It’s taken a lot of years to improve on this, but I’m finally learning to turn to God as a first option more frequently. So often, when there is some kind of problem in my life, I would react and attempt to use my skills and resources to solve it. Some times this is enough; many times it is not. God has helped me change my thinking over the past couple of years. And truth be told, the more common scenario is not dealing with an actual problem, but the potential for a problem (for when something…
One the topic of owning your own website, Sara Soueidan spends a few minutes sharing how important it is to simply write and put your thoughts out in the world. It’s good for you, but can also be good for others: > Even if only one person learns something from your article, you’ll feel great, and that you’ve contributed — even if just a little bit — to this amazing community that we’re all constantly learning from. And if no one reads your article, then that’s also okay. That voice telling you…
This is outdated now. It wasn't too long after writing this that tools like Roam Research and Obsidian came to the forefront of my time and attention. I now use Obsidian for all my personal knowledge management. Regular readers will know that I’ve been focused a lot this past year on a couple of ideas. Namely, the Zettelkasten method and the idea of having a digital “second brain”. Those are names other people have given the concept, but it’s simply about making the most from what we read and…
I missed this earlier in the fall, but Robin Sloan shared his impressions of the reboot of Fortnite when Epic Games launched Chapter 2. What caught his attention? The look, the feel, the atmosphere of it. > Now, the island has grown up. A few landmarks remain, planted in new locations like scattered seeds, but the terrain is totally different, and it’s the terrain that is the star. The new island’s geography is softer, more natural. Mountains flow into moraine. Hills flatten into meadows. Draws…
I’m working a little over the holidays, but my big focus for the past several weeks was put out into the world this past week. A super small team-within-a-team at Wildbit launched People First Jobs [https://peoplefirstjobs.com]. What is it? Essentially, it’s a new kind of job board — one that is focused on helping people find jobs with companies that take a balanced approach to work. A backlash against the valley mentality and always-on hustle has been in full swing for a while. While there ar…
Jason Kottke shares some ideas I have to preach to myself each year. He talks about how he experienced depression last two winters and what’s been helping so far this year. But this quote he shared from Matt Thomas nailed for me: > Fall is a time to write for me as well, but it also means welcoming — rather than fighting against — the shorter days, the football games, the decorative gourds. Productivity writer Nicholas Bate’s seven fall basics are more sleep, more reading, more hiking, more re…
Eugene Federenko, my colleague from Wildbit and someone I admire very much, had his 15th anniversary with the company this week. That’s a crazy number in our current times. He took the time to share a few thoughts about the idea and it’s a great read. On what makes Wildbit such a great place: > 15 years in the same company is rare, but tech companies that old are unicorns by themselves. Unlike traditional businesses, most of them come and go with a new wave of hype. Wildbit is product agnostic…
When working on a new idea, the hardest part for me is figuring out a name and how to talk about the idea overall. Even when the idea is solid and there is interest or demand for it, even when I can articulate the problem it will solve, I often struggle to find a name. Perhaps it’s an aspect of launching projects where you believe you truly have to nail it. After all, changing the name of a product (any type of product) down the road can be a very hard endeavour. So you approach the name as if…