Becoming Better

08/25/2026

The modern world offers a rainforest’s worth of pleasure, but we evolved in a desert. We’re struggling because we’re overwatered.

(2-minute read)

“Our brains have not evolved for this world of plenty. As Dr. Tom Finucane … said, ‘We are cacti in the rain forest.’ And like cacti adapted to an arid climate, we are drowning in dopamine.”1 I’ve killed more houseplants by overwatering than by underwatering. Many plants aren’t evolved...

08/25/2026

"You've survived every single thing you thought you couldn't handle up until this point. Why would the next one be any different?" -Mark Manson

08/23/2026

A beautiful reminder of the many wonders we too easily take for granted:

A walk through a modern apartment, through the eyes of the people for whom everything in it was new.

07/14/2026

Don't ask, "Am I being a perfectionist?"
Ask, "Will it sink the boat?"
Also, is what you're working on even a boat?
Metaphor courtesy of Seth Godin.
(3-minute read)

“A 100-foot long boat that’s 99% complete is going to sink before it leaves the dock. That gaping hole is more than enough to do it in. On the other hand, a baked ziti that’s 99% as good as the best baked ziti ever made is exactly good enough to serve in any setting. …… Read More »Will i...

06/30/2026

The unlikely story of how I became a dog person in my late 30s.
(4-minute read)

This is Sammy. He belongs to my dad’s friend Dan. Sammy is simultaneously the friendliest and most well-behaved dog I’ve ever known. I came to love Sammy despite spending my whole life as, frankly, not a dog person. I’ve always been a cat person. Cats make sense to me, and we have a natural af...

06/16/2026

It’s hard. It’s uncomfortable. It’s scary.
Deal with it anyway. Face it head-on.
(1-minute read)

It’s hard. It’s uncomfortable. It’s scary. Deal with it anyway. Face it head-on. The boring task. The difficult work. The necessary learning. The frustrating setback. The obstacle in your way. The uncomfortable conversation. The anxiety-inducing performance. The fear that you’ll do it wrong....

06/03/2026

Life is short. Be careful you don't waste so much time on "shallow fun" that you don't have time for "deep fun."

(5-minute read)

Table of Contents hide Deep Fun? Depth of Engagement True Social Connection Production Value Deep Fun is Good For You The Good Life Long-time readers (or fans of Cal Newport) will recall that there are two kinds of work: deep work and shallow work. Deep work is difficult and important; it requires y...

05/19/2026

“You will rarely outperform your self-image.” -James Clear
WRONG!
This is PRECISELY how you improve your self-image, but you can only outperform it incrementally, improving your self-image bit by bit.
(1-minute read)

James Clear (author of Atomic Habits) recently wrote something that I disagreed with: “You will rarely outperform your self-image.”1 Actually, this is precisely how you improve your self-image, but you can only outperform it incrementally, improving your self-image bit by bit via self-perception...

05/14/2026

“Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they’re finished.”
-Dan Gilbert

05/11/2026

Why self-improvement is never done.

Contents hide Mastery Knowledge Perfection Health and Fitness Love and Kindness Wisdom There’s a math concept that I keep seeing in real life. It’s a weird one: the asymptote. An asymptote is a line that a graph curves towards but never reaches. The graph gets closer and closer, but it can never...