As part of my annual year-end review, I always take some time to write out my biggest lessons learned from the past year. I find that this helps them really sink in, fills me with a sense of gratitude and appreciation for everything I’ve experienced, and maybe even allows others to borrow some wisdom for…
I was very happy to receive an invitation to join Noah Kagan, influential online marketer and founder of Sumo Group, on his podcast. I’m officially on hiatus from interviews this year while I write my book, but I couldn’t say no. I remember back in 2012 when I first arrived in San Francisco to start…
In order to get where you’re going, you need to know where you came from. When it comes to learning, you need a way to measure your progress toward your goal. How will you know whether you learned it? How will you compare your performance before and after? What concretely will you be able to…
There is no perfect algorithm that will tell you how to maximize your time for the things you most care about. You need to rely on your intuition. You need self-awareness to know what is truly important and understand what is actually stopping you from getting something done. But this perspective is often missing because…
By Pranav Mutatkar Note from Tiago: these are the “5 stages” a recent student went through as part of my online course Building a Second Brain, in which I teach people how to create a system of personal knowledge management (known as a “Second Brain”) for themselves. 1. Holy crap, this could change everything. I’m going…
It is NOT easy OR cheap to “hire a VA.” But if done right, it is profoundly transformational not just for your daily workload but for your quality of life. I recently hosted a comprehensive, two-hour online workshop with the founder of Great Assistant, Tim Francis. Tim’s company is a three-part hydra: one part recruiting service, one part…
I recently joined Sam Barton on his podcast Talk of Today. We had a pretty wide-ranging discussion, covering where people go wrong when it comes to organizing their information, general thoughts about Twitter, the social platform responsible for this conversation, my life philosophy Servant Hedonism, a bit about trauma, and why I’m an arms-dealer for smart people. Listen on Stitcher or…
This is the first interview I’ve done that was recorded on video, with Nicholas McCay on his podcast Eclectic Spacewalk. Originally published on their Substack newsletter, you can also read the full transcript. Here’s the show notes: How growing up in a diverse cultural household shaped his worldview. (03:02) Reading and books were always a…
If you’ve been around here for a while, you know I’m a big fan of what I call “personal growth.” But you may have wondered, “What the heck IS personal growth?” I’ve honestly struggled to define it: It’s not religion, though it often has a spiritual flavor It’s not philosophy, although it can easily get…
I’m proud to announce my new book, The Heart is the Bottleneck. In this book, I explore and dissect a wide range of topics related to productivity and personal effectiveness. From note-taking and writing, to creativity and curation, to being a digital nomad and working with a virtual assistant. Tying together these topics is the…
I raised the tennis racket high above my head once again, the gloves on my hands failing to prevent the blisters already forming. My eyes were wide with fear as I struck the pillow before me with all my strength. I felt at the edge of control, at the edge of what I knew. The…
1. Entrepreneurship is hard because it requires someone with a strong command of reason, who is at the same time thoroughly unreasonable You have to be smart to be an entrepreneur, obviously. Modern businesses are complex, and you have to be able to reason effectively if you’re even going to understand how they function. But…
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