Your Prep Card: Don’t Leave Home Without It

You’re about to ask your boss for a raise.

You’ve got a big pitch meeting with a potential client in five minutes.

It’s time to negotiate your first home purchase.

The adrenaline’s pumping. The stakes are high. You’ve got all the salient points of your argument down pat, your various counter-arguments holstered, and you’re ready to give ‘em […]

What Michelangelo Can Teach You About Good Design

After marveling at Michelangelo’s statue of Goliath-vanquishing [David,][1] the Pope asked the sculptor, “How do you know what to cut away?”

Michelangelo’s reply? “It’s simple. I just remove everything that doesn’t look like David.”

While I’m not totally sure of its accuracy, the conversation still offers three very sage design lessons:

Archive the Web with Diigo

Del.icio.us was a big discovery for me. The ability to access my bookmarks anywhere, share them with others, and discover my friends’ favorites: Wow!

But I had a moment of truth the day I clicked a months-old bookmark only to discover that one of my favorite pages on Web design had vanished. D’oh! I’d really depended […]

Sleep: You Need More

Hey, you. Yeah, you, the one reading this post instead of working.

You need sleep. Seven to eight hours. Really. More than exercise. More than your weekly review. More than World of Warcraft.

How many times have you read an article in some magazine about a Tony Robbins-obsessed CEO who claims to get up at 4 AM […]

The Grain of Salt

If you read productivity blogs and self-help books regularly, you’ve probably gotten something useful out of them.

Maybe you’ve gotten rid of some bad habits, or organized your desk (and kept it that way).

Maybe you lost weight, or quit smoking, or developed a better relationship with your spouse.

On the other hand, you’ve almost certainly failed many […]

The Lightning Bolt

It happens all the time. You start with the best of intentions. You’ve implemented your new productivity system or habit, you have a clear, manageable set of tasks, a strong goal, all the motivation in the world.

Then, the lightning bolt. Suddenly, your energy and willpower drains out of your body. You slump forward, a limp, […]