Have you ever had a friend text you that they were running late and felt a wave of relief wash over you? Or had someone cancel an appointment at the last minute and you thought, “Thank God. Now I have time for (insert task).”? That was you enjoying an unexpected dose of something glorious: slack. But slack doesn’t have to happen by accident. You can build slack into your schedule… Read More »Three Big Benefits of Slack
When tomorrow comes, your attention will go somewhere. It has to. And, as Chris Bailey put it in his book, Hyperfocus, “Attention without intention is wasted energy.”1 So you’d be wise to choose where your attention will go. If you don’t, other people will choose for you. (App designers and advertisers, mostly.) And if you’re anything like me, you make far better choices when you decide what to do in… Read More »Decide Tomorrow Tonight
I’ve just finished reading Garth Nix’s Abhorsen Trilogy – a superb fantasy series. To my surprise, as I was enjoying this epic saga, I discovered a powerful lesson about procrastination. WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD (I’ve tried not to give away much of the plot.) In the world of these books, the dead don’t always stay dead. They try desperately to return to life, often with the help of evil necromancers. But… Read More »The Book of the Dead
When I was a kid, my parents would sometimes admonish me for wasting my life in front of “the boob tube.” (Readers from certain generations know that means television.) I scoffed and continued watching reruns of The Simpsons. But a funny thing happens when you get older: You often realize that your parents were right. It’s usually much more fulfilling, more memorable, and more fun to actually do something. Doing… Read More »Doing is Greater than Watching