Recent Posts
Book Review: Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant
What's the key to being original, creative, and innovative? Why do minority viewpoints improve a company? How can we raise more original kids? All this and more in this book!
Why Write a Book? How Do You Meet Deadlines? And Other Answers
When is the right time to write a book? Why a book and not something else? How do you manage caregiving and writing? How do you stay motivated? And other answers!
Book Review: Leaving Academia: A Practical Guide by Christoper Caterine
As billed, practical advice for both grad students and faculty on transitioning from academia to the wide world beyond—though it does leave a few things to be desired.
Book Review: "So what Are You Going to Do with That?" Finding Careers Outside Academia by Susan Basalla and Maggie Debelius
A helpful book for anyone in the academy—grad student or faculty—who wants out!
Book Review: Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
Without external rewards and punishments, people wouldn't do much. Or would they? People are actually driven toward autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
Book Update #1: Drafts, Notes, and Editing the Manuscript
I'm writing a book about thriving in graduate school while keeping a healthy personal life. Curious about my progress? Here's where I'm at this month.
Book Review: Designing Your Life: How To Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans
How you can use a designer mindset and iterative improvement to build your way forward to a coherent, satisfying life.
Book review: Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity by Ray Bradbury
This essay collection includes tips on generating ideas, composing stories, the nature of writing work, and the importance of practice. Do you know how many words a day Bradbury wrote?
Book Deal Announcement: #PhDone
I'm writing a book! Specifically, a pragmatic, up-to-date guide to thriving in graduate school while keeping a healthy personal life. Here's the scoop.
Brainstorming: Are All Ideas Welcome? Why You Shouldn't Discount Ideas Before They're Explored
Why I consider all ideas—not just the "good" ones—and how doing so improves my work, helps me find unique solutions in arguments and software, and leads to counterintuitive insights.
Why I Left Full-Time Academia and What I Do Instead
A PhD doesn't mean you're stuck with a traditional academic career. Flexibility, family, freedom: Here's how and why I decided to take a different path.
How to Involve Kids in Modern Work
My 4-year-old son wants to help me work, but I write software—so how do I involve him? If I did physical labor or owned a farm, it'd be easy. But I sit at a keyboard. Here's what I'm trying.
How I Wrote 50,000 Words in Less Than Six Months (As a Parent Without Childcare!)
I write a lot—so how do I hit 50k words while also caring for my young children? Here's my secret. It hinges on one plain fact: The job of your first draft is to exist.
Bad Risk, Good Risk: Minimize Downsides and Maximize Upsides
Risk is to be avoided—right? Wrong! Some asymmetrical risks are good to take. Which ones? How can we minimize potential downsides while maximizing potential upsides?
A Strategy for Developing Antifragile Finances
How can you arrange your work and finances to not only be robust to unstable times and black swan events, but even thrive? Here are five ways to take advantage of uncertainty.
How I Manage Deadlines: 5 Ways to Keep Projects on Track
In college, I never pulled an all-nighter and often turned assignments in early. Here's how I did it—and how you can get better at managing projects, reduce stress, and never pull an all-nighter again.
Planning for Success: How Effort Makes Good Luck More Likely
Don't wait for success to happen to you. Make your own good luck—put in the elbow grease to make success more likely!
The Power of Waking Up Early: 9 Tips for Becoming an Early Riser
I default to being a night owl, but rising early enables me to do more and be better. Here's how I switched my mornings from lazy to productive.
Book Review: Live Not by Lies by Rod Dreher: A Manual for Christian Dissidents
This book argues that communist totalitarianism is coming to America, soon, and we have to prepare now if we're going to survive. But Dreher isn't nearly worried enough.
Book Review: The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation
This book presents a strategy for Christians living in a post-Christian nation: namely, that we've lost the culture war and need to focus on preserving the light.
Opting for Flexibility in Work
Self-employment enables me to achieve the work-life balance I want. Here's why I love the flexibility—and how you can get the same flexibility in your own life.