What 18 Years of Annual Reviews Taught Me: A Live Q&A
I went live to answer your questions about my new book, Life in Perspective. Here are my best answers in writing, plus the full replay.
Self-tracking
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The History Beneath My Feet: Two Years in Valle de Bravo
I’ve been living with my family in a Mexican mountain town called Valle de Bravo for almost two years now, and I’ve found it to be one of the most special, unique places I’ve ever spent any length of time. The natural environment, the culture, the people, and the perspectives it offers have taught me…
Groundbreakers 2: Seeking the Heart of Fear
Six years ago, I attended a week-long course in Northern California called Groundbreakers. Facilitated by Joe Hudson and his wife, Tara, it was one of the most impactful experiences of my life. The experience I had there reshaped my relationship with the “voice in my head,” that is, with my own inner monologue. It helped…
My 2025 Annual Review
At the start of 2025, I dubbed this “The Year of Profitability,” and now that it’s come to a close, I can say we successfully fulfilled that intention. We ended the year with 2.15M in gross revenue, and $650,000 in net profit, for a 30% gross margin. That’s our second-best year ever as a business!…
The Book I’ve Been Waiting to Write for 15 Years
I’m incredibly proud to share news that’s been two years in the making: my next book is coming on November 3, 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,…
What I’ve Learned From 20 Years of Goal-Setting
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…
The Voice-Only Mid-Year Review: Testing the Limits of ChatGPT Voice Mode
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…
A Brief History of the Annual Review
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…
Finding Perspective at the Edge of the World: 10 Days in Antarctica
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…
Mushroom Trip: My First Experience with Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy
I’ve noticed that psychedelic medicine has been on the rise in California and other parts of the U.S. over the last few years, and have heard reports from a handful of friends and acquaintances about the incredible results they’ve had from ketamine, MDMA, and psilocybin. In our new home of Valle de Bravo, Mexico, I’ve…
Introducing Death Clock (And My First Experience with Vibecoding)
I’m proud to introduce Death Clock, a life expectancy calculator that predicts the day of your death based on 17 personalized variables. Give it a try for free! This is not only the first “app” I’ve ever created myself, but also my first experience with AI-assisted coding, which has become known as “vibecoding.” I can…
My 2024 Annual Review
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….