite Features of the Kindle Paperwhite
Two years ago, my wife bought me an Amazon Kindle for Christmas. Of all the Christmas gifts I’ve received over the years, this is probably the one that has been used the most. Now called the “Kindle Keyboard”, the model I had was my first foray into the Kindle world, and I really enjoyed it. […]
Adjustments, Adapting, and Knowing How Your Energy Works
There’s something really invigorating about the cold. As I write this, it’s 7:15am on Monday morning. According to my phone, it is -2 degrees Fahrenheit outside right now. When I ran out a couple hours ago to somewhat-preheat my wife’s car before she left for work, it was -4. Baby, it’s cold outside. I had […]
The Romantic Idea versus Reality
I like to journal. It’s not something I do regularly enough, but I love reading about the day-to-day lives of the past. So I would imagine that what I’m writing and documenting might be interesting to someone in the future. Initially, I journaled in a nice notebook, one that was carefully chosen. I had dreams […]
The Pain of 254 Levels: Why I Quit Candy Crush
It all started out innocently enough. I was watching a movie at home with my wife, and she was in the middle of working on a cross-stitch. I, for some unknown reason, felt that I needed something to do with my hands. Usually in this situation, I whip out my phone and just putz around. […]