I’m incredibly proud to share news that’s been two years in the making: my next book is coming in Fall 2026! It’s called Life in Perspective, and it represents the culmination of a reflective practice I’ve been refining since 2008: the annual review. If you’ve read Building a Second Brain or The PARA Method, you…
In the summer of 2005, when I was 20 years old, I sat down and wrote one of my first personal goals: “Hold a position in the Associated Student Government of Saddleback College at start of Fall semester (August 22, 2005).” I had just dropped out of college on the East Coast after burning through…
My wife Lauren and I met at a co-working space in San Francisco in our mid-twenties. I was working an entry-level position at a creative consulting agency, at the bottom of the pyramid. Lauren was making $15/hour at an arts nonprofit, living rent-free with her aunt. We both saw no pathway to climb in our…
I recently set aside some time to do my mid-year review, a ritual I complete around July each year, and noticed that I felt some resistance to it. In fact, I realized that I’ve always somewhat resisted it. Since I’m currently writing a book on the subject, I decided to explore why. My first guess…
When I began writing my next book more than a year ago, on the topic of “annual life reviews,” I assumed that the practice was a fairly recent invention. Maybe it came from the self-help movement of the 1970s. Or from corporate performance reviews. At most, I figured it might trace back to Ben Franklin…
I lifted my eyes from the journal I was writing in on the balcony of my hotel room, just in time to witness a towering block of ice split in half, splintering along its length with a thundering crack. The iceberg it was part of shuddered, throwing off a shimmering coat of frost from its…
You discover something fascinating—maybe it’s vibe coding, sustainable investing, or sourdough baking. Your excitement builds as you imagine mastering this new skill. But then reality hits: Where do you even start? The internet offers endless tutorials, courses, and “ultimate guides.” Your bookmarks folder grows heavy with resources you’ll “definitely check out later.” Weeks pass, and…
I’ve suspected for years that the traditional concept of “goal-setting” was on its last legs. Every time I bring up “SMART goals,” I can see the light go out in my students’ eyes. An unmistakable feeling of dread and aversion fills the room, and the decline in energy and enthusiasm is palpable. They know they…
Tiago’s 2025 Projects, Questions, and Intentions I recently published my 2024 Year-In-Review looking back over the events and lessons from last year. Now it’s time to look forward – to the goals, plans, and intentions my team and I are committing to for 2025. The theme I’ve chosen for this year is The Year of…
As I write these words, I am crossing the Drake Passage, one of the most remote places on Earth. We are crossing from Ushuaia at the southern tip of South America to the spit of land known as the Antarctic Peninsula. It is a barren, featureless expanse that isn’t part of any continent or ocean….
17 years ago, at the age of 22, I uploaded my first YouTube video. My high school friend Derick and I had set up a digital camcorder, faced the camera with our backs to his bedroom wall, hit record, and just started talking about 3D printing, which was to be the first episode in a…
I’ve long believed that our choices about which projects to take on are among the most important decisions we make, and now I have evidence to back it up. In an article on the TED blog and a paper called The Methodology of Personal Projects Analysis, research professor Brian R. Little examines how the pursuit…