🤝 Stay in touch
I send an email several times a year with a handful of the most interesting things I’ve written or uncovered at home, abroad, and on the web.
Beyond enough
Helpful questions for untangling fulfillment and money
Continue reading →Be in one place at once
The difference between presence and splitness
Continue reading →Cultivate outcomes
The power of initial conditions
Continue reading →The longer path is the faster path
Why straight lines are slower than we think
Continue reading →On being early
Why being early is more difficult than it seems
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Reality checking real estate (Home size edition)
A macro analysis of Sacramento home price per square foot performance
Continue reading →Products are a three-way parlay
The three things all successful products get right
Continue reading →Intelligence = Error Correction
A minimalist definition of intelligence
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Reality checking real estate (SF & Seattle edition)
A macro analysis of major metro home price performance and affordability
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Reality checking real estate
A macro analysis of home price performance and affordability
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Relatively speaking
Distinguishing between price and purchasing power
Continue reading →The secret to patience
On having fun and being unbeatable
Continue reading →On investing
Some brief thoughts and resources for managing and investing capital
Continue reading →The Cantillon Effect
On measuring value with a shrinking measuring stick
Continue reading →Gradually, then suddenly
A framework for max uncertainty
Continue reading →On fleetingness
On the pricelessness of temporary things
Continue reading →Solve problems worth solving
On creating products that matter
Continue reading →Poetry vs. long-form writing
On pairing form and intention
Continue reading →Allegory is the way
On reading spiritual texts allegorically rather than literally
Continue reading →We are made of eternity
On death, evolution, and eternity
Continue reading →What’s your life aesthetic?
On designing each facet of our lives with intention
Continue reading →When to be waterfall, when to be agile
On using cost-of-change to guide process design for a project
Continue reading →Pull your joy forward
On creating space now for the things that bring us fulfillment
Continue reading →Why I’m reading fewer books
On finding the balance between input and output
Continue reading →Compressing vs. editing
On identifying and sequencing the actions that matter most
Continue reading →Study your discontent
On using discontent to improve wellbeing
Continue reading →The downside of (developer) sprints
A career of sprints is an exhausting prospect
Continue reading →Everything is raw material
On choosing what to make from the materials we’ve been given
Continue reading →Truth has a shelf life
On seeing truth through the lens of time and evolution
Continue reading →Success: An alternate definition
On identifying our unique recipe for living that maximizes fulfillment
Continue reading →What type of God do you believe in?
On the universe’s essential nature and its posture towards us
Continue reading →Hunters and diggers
On understanding how we’re wired
Continue reading →Get comfortable living in the gray
On the relationship between rebellion and freedom
Continue reading →The power of working remote
On the power of decoupling impact from hours worked
Continue reading →Thinking about the work is the work
On the experience of being a knowledge worker
Continue reading →Be like a Roomba
On using action to figure out what to do next
Continue reading →Don’t make things in an attempt to earn your freedom.
On making things that make you feel free
Continue reading →Jigsaw puzzle (a design process metaphor)
On how to approach design problems
Continue reading →Slipping through the cracks
On reducing my reliance on list keeping to help put first things first
Continue reading →Fortunate > Blessed
On expressing gratitude while embracing randomness
Continue reading →Collect now, curate later
On figuring out what should belong and what shouldn’t
Continue reading →Be an archeologist
On discovering who we are by stripping away all that we aren’t
Continue reading →Build the machine first
On why adding headcount doesn’t make up for poor management or process.
