Category: Work
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How High Have You Set Your Goal?
What are your ideals? What do you aspire for? Who do you look up to? Who lives a life you want to emulate? These questions are important because our concept of what’s possible drives the effort we apply to get there. If you had never heard a brain surgeon could open up a skull, remove…
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You should use a Bad Decision Journal
I think you should spend more time talking to yourself. No, really. For one thing, it’s one of the only places you can find intelligent conversation. For another thing, it is a really good way to slow down and escape self-destructive spirals. I’m describing what I fondly refer to as “Bad Decision Journals.” It’s just…
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How to Write a Resume With Little Experience
Fear of rejection. Fear of interviews. Fear of change. There’s a lot of reasons writing resumes and job searching is terrifying for most people, especially early in their career. I have spent a lot of time interviewing, being interviewed, and workshopping resumes for many people in my network, so I hope the guidance below can…
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Put First Things First. The Unwatered Plants of Your Life Can’t Grow.
The strongest signal for “this book is telling me something I really need to learn” is kind of like when your pet poops somewhere they’re not supposed to. I literally feel like the book is taking my nose and rubbing it in my shame, saying “No Matthew! Bad Matthew! Stop making self-destructive decisions on the…
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Everyone Is Just Trying to Feel Okay, Limited by the Tools They Have Learned
This is a life hack to deal with people who piss you off. Let’s take for example someone who goes off the rails during a meeting. They attack others unfairly, chew people out, and make everyone else less productive. You could say they are a bad person if you want to. You could say they…
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Some Goals Get Easier When You Overshoot
Have you heard the fable of the old man who wished his creaky little house was quieter? He was advised to get a chicken, horse, and cow, and let them live inside his house for a week. It was insufferably chaotic for a week, but then after they left the house seemed silent in comparison.…
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Pain Doesn’t Mean You’re Broken, It Means It’s Time for a Change
Most people’s dissatisfactions with life are evergreen. Your weight, relationship, career, mental health, and family issues aren’t things you can fix once and never worry about again. They’re more like changing the oil in your car or taking out the trash. Kind of annoying but inseparable parts of the human experience. The rent we pay…
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Small Steps Forward Every Day = Reliable Dopamine. Don’t Wait for the Finish Line.
Have you ever had a goal where you thought “my life will be so much better if I can just cross this one finish line”? That’s pinning a lot of hope on something you can’t always control. That’s assuming life is inadequate until some arbitrary box is checked. That kind of finish line moves as…
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How to Build Momentum: Make Small Promises to Yourself and Keep Them
Are you upset that you keep missing goals you set for yourself? Are you angry that you keep repeating the same mistakes? Me too. That is basically breaking promises you made to yourself. It erodes self-worth, it makes you hate yourself, and it paints a damning picture of the future. If you break enough promises…
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What Are You Optimizing On?
Have you met someone that was super career focused before? They worked tons of hours, gave up their social life, and sacrificed their health, all for a promotion or fancy title? They were optimizing on their career. If they are lucky, their employer recognized them for it. But by focusing so much on one area…
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The Dangers of Staying Too Long in the Wrong Job
Switching jobs is kind of like a bad breakup. Things aren’t great but you’re comfortable. Your friends talk about all the nice things their new boss does for them, how excited they are about the future, how appreciated they feel. Then you look back at your job. Your boss hasn’t said thank you the last…
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Productivity Maxim: Small Is Easy, Easy Is Consistent, Consistency Is Everything
The problem with big goals is that they’re foggy. Knowing where to start is hard. Seeing progress is hard. Finishing them is even harder. Do you have big projects like writing a book or losing 50 pounds or changing career fields that you’ve been meaning to start for months or years? Do they feel overwhelming…
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It’s Not Scary Because It’s Hard, It’s Scary Because It’s Unfamiliar. Learn the Difference.
Some things are scary because they are hard. Finishing a giant project in one night and running from a grizzly bear are examples. Fear in those situations makes sense, and it is a totally justifiable response. We know that there is difficulty, risk, or danger and we understand the worst case scenario. But some things…
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Play Games You Can Win
I think maybe you’re putting off some of your goals because they are scary or intimidating. You feel like you’ll fail so you don’t want to start. Can I tell you my strategy? I play games I can win. That doesn’t mean I only do easy things in my comfort zone, but anytime I notice…
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How Stop Being a Perfectionist and Reduce Work Stress
Being a perfectionist early in your career is exhausting. You’re scared you’ll get fired if you mess up, you have too much to do in too little time, and it feels like nothing is ever good enough. It sounds trite, but here’s the solution that’s helped me the most: “Show off your shit.” When Perfectionism…
Millennial Anxiety 