We went camping the weekend before last and managed to do so without injury. It turns out that slowing down to a sustainable, mindful pace and going with the right tools makes […]
Philosophy
What If Women Cared About Productivity?
Bear with me on this one. It’s an interwoven critique of productivity and sexual essentialism with constructive paradigm shifting on the side. Here’s what I’m asking you to do: Broaden your notions […]
Plastic Soup, Deformed Turtles, and Getting Over Ourselves
I saw the picture below yesterday and my heart sank. I found it here, and while the article was powerful in relation to what’s going on with the large plastic dumps on either […]
Why Waiting for Your Time to Be Great Leads to Failure
A whole train of passengers (individually brave enough) will be looted by a few highwaymen, simply because the latter can count on one another, while each passenger fears that if he makes […]
We Are What We Repeatedly Do
We are what we repeatedly do. -Aristotle I used to just think about this quote in the positive way, such as “if I continue to write, then I am a writer.” It’s […]
History, Luck, and Intention
Our lives are the product of history, luck, and intention. These three factors interplay so much that it can be impossible sometimes to tell which one is the force at play. The […]
Why Productivity Is Bunk
Editor’s note: I recorded this as a podcast for the Productive Flourishing podcast long after I originally published this post. I hope you enjoy it, and if you’d like to hear more […]
A Parable on Natural Beauty
Two trees sat in the forest one cool summer day. The pine looked at the oak and said: “All these years we’ve grown together and I’ve always been envious of you. Every […]
Know Thyself and Become More Productive
How productive have you been today? There are many ways you can answer that question – but there are two different perspectives to think about when you do. One perspective depends on […]
Screencast: Why Life Choices Are So Damn Hard to Make
Summary: Life choices are so hard to make because there’s a Gap between important questions and their answers are filled with things that can’t be quantified. To answer important life questions, you […]
When Selling Gets in the Way of Sharing
There has historically been a bias against money-makers among intellectuals. Being an academic, I inherited this bias without really thinking about it. It’s only recently that I began thinking about it again […]
What's the Difference Between Offline Friends and Online "Friends"?
This week’s Food for Thought: What’s the difference between offline friends and online “friends”? (If you answered that online friends are ones you made online, you get 10 Smartass points. Proceed directly […]
What Makes an Act Courageous?
This last week has been a bit strange on the writing front – I’ve mentally written a lot of posts, but I haven’t actually written them. Now we’ll just have to see […]
The Ship of Theseus and Personal Identity
What makes you you? Such a simple question is surprisingly hard to answer. (Tweet this.) The Ship of Theseus is a classical philosophical puzzle about personal identity. I’ll give the quick version. (Note: […]
Dirty Hands and Personal Development
Even though I was unable to post this or last Friday’s meditation, it’s still a goal of mine to write something that steps away from the standard topics on Productive Flourishing and […]
Failure Is an Opportunity
Failure is an opportunity. If you blame someone else there is no end to the blame. Therefore the Master fulfills her own obligations and corrects her own mistakes. She does what she […]
Don’t We Get to Choose What Words Mean?
Clay wrote a brilliant comment on my last post dissenting (somewhat) about the importance of words, roots, and their meaning. I started to write a comment in response but it became clear that […]
Replacing Passion With Vitality
Loren at Writing Power asked a question the other day that I’ve been thinking about a lot recently, since I’ve been thinking about metaphors and how language affects our thinking and behavior. […]