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Author Archives: AJ Kessler
Self Delusion And The Dumbest Excuses Ever
You’re almost certain to get two answers if you ask any student why they’re not doing something that would benefit them, whether it’s taking more rigorous (or simply more) classes, getting an internship on the side, working out, joining an … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Productivity, Rationality, Self-Improvement
Tagged Dumb, Excuses, Lazy, Rationality, Self Delusion, Seth Godin, Stupid
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The Idiocy of Worrying About Your Legacy
Marcus Aurelius, the 16th Emperor of Rome, the most powerful man on earth for a time, kept a journal of thoughts and notes for himself, to keep himself grounded. The twelve “books” worth of writings cover a broad range of … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Quotes, Rationality, Relationships, Self-Improvement
Tagged Goal, Legacy, Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Purpose
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Skill Rot, or Why You Shouldn’t Learn That
It’s not like riding a bike: you can’t hop right back on and it doesn’t come back easily, even though you still might end up getting your groin impaled by the contraption you’re trying to control. Skill rot is what … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Creativity, Food For Thought, Rationality, Self-Improvement
Tagged Future, Planning, Pursuing Mastery, Rot, Skill
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The Prodigy Fraud
Wolfgang Mozart was composing music at five years old. By eight, he was giving public performances as a violinist and a pianist. Before his death at age 35, he produced some of the most renowned music that has ever existed. … Continue reading
Look Better and Get Better By Culling
It’s important to go back and review your old work. Just a little time away from it and you can look at it with fresh eyes. Enough time away from it and you can look at it with someone else’s … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Creativity, Inspiration, Photography, Self-Improvement
Tagged Bad, Creativity, Cull, Improvement, Old, Review, Skill, Work
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The Tipping Point Is Bullshit
The concept of “the tipping point” has been bastardized. People now seem use the expression to mean that there’s some sort of silver bullet or fatal flaw. If you could just do this one thing, or eliminate this one flaw, … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Creativity, Inspiration, Productivity, Self-Improvement
Tagged Improvement, Incremental Change, Malcolm Gladwell, Results, Success, Tipping Point
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On Being Prolific
Picasso created somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 pieces of art during his life. If we take the low estimate and assume he starting making real art at about 6 years old, this means he had to create about two pieces … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Creativity, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Productivity, Self-Improvement
Tagged Art, Business, Create, Creativity, Output, Pablo Picasso, Productivity, Prolific, Work
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Remember What You’re Measured By
Pointless bustling of processions, opera arias, herds of sheep and cattle, military exercises. A bone flung to pet poodles, a little food in the fish tank. The miserable servitude of ants, scampering of frightened mice, puppets jerked on strings. Surrounded … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Quotes, Self-Improvement
Tagged Goal, Life, Marcus Aurelius, Purpose, Worth
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Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late: Define Your Priorities Now
Some good advice about priorities from Clayton Christensen over at the HBR: Over the years I’ve watched the fates of my HBS classmates from 1979 unfold; I’ve seen more and more of them come to reunions unhappy, divorced, and alienated … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Business, Food For Thought, Quotes, Relationships
Tagged Family, Goal, HBR, Priorities, relationships, Time
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Your Brand Is Irrelevant
Branding has been tremendously valuable over the last 100 years or so. Even during the last five or ten years, pundits have been telling people to turn themselves into brands. Brands are identifiable, they stand for something, they signify quality. … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Business, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Persuasion, Relationships, Self-Improvement
Tagged Access, Art, Branding, Brands, Business, Marketing, Persuasion, Relevance
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If You Can Easily Describe What You Do, You’re Fucked
If you’re hanging out with the spouse of someone who is very successful, it’s hilarious to ask them what their spouse does. Most of the time, they have no idea. They’ll know what field he’s in, “uh… she works with … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Creativity, Future, Inspiration, Money, Self-Improvement
Tagged Career, Creativity, Economy, Factory, Future, Job
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How They Use Statistics To Scam You
I guarantee you I could pick 10 stocks that would outperform the market, each year, for the next 10 years. How? The Dow Jones Industrial Average, or the S&P 500, or Nasdaq, are stock indexes. A stock index is a … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Food For Thought, Money
Tagged e-mail, Investing, Money, Pundits, Sales, Scam, Statistics
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Focus On Your Core Principle to Make Decisions And Beat Procrastination
I finished reading Made To Stick last week, which is fantastic and highly recommended for anyone who does anything creative, anything that requires communication, or anything related to sales (so… pretty much everyone). One of the biggest things that’s stuck … Continue reading
6 Easy Steps To Get Rich Without Worry
Yesterday’s post prompted some email questions about how I handle my finances, so I figured I might as well answer them here: What’s the easiest way to get rich? Inherit Lottery See Below … … … ??? Build and sell … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Money, Negotiation, Quotes, Self-Improvement, Tips
Tagged Automation, Finances, Get Rich, Income, Investment, iwillteachyoutoberich, Money, Personal Finance, Plan, Ramit Sethi, Retire, Spend
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You Too Can Retire In Your Early 30’s
There seem to be a growing number of personal finance blogs touting super early retirement (ie after around 10 years of working). These guys are “living the dream” after “jumping off the debt-powered treadmill” and they’re preaching that you too, … Continue reading
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