Is Virtual Reality the Cure for the Common Commute?
The other day I saw a well-researched article by Greg Rosalsky titled: The Economics of the Office: Why Do We Still Commute? The article set up the problem alongside a possible solution. Even though the personal computer was supposed to liberate us, we still find...
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Double Your Income Now!
I stopped in to see my friend the other morning. He owns a little shop in the downtown where I live. He seemed rushed and reluctant to shoot the shit with me. Usually he welcomed me into his shop and and we would sit and b.s. until the first customer had to knock on...
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Never Go Back To Work After Vacation
The worst part of vacation is returning and heading back to work. I just listened to the audiobook, Vagabonding by Rolf Potts. It's a philosophy book disguised as a travel book. As I drove my family to spend a week in Chicago I listened as Potts described...
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Make Starving A Game
So, I've been eating a Vegan Diet for the last week now. It's a little difficult and it requires thought. And that's why I love it. I used to work for a guy who was on a diet so restrictive that it actually made the dieter's body temperature drop a couple...
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Need Motivation? Write Your Own Obituary!
A great story about artist's motivation comes from the life of the artist Salvador Dali... or, maybe it was some other genius. Really doesn't matter - we'll just say it was Dali. It seems that, in his family, Salvador was actually Salvador #2. Salvador...
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I’m a Minimalist… So, Why am I Worried About Money?
Minimalism! What a concept! I just realized that the term "Minimalist" might just describe my natural drive to separate myself from the unnecessary. Not just clutter on bookshelves, but fundamental things. Big things. I made a list of some of the biggies that I...
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Caring
Sitting in a Chicago cafe looking out the window at a young man sweeping the sidewalk. He's getting each and every tiny piece of trash and cigarette butt out of each crack with his small, black broom to get every tiny crumb and fragment of paper. I'm impressed by both...
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Location, Location, Location – Are You Paying Too Much For Your Life?
Let me ask you a question: What's it like where you live? Does where you live inspire you? Why are why not? I thought about this when I heard Steven Chou from MyWifeQuitHerJob.com talking about helping his audience make an extra $1000. "There's a lot of people out...
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Finalizing a Rough Draft Life
It occurred to me that I'm a Rough Draft guy than a Final Draft type. I'm someone who prefers thinking of himself as an idea guy, a concept person but who has trouble digging down to the details. For example, I've come back to edit this post and others months after I...
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I Went From $100,000 to $40,000 Overnight… And You Can Too!
Look, I'm not going to tell you it sucks to have a full bank account. A large sum of money in the bank almost always beats no money in the bank. And being stoic about low funds gets old. But, here's what happened to me and here's what I learned... I was a regular guy...
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Sitting Sucks: Redefine Your Sitting Solution
Sitting: Finding a Healthy Alternative So, while we're rethinking how the world fits us and how we fit the world, let's get real basic. Many of us make a living sitting in front of a computer and now that the medical experts of the world have determined that the...
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Your Mornings Are Yours: Take ’em Back.
I have successfully taken back my mornings. Now, I don’t mean I’ve taken them back in a Tim Ferriss kind of way. Shit, I haven’t organized my mornings! But I do own them again. What that means is that no one tells me where to be or when to be there in the morning. It...
read moreTime Management: Balance Goals with Down Time
Short Term Goals and Down Time Make for a Happy, Productive Worker "A project or task will expand to fill the time allotted to complete it." That's one version of Parkinson's Law. It is routinely stated in ways to suggest that bureaucracies, job scopes, tasks -...
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7 Things to Do Other than Waiting
If you’re like me you hate waiting. You’ve taken some action on the notion that had been simmering in your head. You made your move. You put it out there. You put the project proposal in the mail. You’ve finally scribbled the last item on the to-do list. You hung up...
read moreWhen Your Kid Teaches You To Follow Your Bliss
Follow Your Bliss Like a Kid I like to think of myself as the kind of guy who’s all about "follow your bliss" and open to other people’s crazy dreams. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I like to think that I sometimes relish creating awkward-feeling situations...
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A Blog About How to Achieve Work Life Balance
Achieving Work-Life Balance: Changing Lifestyle and Perspective The quest for work life balance begins by looking around and wondering: When are my work and life going more accurately reflect the ideas I have in my head? Is this much of my Life really supposed to be...
read moreMy Morning Routine, Productivity Be Damned
The Morning Routine I Just Discovered I Have Tim Ferriss and Pat Flynn (two of my favorite podcasters) agree of the importance of the morning routine. Productivity begins in the morning and your routine sets the tone for your day in many ways: nutrition, exercise,...
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Paying Taxes is Patriotic
I paid my taxes yesterday - yes, right on Tax Day. I owed a lot this year and had to write big checks from a bank account that is now pretty much depleted. And I know there are a lot of people, many of my friends among them, who would expect me to come over to their...
read moreWanderlust: Follow Your Bliss… again and again
Follow Your Bliss? What Bliss? Through his books Joseph Campbell told me: “follow your bliss.” Some complain that they don’t know what their bliss is. I would suspect that most of us have a thousand things that we could love to pursue; it’s just a matter of focusing...
read moreBe a Hack not an Expert
I like to do a little of this and a little of that. Not too much of any one thing. I'm curious about and interested in a lot of things - in grade school they labeled this “easily distracted” these days I might be medicated. I dreamed of a lifestyle where I wouldn’t...
read moreDeaths Waiting Room
I have an elderly friend who lately every time I see him is complaining about getting older. He doesn't complain in the lighthearted way that people usually complain about getting older. He seems genuinely troubled by where he is and even more so by where he's going....
read moreFull Time Jobs Suck: Tell the Truth and Blow Your Interview
Even though I know that full time jobs suck, I used to go to interviews and lie. I usually got the jobs. I would figure out what they wanted to hear and say that that’s what I am. “We need a screwdriver?” they would say. “Oh, yeah, well I’m a screwdriver,” I’d...
read moreThe Space Between The Notes: The Pause Principle
Whatever path you choose, you will eventually hit a wall. Artists and writers know these obstacles and they call them “blocks.” Our natural inclination when we’re being blocked is to push against, to assault, to throw all our weight against these perceived barriers....
read moreWanting What You Have
The transitions we're aiming for can ultimately be summed up in one word, right? Happiness. We are trying to scratch an elusive itch. Contentment might be another word for it. Enjoyment of life or even Fun might be other ways to put it. The most important and...
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