Essays

Among the 100+ essays I have written, I'm content with some, disappointed in others, and proud of a few. Fortunately, they do seem to be trending in the right direction.

The archive below contains all of the essays I have written over the years. They are arranged by date in reverse chronological order with my most recent pieces at the top.

Date Title
Mar 10, 2020 Predicting the Future in an Uncertain World
Mar 10, 2020 What We Talk About When We Talk About Rationality
Mar 3, 2020 What Does It Take to Live a Full Life?
Feb 24, 2020 The Three Levers of Productivity
Feb 18, 2020 The Difference Between Being Alone and Being Lonely
Feb 17, 2020 When Thinking Deeply Goes Wrong
Feb 11, 2020 Seeing the Invisible Strings That Shape Reality
Feb 10, 2020 Networked Reading and Thinking Like a Polymath
Feb 2, 2020 The Experience Paradox: Is Life a Game or a Drama?
Jan 27, 2020 How Your Thoughts Shape the World
Jan 26, 2020 Freedom Is the Opposite of Competition
Jan 20, 2020 The Case Against Seriousness
Jan 17, 2020 Everything You Do Can Be Explained by Two Things
Jan 14, 2020 The Danger and the Delusion of Empathy
Jan 13, 2020 Is Technology Harming Us or Liberating Us?
Jan 6, 2020 Beyond Insecurity: The Right Kind of Ambition
Dec 20, 2019 The Purpose of Life From a First Principle View
Dec 16, 2019 The Element That Gives Life Meaning
Dec 6, 2019 Meditation as Training
Nov 29, 2019 Being Rich Without Making Money Your Life
Nov 25, 2019 Beat the Competition Without Competing
Nov 22, 2019 Asynchronicity: The Invisible Force That Shapes You
Nov 18, 2019 Dare to Think: On the Futility of Advice
Nov 14, 2019 The Myth of Enlightenment
Nov 4, 2019 Mystery: The Greatest Advantage in a World of Noise
Nov 1, 2019 Taste: The Hidden Driver of Creative Genius
Oct 27, 2019 Your Identity Makes the World a Better Place
Oct 25, 2019 Novelty: The New Purpose of Life
Oct 20, 2019 Your Identity Makes the World a Worse Place
Oct 11, 2019 A World of Materialized Meaning
Oct 6, 2019 The Freedom of Status Independence
Oct 5, 2019 Is Happiness the Acceptance or Absence of Suffering?
Sept 29, 2019 The Most Important Skill in the 21st Century
Sept 27, 2019 The Problem With Habits
Sept 22, 2019 Human Relationships and Projecting Aliveness
Sept 19, 2019 Becoming a Healthy, Emotionally Mature Adult
Sept 15, 2019 Reading Is a Conversation
Sept 13, 2019 Why Don't Most People Reach Their Potential?
Sept 13, 2019 Why Don't Most People Reach Their Potential?
June 9, 2019 The Best Answer to Life's Questions
May 6, 2019 What Does It Mean to Be Great?
Apr 28, 2019 The Difference Between Wanting and Needing
Apr 21, 2019 The Meaning Paradox: Is Life About You or Others?
Feb 1, 2019 Synchronicity: Creating Your Own Luck
Jan 21, 2019 You Should Treat Life as a Work of Art
Jan 18, 2019 The Difference Between Knowledge and Wisdom
Jan 14, 2019 What Does It Mean to Be Spiritual? A Rational Answer
Dec 19, 2018 The Void and I: A Story About Everything
Nov 25, 2018 Why Playfulness Is More Important Than Ever
Nov 23, 2018 The Purpose of Life Is Right In Front of You
Nov 18, 2018 Isadora Duncan: Expressing Yourself
Nov 18, 2018 The Real Reason That People Get Lonely
Nov 12, 2018 The Process of Meaning-Making
Nov 4, 2018 Developing a Healthy Relationship to Technology
Nov 4, 2018 All Goals Are Problematic - Except One
Oct 29, 2018 Zeno of Citium: Being Stoic
Oct 28, 2018 The Truth Isn't What You Think It Is
Oct 21, 2018 Escaping the Two Foes of Happiness
Oct 20, 2018 The Two Types of Knowledge
Oct 14, 2018 The Relation Between Identity and Violence
