This is something my friend Patrick Rhone talked about often [http://www.thecramped.com/?s=commonplace] over at The Cramped (at least, before he went nonline [http://patrickrhone.com/2017/03/03/on-sabbatical/]). He linked to this very post in fact. And I love the idea, even if it is one I have not adopted myself. What is a commonplace book? Holiday explains it this way: > A commonplace book is a central resource or depository for ideas, quotes, anecdotes, observations and information you come…
Kent Hughes puts it well when he says, “You can never have a Christian mind without reading the Scriptures regularly because you cannot be profoundly influenced by that which you do not know.” This gets at the heart of the Christian discipline of study.
On the topic of habits, Jocelyn K. Glei makes the case for ensuring your have whitespace in your day (aka margin). She’s drawing from the design principle and applying it to every day life. > We need white space in our daily lives just as much as we need it in our designs because the concept carries over: If our lives are over-cluttered and over-booked, we can’t focus properly on anything. What’s more, this way of working actually shrinks our ability to think creatively. The older I get, the mo…
Things 3 is a masterful redesign of an already popular app. It's document style approach to managing tasks allows a lot of flexibility than many competing options do not provide.
This was a fun read (hat tip [https://efedorenko.com/reading/darwin-was-a-slacker-and-you-should-be-too] to my coworker, Eugene Federenko). The article covers the working habits of several well known thinkers from years past, and also digs in to the psychology and research that supports their tendencies. I came away from the post feeling like it was a page out of Deep Work. But it is good to remind ourselves of some of these truths. And I love it when I am able to read about people like Darwin…
Rands shares a good piece of advice for how to get value out of all interactions. At the base of his advice is that, although not all interactions with all people will benefit you directly, it’s still worth your time to make investments in others. He summarizes his advice this way: > Life isn’t short. It’s finite. As a leader with a finite set of minutes, it is your job to find the stories. They will teach you. He’s describing that idea that although he is not hiring for a position, it can sti…
Meditation is a crucial tool for the Christian life, giving us time to focus on Christ and his word
There are a couple of different coffee focused newsletters I’ve subscribed to over the years. The current one is from Roasty [https://www.roastycoffee.com], a site dedicated to the enjoyment of coffee and those who are passionate about it. The man behind it, Matt, describes it this way: > This website, however, I built because I love coffee, and I wanted to share that love of coffee with you and everyone else who shares my passion. Through this, we can all enjoy the glory of thoughtfully made,…