Personal growth

Crazy Wisdom Podcast, with Stewart Alsop III

In this interview, I spoke with Stewart Alsop III on his Crazy Wisdom podcast about how to build a second brain using technology. We got deep into how technology is impacting our ability to learn, for good and for ill. Visit the episode webpage or listen below:

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The Story Behind Building a Second Brain

I first started taking notes on a computer at the age of 22, when I came down with a mysterious illness in college. The pain was inconsistent, varying a lot from day to day. At first I thought it was a temporary thing, that it would soon go away. But it grew steadily worse, over…

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Real Magick Deconstructed (Interview with Chloe Good)

A few months ago I was wasting time on Twitter as usual, and came across a tweet by an online acquaintance referring to “magick.” I figured it was a typo, and messaged him to find out more. That was the beginning of my introduction to the mysterious, strange, paradoxical world of “real magick.” This isn’t…

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How Emotions Are Made: The Theory of Constructed Emotion

This post now available in German. The Theory of Constructed Emotion offers a radical new take on what emotions are, where they come from, and how they shape our lives. Presented by psychology professor and neuroscientist Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett in her best-selling book How Emotions Are Made (affiliate link), it also contradicts many of…

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Interview with Toby Sola, Co-Founder of Brightmind

This is a conversation and interview with Toby Sola, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Brightmind, a meditation app that expands the boundaries of human potential through tailored meditation instruction. We discuss topics such as: The intersection and fusion of monastic and entrepreneurial cultures How Toby stays focused and motivated building a technology product designed…

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A Vision for Escola Pura

At the end of every year I perform an “annual review.” It includes a series of exercises and questions designed to close out the previous year and help me plan for the new one. I decided to do it differently this year. Under the guidance of my friend Ting, I took on a process of…

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A Maker’s Ethos in the Era of Networked Attention

Once upon a time, we faced the scourge of Information Overload. Too many emails with too many details producing too many open loops to keep track of. But now we have a new challenge: the Information Apocalypse. Not only is there far too much information to consume or manage, much of that information has now…

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Emergent Strategy: Organizing for Social Justice

When I moved from San Francisco to Oakland in 2014, I was just trying to pay cheaper rent. I never expected to be influenced by the movements that flow through Oakland’s veins: the movements for social justice, for environmental justice, and for black liberation. I’ve since had the privilege of working with some of the…

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The Personal Narrative Vision

In my previous article on how I perform my Annual Review, I briefly discussed the Personal Narrative Vision (PNV) exercise. I’ve developed the PNV by drawing on many other visualization exercises I’ve encountered over the years, synthesizing them into a simple yet profound writing exercise. The PNV is one of the most important but also…

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The 5 Challenges of Becoming a Digital Nomad

In Part 1 of the Going Nomad series, I explained why my partner Lauren and I are moving to Mexico at the end of the year. In Part 2, I’ll tell you what I see as our top five challenges in making the transition to remote work. These challenges seem to be fairly common for…

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