Oct 12, 2018 You Are Not Who You Say You Are
Sept 29, 2018 Making a Dent in the Universe
Sept 23, 2018 David Hume: Balanced Skepticism
Sept 15, 2018 It's Not What You Know, It's How You Think
Sept 10, 2018 The Best Things in Life Are Byproducts
Aug 20, 2018 On Being Kind to People You Dislike
Aug 19, 2018 The Right Kind of Relationship
Aug 17, 2018 Dealing With the Mysterious
Aug 12, 2018 Claude Shannon: Attacking a Problem
Aug 6, 2018 The Synchronization of Being With Doing
Aug 4, 2018 What Does It Take to Bond With Someone?
July 29, 2018 The Life of Our Symbolic Self
July 27, 2018 The Identity Trap: Being Less Wrong
July 22, 2018 Isaac Asimov: Becoming Educated
July 20, 2018 The Work Required to Understand the Obvious
July 15, 2018 The Pillars of a Creative Life
July 13, 2018 The Simple Art of Not Being Miserable
July 9, 2018 What's the Purpose of Traveling?
July 8, 2018 Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness
June 24, 2018 Hannah Arendt: Building Knowledge
June 22, 2018 In Defense of Being Irrational
June 18, 2018 The Bullshit Stories We Tell Ourselves
June 15, 2018 The Most Important Skill Nobody Taught You
June 8, 2018 There Are Two Ways to Read — One Is Useless
June 3, 2018 Bob Dylan: Reinventing Yourself
May 31, 2018 Designing the Best Possible Future
May 13, 2018 The Transformation of Suffering
May 11, 2018 The Only Real Way to Acquire Wisdom
May 6, 2018 Walt Disney: Being an Artisan
Apr 27, 2018 The Subtle Art of Connecting With Anyone
Mar 4, 2018 A Strategy for Maximizing Agency
Mar 1, 2018 The Future Belongs to Polymaths
Feb 25, 2018 Pale Blue Dot
Feb 18, 2018 Leonardo da Vinci: Endless Curiosity
Feb 13, 2018 The Rules of Effectiveness
Feb 8, 2018 The Perils of Achievement
Jan 24, 2018 The Shaper Effect: Balancing Opposites
Jan 21, 2018 A Different View of Mindfulness
Jan 11, 2018 Be So Interesting You Can't Be Ignored
Jan 7, 2018 Ernest Hemingway: Deliberate Practice
Jan 4, 2018 Your Accomplishments Don't Matter
Dec 17, 2017 A Guide for Thriving in a Fast World
Dec 3, 2017 Seneca: Fighting Procrastination
Nov 26, 2017 The Principles for Creating a Good Life
Nov 23, 2017 The Underutilized Power of Questions
Nov 19, 2017 Aristotle: The Right Kind of Friendship
Nov 16, 2017 Getting Anything You Want
Nov 13, 2017 Bruce Lee: Thinking Independently
Nov 5, 2017 The Art of Successful Communication
Oct 29, 2017 The Idea of Work Is Wrong
Oct 24, 2017 Epictetus: Avoiding Misery
Oct 23, 2017 Friedrich Nietzsche: Finding Meaning
Oct 16, 2017 The Process Behind Breakout Results
Oct 2, 2017 Amelia Earhart: Defying Boundaries
Sept 25, 2017 The Key Forces That Shape Your Reality
Sept 18, 2017 The Art of Creating Purpose
Sept 11, 2017 Shakespeare: The Power of Imagination
Sept 4, 2017 The Power of Decision Frameworks
Aug 28, 2017 Life Is About Solving Hard Problems
Aug 10, 2017 The Purpose of Life Isn't to Be Happy
Aug 7, 2017 The Luckiest Man on Earth
July 24, 2017 The Principles of a Life Strategy
July 17, 2017 Teddy Roosevelt's Arena
July 10, 2017 Marcus Aurelius: Thinking Clearly
June 26, 2017 Stand Out in a Noisy World
June 18, 2017 Pablo Picasso: Harnessing Willpower
June 5, 2017 Steal Ideas from Other People
May 11, 2017 The Purpose of Life Is to Be a Nobody
May 8, 2017 Elon Musk: Sustaining Motivation
April 17, 2017 A Chess Player: Creating a Strategy
April 11, 2017 Succeed in Life Without Compromise
April 2, 2017 Enjoy Every Sandwich
March 26, 2017 J.K. Rowling: Dealing with Failure
March 12, 2017 The Art of Goal Achievement
February 24, 2017 Albert Einstein: Mastering Creativity
February 24, 2017 Design a Lucky Life