lessons-learned
It's incredibly powerful to get tasks, goals, priorities, and meetings out of your head and into a system you trust (which is the core tenet of David Allen's great Getting Things Done methodology). Otherwise, you spend significant energy and stress trying to manage the chaos without
management
Time Block Planning is a simple concept of using a calendar view to plan your day's priorities, including both meetings and other work you'll prioritize. Many people have written about it for a long time, and powerful in its simplicity to force prioritization, so you'
investing
The Acquired podcast is fascinating. I heard about them recently from a Cal Newport blog post about their growth, and I'm glad I found them. The Acquired podcast deep dives into the stories of companies, after doing a huge amount of research, so it gives you great broad
lessons-learned
I enjoy the idea of being organized and minimalist but accumulate clutter faster than I make the time to put it away. Here's some stuff I've found useful as I've tried to make my desk an effective working space. If you want to go
career
I've heard a few different ways to think about ways your career can progress that are valuable mental models. These models are helpful, whether you want to climb the ladder or if you want to be intentional at focusing on a certain stage. For example, when I was
miscellaneous
I was trying (and doing a poor job) to scrape ice off my driveway a few weeks ago using a snow shovel, when my wonderful neighbor came over to lend me his ice chopper. After thanking him, and using it a few times, I realized how ridiculous I must have
leadership
I was recently at a charity dinner (Wellspring Group was celebrating their 20th anniversary) and was chatting with someone about leadership models, and he mentioned the Predictable Success Leadership Styles, which I hadn't heard of before, but is such a powerful way to think about people's
lessons-learned
Here's a random, unsorted list of some useful things I've found/enjoyed in the last year or so: * Metal Book Darts (bookmarks that don't fall out) * Cal Newport's Time Block Planner is a great way to plan your day's priorities
career
When stepping into a new role, it's critical to understand critical is to understand the boundaries/priorities of your new role. It's ideal to determine this during the interview to find out if the focus of this role is something you're excited about. This
career
Some recommendations when you're searching for a new job: Phase 1: Determine What You Want To Do 1. Work through the Petal Exercise 2. Reach out to friends, neighbors, friends-of-friends, etc. to request short conversations to learn more about various career paths you could pursue (see Ramit Sethi&
career
Several months ago, a great mentor and friend of mine recommended I read the book Finding a Job You Can Love by Ralph Mattson and Arthur Miller (here's a page on Arthur Miller's site about the book). As part of his recommendation, he acknowledged that the
miscellaneous
For your personal security and privacy, here's what I recommend people prioritize (among the many things you can do to reduce your risk): 1. Focus on the Big Stuff: Focus on protecting your most valuable technology instead of getting overwhelmed -- your primary email address (where password reset