If you don't learn to manage your time, someone else will manage it for you. And that's not necessarily bad! Sometimes, it's nice to be a cog in the machine. But things will have to change if you decide you want to build your own machine.

If you never do anything bold in your life, it’s unlikely that you’ll do anything bold with that life.

The problem with being your own boss: you have to make the checklist AND complete the checklist.

Doing focused work is like meditating. This time is also practice for next time.

Garbage In, Garbage Out: it’s not just shorthand for coders. It can also explain your day. If you start with garbage (food, media, thoughts) you’ll probably finish that way, too.

Accomplishing a big project is like building a muscle. You won’t do it in a day, a week, or even a month. You'll do it in short bursts over a very long time. So, given a choice between pursuing consistency and pursuing competence, choose consistency. Competence will arrive on

I went to Iowa to talk to the student-athletes at Waldorf University about what sports can teach us about doing focused work that we can use when our sports careers are done. I learned that Forest City is way better than anyone knows. And that football players will be sleepy

It’s not empowering to tell people their failures aren't their fault. If we don't take ownership after our losses, we can't take credit after our wins.

I was listening to The All-In Podcast while cooking my supper Sunday when I heard Chamath Palihapitiya, talking about college value, say: "You could go to Iowa State. Or you could go to Harvard...we've fallen into the trap of saying that these highly credentialed schools that cost 60 or 70 or

American culture won’t be fixed until teachers make more than tech bros, but that won’t happen until we rearrange our values. And that’s our job--yours and mine. Culture doesn’t trickle down. It bubbles up.

The bad news: we live in a world short on courage and competence. The good news: it won't take much of either for you to rise above the crowd.

The way you act will change the way you think, not the other way around.

We only make changes when the status quo becomes too exhausting, too expensive, or too embarrassing.

The antidote to perfectionism is speed. Give yourself significantly less time to finish each task. Allow yourself no exceptions. Check back after three weeks.

Genius = Weirdness + Time

Nope, still don't want to watch that video on your phone.

Ball Boy keeps humming along. amazon.com/Ball-Boy-Paul-…

You may think you need to get your life in order before you start a creative project. It’s probably the other way around. Starting a creative project will get your life in order.

Self-starting should probably be called self-stopping. 1. Set an endpoint. (e.g. 12 minutes of focused work) 2. Honor that endpoint. (Stop at exactly 12 minutes) 3. Check in with how you feel. (Tired? Energized? Glad you sat down?) 4. Make a plan for tomorrow's session.