I read a story with a lesson for anyone who creates anything too helpful not to copy. As much as I didn’t want to copy something you can find elsewhere, I couldn’t stop myself. I hadn’t read it before so I hope it’s new to you. It’s from a book called Art and Fear on creating art, but you’ll find it useful for creating anything — products, beliefs, rules to[…] Keep reading →

Here’s an anecdote from a woman named Elle Luna: I was using Uber all the time in San Francisco, even though I hated the design. And then I went to the Crunchies awards ceremony and at a post-ceremony event, where I was in a ball gown, I saw the CEO of Uber, Travis Kalanick, sitting at the bar. I was three whiskeys deep at this point and I walked up[…] Keep reading →

Pick any great historical figure. We often regard them as unparalleled geniuses the likes of which we may never see again. On the other hand, they were human beings like us. They performed in some areas well beyond average. What if their abilities or traits weren’t once ever but once in a generation? It’s interesting to see what you conclude, as I’ll show. Then we’d expect to see others of[…] Keep reading →

People are emailing about my awesome new book everyone should read, ReModel: Create mental models to improve your life and lead simply and effectively. Several people said they found a concept in the Introduction particularly meaningful, creating enthusiasm to read the rest of the book. I communicated that concept twice, first writing: I’d rather you learned to create your own beliefs and forgot mine than didn’t learn the skill and[…] Keep reading →

An awesome side benefit of writing daily is that awesome people find you. Recently a guy wrote to tell me he liked my writing and invited me to participate in what seemed like a crazy project, but turned out to be one of the most awesome things I’ve done in New York City in a long time. And I’ve done a lot of awesome things in New York City. It’s[…] Keep reading →

Time I put a lot more time into making the graphs and writing the posts of the past week than usual — at least a couple full days just graphing before writing a word. Why Why did I put so much time in? Not because I didn’t have lots to do. Because people who saw early versions of the graphs told me it helped them better understand Their intimate relationships[…] Keep reading →

We’ve all heard someone say “That’s not art. I could do it.” Maybe you said it yourself. The comment can lead to interesting discussion on what makes art, but rarely. It can lead you to realizing that the value of art doesn’t depend on how hard it was to create. The usual response is “Well, you didn’t. And they did it first.” I suggest a new response. If the person[…] Keep reading →