Finding Clarity in an Ambiguous World
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Good Design Requires Many Unseen Iterations
Anyone who has ever written software knows that if you were to lose your code after working for 3 weeks, you could rewrite it again in a fraction of the time. The reality is that finding the right solution is not a straight line, it’s iterative. Like this picture: Another great example of the process…
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Bending The Golden Rule
Sometimes we need to bend the golden rule — we should NOT treat others as we would want to be treated by them. The Golden Rule provides a simple heuristic for empathy. Our actions affect others usually in the same way that the action would affect us. This rule of thumb usually works pretty well,…
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The Naïveté of Dogma
The world is more complex than any of us can fully understand, so we simplify. Often times, our simplifications lead us toward dogmatic solutions; plans that will allow us to solve the worlds problems if only the world would dramatically change by adopting them. It becomes easier to advocate full government payment for health care, or abolishing…
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Positive and Negative Goals: Reframe the Goal for Success
Sometime ago when the startup I was working for went through a tough time, our VC gave me some sage advice: Stay focused on staying in the air and not on avoiding the trees. If a pilot is in distress and starts focusing on not crashing into the trees, the trees become the target. Our…
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The What and The Why
Compared to a decade ago, it’s ridiculously easy to start a new web business these days. There are a number of platforms and free software that can be used to quickly create a piece of software without seeking any additional funding. But as Michael Gerber points out in the E-myth: just because one knows how…
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The Symmetry of a Day
Lately, I’ve been working on improving the things I pay attention to and focus on during the day. Of course, one aspect of this is a to-do list for each day. I spend most of my time in front of a computer, so an online to-do tool makes sense. I’ve been searching for one that…
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Construction & Destruction
Several weeks ago, my friend and I were both talking about the nature of starting businesses. He mentioned a thought he sent me some thoughts: Companies are both constructive and destructive forces. When a business creates a new way of looking at the world, it destroys the old to bring in the new. One…
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The Cult Of Busy
There was a time when the question, “How are you doing?” was given the non-answer: “Fine”. Lately though, I hear myself giving the answer: “Busy” or perhaps to cover my bases: “Fine… Busy!”. Do I really think I’m more busy than everyone else? And what does that even mean? We have become a culture dominated…
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Decision Fatigue & Dessert
Our brains use glucose just like the rest of our body. However, when our muscles are depleted of energy, we feel it. When parts of our brain are depleted, we may not know it even though it’s affecting our decisions. Over the last two weeks, two different people sent me this NY Times article on…
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The Way It’s Supposed to Be Done
Tom Sawyer may have been ingenious converting whitewashing fences into play, but when he is trying to help Huckleberry Finn free a slave he represents the establishment. For those that don’t know the story, here is a quick overview: Huck and Jim are running away. Huck from his father, Jim from slavery. Eventually Jim is…
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