• The Three Types of Procrastination

    I've seen over and over that we procrastinate on something because deep down it goes against our core beliefs or because we know it's a waste of time. I think there is a third type of procrastination: where we procrastinate because at some level we can't accept the larger meaning of our actions.

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    Podcast Episode 87: Nightly Habits to Set Up An Easy Morning

    I am by no stretch of any imagination a morning person. In fact, there are many mornings that I roll out of bed at my work starting time and head to my computer in my pajamas. Don’t judge. You’ve probably done it too. So when I recently started going back into the office a couple of days a week, I…

  • 5 Reasons To Use Checklists

    Checklists are a great tool for productivity. They can save a lot of time and prevent mistakes, rethinking, and missing steps. Yet many people don't use them. Here are 5 reasons to get checklists into your productivity system today.

  • How I Work While Traveling

    I never fully unplug, but I do change how I work while traveling. And by work I mean both my professional work, and writing. Here is how I do it.

  • Use Random Numbers To Remove Resistance

    Random numbers are often used in math-heavy fields like machine learning and cryptography. But random numbers are also a great tool to bust through resistance to tasks that lead to procrastination.

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    Podcast Episode 86: Why It Pays to Math

    When I was a high school math teacher, I used to always ask my students to check if the answer they got made sense. I knew that this world takes advantage of people whose math skills are poor and I wanted to give them some tools to be able to cope. Today I want to talk about how simple math…

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    How To Be Productive When Life Blindsides You

    There are times when I feel like I've been run over with the dump truck of life. And then the truck backs over me for good measure. But life goes on. So as I am metaphorically picking myself up and dusting off the tire tracks, I need to have a plan. I need to figure out how to be productive…

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    Podcast Episode 85: Enough

    A few weeks ago the young adult group at church did the service. The person delivering the message is a Navy veteran, a NASA scientist, and at the start of her civilian career. Her talk on “enough” got me thinking about the concept, and some later events played on it. So this podcast, number 85, will be on “enough”.

  • Generate Text With Excel

    Microsoft Excel, which is a spreadsheet meant for crunching numbers, may be the tool of accountants. But I rely on it heavily to help me with text. I generate text using Excel in order to feed data cleanly into systems. No, Excel is my powerhouse for assembling text. It occurred to me that people might get some benefit from learning…

  • How To Eliminate Self-Generated Crises

    How many "emergencies" do you have on a daily or weekly basis that are actually self-generated crises? I'm talking about panic because you can't find something you need right then. Here are tips on the causes of these crises, and how you can stop them in their tracks.