1pm on Monday, August 17th, 2020 – Marblemount Ranger Station Ranger: What campsite should the permit include for tonight? Me: Can we do Cat Island? Ranger: Are you sure? That is like a 20 mile paddle in and its already 1pm? Me: I was actually going to run up Ruby Mountain before even getting on the water. It’s probably going to be a late night. Ranger: (With a confused look on his face) If you say so. How about the second night? Me: Hozomeen Camp Ranger: Hozomeen? I’m not sure that is even open this year. Let me check.. <5 minutes later> Ranger: Ok, you’re allowed to go there. The bathrooms are supposedly open, but since the Canadian border is closed, so there is no road in and no one else is up there. How about the third night? Me: Tapto lakes Ranger: How are you going to get all
I believe that through focused effort I can keep improving and ensure my best years are still in front of me. I also believe that proper rest is critical to long term success. Back in the two-thousand aughts I borrowed a silly idea from a three thousand year old book. It was that I should periodically take time off of my primary work to recharge, refocus and rest. Many things have changed in the last three thousand years, but a surprising number haven’t changed much. Perhaps in abandoning the old ways, we lost something that was still beneficial. Maybe even necessary. So in 2017, after six years of working in a fast paced startup, I took a year of rest. That was a learning experience that challenged me in ways I didn’t expect. After a six month break from working I decided to go back to work, but with an
Better every year. That is my goal. I believe that through focused effort I can keep improving and ensure my best years are still in front of me. With that in mind, at the start of a new year, I take the time to set my focus for the coming year. By being selective about where I direct my energy, I can achieve results that are exponentially greater than if I split my attention. More details about the process are in this blog post and you can review the results from past years here. 2024 Theme: Movements Self Grade: 10/10 I read a few books about the topic to help inform my thinking and ideas I put into practice. Evolution of Everything – DONE Made to Stick – DONE Nudge – DONE The Holy Sh!t Moment – DONE Forces for Good by Leslie R. Crutchfield – DONE Change: How to Make
Better every year. That is my goal. I believe that through focused effort I can keep improving and ensure my best years are still in front of me. With that in mind, at the start of a new year, I take the time to set my focus for the coming year. By being selective about where I direct my energy, I can achieve results that are exponentially greater than if I split my attention. More details about the process are in this blog post and you can review the results from past years here. 2024 Theme: Movements I’ve made a bit of progress here: Evolution of Everything – DONE Made to Stick – DONE Nudge – DONE The Holy Sh!t Moment – DONE Forces for Good by Leslie R. Crutchfield – DONE Change: How to Make Big Things Happen – very obviously relevant – IN PROGRESS (via audio) The Rise and
This post is the first in a new series where I talk about technologies and make guesses about how they’ll deliver value in the future. I’ve actually been doing this privately for a few years now and recently decided I should share my thoughts publicly, as I’ll surely learn more that way – both from the responses as well as from the extra thought I’ll put into it before I hit publish. One of my goals in life is to be a great technologist – an expert at identifying technology that can deliver value to consumers and businesses. A lot of people try to be great technologist, but many of them miss. Sometimes it is poor understanding the technology, sometimes it is delusion or denial, sometimes it is lack of execution. I hope this blog series will help me with the former two. With the hope of improving over time
Better every year. That is my goal. I believe that through focused effort I can keep improving and ensure my best years are still in front of me. With that in mind, at the start of a new year, I take the time to set my focus for the coming year. By being selective about where I direct my energy, I can achieve results that are exponentially greater than if I split my attention. More details about the process are in this blog post and you can review the results from past years here. 2024 Theme: Movements I’ve made a bit of progress here: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany – IN PROGRESS (via audio) Evolution of Everything – DONE Change: How to Make Big Things Happen – very obviously relevant – IN PROGRESS (via audio) “How Change Happens” by Leslie R. Crutchfield
Better every year. That is my goal. I believe that through focused effort I can keep improving and ensure my best years are still in front of me. With that in mind, at the start of a new year, I take the time to set my focus for the coming year. By being selective about where I direct my energy, I can achieve results that are exponentially greater than if I split my attention. More details about the process are in this blog post and you can review the results from past years here. 2024 Theme: Movements I’ve made a bit of progress here, I had ChatGPT make me a nice list of movements and books about them and have been making my way down the list. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany – I started it last year when it popped into
Better every year. That is my goal. I believe that through focused effort I can keep improving and ensure my best years are still in front of me. With that in mind, at the start of a new year, I take the time to set my focus for the coming year. By being selective about where I direct my energy, I can achieve results that are exponentially greater than if I split my attention. More details about the process are in this blog post and you can review the results from past years here. 2024 Theme: Movements This is the final year of my current sabbath cycle, a six year period where I am focused on preparing for my calling. I actually said that last year was the final full year of the current cycle too, but have decided to shift my schedule back by six months so the sabbath
Better every year. That is my goal. I believe that through focused effort I can keep improving and ensure my best years are still in front of me. With that in mind, at the start of a new year, I take the time to set my focus for the coming year. By being selective about where I direct my energy, I can achieve results that are exponentially greater than if I split my attention. In 2023 I set out to learn about Strategy. You can read more about my intent here. 2023 Theme: Strategy Self Grade: 10/10 I identified the following books as great places to learn about strategy and was able to make some solid progress. Good Strategy Bad Strategy (DONE) Blue Ocean Strategy (DONE) The Crux (DONE) The Art of Strategy (DONE) On grand strategy (IN PROGRESS) HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Strategy (IN PROGRESS) Playing to Win
In 2023 I set my theme as ‘strategy’. Last January, when I selected it, I wrote: “My goal this year will be to learn more about strategy, to figure out what the common patterns are, how to improve them in myself, and how to be a skilled strategist.” This blog post serves as a summary of what I read and what I learned. What I Read I identified the following books as good ones on the topic and I was able to read through the first four and get about half way through two others. I’ll likely just finish those up in the coming weeks before I transition into reading for my theme for 2024. Good Strategy Bad Strategy (DONE) Blue Ocean Strategy (DONE) The Crux (DONE) The Art of Strategy (DONE) On grand strategy (IN PROGRESS) HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Strategy (IN PROGRESS) Playing to Win Understanding Michael