Continue reading →Start with the market
On how to start a business
Continue reading →The details are your life
The big things are made up of the small things
Continue reading →Philosophy isn’t one-size-fits-all
On judging philosophy by the quality of life it creates
Continue reading →Lessons from Japan
On beauty, craft, self awareness, and community
Continue reading →You are here
On moving from the fringe to the middle
Continue reading →Fate as probability
On the relationship between circumstance and choice of response
Continue reading →Fall in love with the search
On the importance of consistently showing up
Continue reading →Eden is a metaphor
On balancing advancing consciousness and connection with the natural world
Continue reading →Find your likes by eliminating your dislikes
On using a process of elimination to find your passion
Continue reading →Living is so much more interesting than dying
On living more fully here and now
Continue reading →Nobody is self-made
On leveraging our circumstances for growth
Continue reading →Celebrate today
On appreciating the wonder we’re a part of
Continue reading →Serendipity
On reconnecting with the fun that drew you into creative work
Continue reading →Fulfillment is a posture to circumstance, not a product of it
On the unique and personal nature of fulfillment
Continue reading →Why I’m a perfectionist
On the costs and difficulty of achieving upward mobility
Continue reading →Everything compounds
On emergent phenomena and why it’s the engine of the universe
Continue reading →Fullness, emptiness, free will, and fate
On the spectral nature of fate and fullness
Continue reading →Create enduring value
On the difference between perfectionism, craftsmanship, and laziness
Continue reading →I’m a binge creator
On the ebbs and flows of making things
Continue reading →Don’t debate ideas, validate them
On using degrees of certainty to make product decisions
Continue reading →Waterfalls and filmstrips
On the fluid nature of our beings
Continue reading →How I got better at golf while playing less
On achieving better performance with less effort
Continue reading →Play the long game
On patient accumulation, asymmetric bets, and winning Monopoly
Continue reading →Why political systems disintegrate
On why societies fail when they leave too many people behind
Continue reading →Stick your shovel in the soil
On allowing time to weather your work
Continue reading →We need integrative philosophy
On assembling a mosaic of methods for defining the many layers of reality
Continue reading →The age of integration
On our need to merge science and mysticism
Continue reading →This is all there is
On why the action is here, and always will be
Continue reading →Let your users push you
On having the courage to build less
Continue reading →How to be slower to speak
On being a more valuable contributor to conversations
Continue reading →Fidelity should match confidence
On how to use fidelity as a communication tool
Continue reading →Debt is reversible
On the power of simple-yet-tough decisions repeated consistently over time
Continue reading →The art of controlling (almost) nothing
On identifying what we can control and releasing ourselves from the rest
Continue reading →Be prolific
On how to hold your creative work more loosely
Continue reading →Regulation and taxes (A positive perspective)
On the relationship between population density, regulations, and taxes.
Continue reading →Set your alarm the same time every day
On seeking health, fulfillment, and joy daily
Continue reading →The afterlife lets us off the hook
On just how fleeting our time together in this life really is
Continue reading →There’s a person behind every product
On the importance of considering the people behind the things we buy
Continue reading →Be where you’re from
On the costs of relocating your home base
Continue reading →A beginner’s guide to light
A brief overview of the relationship between Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO
Continue reading →Beggars and billionaires
On what we seek when we travel
Continue reading →The reward for a life well lived, is a life well lived
On the fleetingness of life and the benefits of not believing in an afterlife
Continue reading →The best products are made in relationship
On the importance of making things in community
Continue reading →Join a cat for sunrise
A lesson about reconnecting with the now
Continue reading →Moving pianos
A story about the art of anything
Continue reading →Ideas must be caught
A mediation on making room for ideas and bringing them to life
Continue reading →How to get unstuck
A mental model for generating change
Continue reading →Forget your work
A perfectionist’s guide to writing (and sharing) more easily
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Lead your life with David Gerber
This week we’d like to introduce you to David Gerber. David is a life and leadership coach who works with individuals, teams, and organizations to help them reach their full potential
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Following your curiosity with Kevin Knox of Cal Football and Mosaic Bay
This week we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Knox. Kevin serves as the chaplain to the California Golden Bears and is the pastor of Mosaic Bay Church in Berkeley, California
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Finding the courage to step into the void, Paul Di Giordano of Lounge of Life
This week we’d like to introduce you to Paul Di Giordano. Paul is the founder of Lounge of Life, a Sacramento, California-based alternative night life experience that gives people a safe place to socialize without feeling the pressures of excessive drinking, drugs, and promiscuity
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Paint-covered pants
On finding the courage to live the life we were created for
