20 Quotes from Building a Second Brain by Tiago ForteForte provides a helpful organizational method for organizing notes and other information. January 17, 2023 Tiago Forte book notes Read more

20 Quotes from Hyperfocus by Chris BaileyAnother book in the productivity sphere that argues for the importantance of intentional focus for creatives and knowledge workers. His twofold argument for hyperfocus and scatterfocus is helpful as you think about your own work. January 16, 2023 Chris Bailey book quotes Read more

The Myth of the Breaking News CycleFrom Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky.

The whole concept of breaking news runs on a very potent myth…You need to know what’s going on around the world, and you need to know now. Smart people follow the news. Responsible people follow the news. Grown-ups follow the news. Don’t they? We’ve got some breaking news of our own…You don’t need to follow the daily news. True breaking news will find you, and the rest isn’t urgent or just doesn’t matter.

January 9, 2023 make time quote Read more

3 Steps To Overcome the Lack of MotivationI'm the first one to raise my hand at this. Far too often, I feel unmotivated, but the reality is that I need clarity on what I'm going to be doing. Awareness is key. When I know that my motivation is frequently due to the lack of clarity, I can take action to make the task clear. January 6, 2023 motivation clarity Read more

20 Quotes from Atomic Habits by James ClearIf you’re anything like me you want to build better habits into your daily life. I want to read more, eat better, be more mindful and so forth. Too often I have grand plans and quickly fall off the wagon. Atomic Habits reminds us to start simple by making it obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying. January 5, 2023 habits James Clear book quotes Read more

16 Quotes from Digital Minimalism by Cal NewportEach book that I've read by Cal Newport has changed my life in deep, sustained, and long-term ways. Often his philosophies take root and sprout changes months after reading his books. Digital Minimalism is no exception. December 30, 2022 Cal Newport book quotes Read more

12 Quotes from The Revenge of Analog by David SaxDigital is not always the sweet fantasy that we think it is. Analog tools, with their limitations, actually enhance our experience with whatever activity we are doing with them. There are tradeoffs but there are also tradeoffs when it comes to digital that we oftentimes don't see. December 23, 2022 analog David Sax book quotes Read more

Grit and Deliberate Practice When Learning AnythingGrit coupled with deliberate practice will help you attain your learning goals on any topic. Angela Duckworth has four helpful tips when it comes to the topic of grit. December 19, 2022 study habits grit Read more

Recognize Busyness and Focus on the EssentialsBusyness is a clear indicator to me that I am not focused, projects are likely falling through the cracks, and my commitments are hanging by a thread. Often I do not notice that I’m in this “busyness” state, so I’ve implemented three ways to help me stay on track. December 16, 2022 busyness productivity Read more

7 Ways I Have Been Reading More Books Per MonthIn the last couple of months, I've dedicated more time to reading for fun. During these past 45 days of making this commitment, I’ve noticed that my mind is much more active. I’m thinking about new ideas, creating mental pictures of the different stories I’m reading, and learning from characters in both the good and the bad. Here I outline seven different ways I've been able to read more in my day-to-day life. December 14, 2022 reading goals Read more

15 Quotes from Do Nothing by Celeste HeadleeDo Nothing by Celeste Headlee is an interesting book on "productivity" where it combines a critique of the capitalistic nature of our productivity (focusing on the history of labor) while also arguing for doing less. I'm sure some people won't resonate but overall I found the book helpful in many ways, especially the call to look at your production rather than your productivity. Oftentimes its easy to get bogged down in doing things better without actually producing anything of value. December 12, 2022 book quotes Celeste Headlee Read more

Leadership is a Relational EnterpriseI love this quote on leadership from Dan Allender:

"Leadership is not about problems and decisions; it is a profoundly relational enterprise that seeks to motivate people toward a vision that will require significant change and risk on everyone's part. Decisions are simply the doors that leaders, as well as followers, walk through to get to the land to where redemption is found." - Dan Allender in Leading with a Limp

December 9, 2022 quote Dan Allender leadership Read more

20 Quotes from Discipline is Destiny by Ryan HollidayDiscipline is Destiny is one of my favorite books I've read in 2022 (along Burkeman's excellent, Four Thousand Weeks. Ryan Holliday is an excellent writer and highly quotable. Self-discipline is so essential and encompasses so much of our lives. December 8, 2022 book quotes Ryan Holiday Read more

Vision and IsolationOne thing I try to remember when working out a vision for a new initiative, project, or even just small changes:

"A vision birthed in isolation is a vision that dies in isolation" - Justin Irving

December 6, 2022 quote leadership Justin Irving Read more

Quote: The Exploitative Nature of Social Media on Our Attention

"Social media is about the exploitative extraction of people's attention and information to try to grab that value and ossify into stock price for a very small number of stock holders. Social media is about how do we get you captured in our ecosystem and spending way more time than you know is useful or you know, is healthy looking at the screen, swiping these things, taking time away from things that are more valuable. Why? Because we can get a little bit more value out of your time and you have less time with your kids, you're not get in shape. You spend less time pursuing hobbies, they're useful to you if you spend less time in self reflection and the contemplative arts are gonna give you a resilient foundation for like you're doing all of that a lot less. But you know what, we had this Instagram endless feed calibrated just right, that you can't help scrolling and looking a little bit more. It's 50 extra cents of value we got out of you this afternoon. That's what I dislike. I think that is a corruption of the democratic potential of the internet. And I think it's something that we can be very wary of while still embracing the bulk of what makes the internet so great." - Cal Newport

March 22, 2022 quote social media Cal Newport Read more