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Embracing the unknown with Dr. Jeff Cook of CrossPurpose
This week we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Jeff Cook. Jeff is a former church planter, pastor, professor, and now the Fellows Academic Director of CrossPurpose, a Denver, Colorado-based organization working to abolish economic, spiritual, and relational poverty through the power of redemptive relationships
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Integration, balance, and disrupting fast fashion, Blake Smith of Cladwell
This week we’d like to introduce you to Blake Smith. Blake is the Co-Founder and CEO of Cladwell, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based startup who is blending software and fashion to help people create simple, minimal, personalized “capsule” wardrobes
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James Delarato of Citizens San Francisco on finding the courage to transform your life
This week we’d like to introduce you to James Delarato. James is the Planting Pastor of Citizens San Francisco, an emerging community based in San Francisco’s Haight district
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Brian Moll of Defy Ventures on finding grace, justice, and transformation behind bars
This week we’d like to introduce you to Brian Moll. Brian is a former pastor and church planter and now the Executive Director, Bay Area of Defy Ventures, an entrepreneurship, employment, and leadership training program that serves people with criminal histories in San Francisco, Chicago, and New York
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Fostering community, relationships, and generosity with Kyle Brooks of Oakland Startup Church
This week we’d like to introduce you to Kyle Brooks. Kyle is the founding pastor of Oakland Startup Church, an emerging community located in the heart of Oakland, CA
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A fresh thought about homelessness in San Francisco
Making sense of the growing homeless population and it’s relationship to the amount of support that’s available to them
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The art of storytelling with Jeremiah Aja of Forge Sacramento and Tell It Well, Inc.
This week we’d like to introduce you to Jeremiah Aja. Jeremiah is the President of Forge Sacramento, an organization devoted to training men and women to live as missionaries in their neighborhoods, and Tell It Well, Inc., a Sacramento based marketing and branding agency
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How to foster redemptive community, Ruthie Kim of Because Justice Matters
This week we’d like to introduce you to Ruthie Kim. Ruthie is the founder and Director of Because Justice Matters, a San Francisco based organization reaching women who experience exploitation and isolation
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Artifacts of evolution
Processing the pain and promise of progress in the epicenter of disruption, San Francisco
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Travis Clark of Canvas San Francisco on being patient and avoiding the allure of explosive growth
This week we’d like to introduce you to Travis Clark. Travis and his wife Jena are the founding pastors of Canvas, a young, thriving, and inspiring community based in San Francisco.
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The art of making room with Craig Kelley of Gold Country Church
This week we’d like to introduce you to Craig Kelley. Craig is the founding pastor of Gold Country Church, a thriving and inspiring community based in Auburn, CA.
Continue reading →4 keys to fostering contagious generosity
On the primal elements that unlock our innate desire to be generous
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Choose both
On the importance of seeking to resolve seemingly contradictory truths
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The beginnings make the endings
On the myth of overnight success
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How Yosemite turned my life upside down
On the importance of seeking out new perspectives and experiences
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There’s no such thing as luck
On learning to experiment and embrace failure as integral ingredients to success
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Make money while you sleep
On the power of decoupling our time from our income
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Create for you and no one else
On the importance of creating for yourself and no one else
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What will you do?
On why we can’t be free until we know why we want to be free
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Creativity is courage
On why creativity ultimately has nothing to do with what we make and everything to do with what living a life of courage makes of us
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Talking about work is not work
On the danger of talking away our creative energy
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Focus on habits
What Tiger Woods can teach us about achieving goals
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Inspiration finds you
On creation feeling more like surrender than accomplishment
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Don’t be afraid to use the ink
An exercise in breaking through my inability to embrace my desire to create
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I don’t want a raise
On using constraints to unlock hyper-creativity
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Do work you’ve never done before
On learning to embrace and seek discomfort
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Why we find things after we stop looking for them
On worrying less
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