Betterment

“Do as I say.” That’s industrial management in four words. If you don’t follow the instructions to the letter, you’re insubordinate. Not subordinate. Complete subordin…

Shoe sizes are complicated. How can one be a size 9 in the US and 10 in the UK? And it's another size in Japan, which makes no sense! Here's why!

In an economy built on skill, knowledge, and attitude, the single most powerful way to improve your productivity is to learn something. You put in the effort once and it pays off for decades. There…

Robert Caro never learned to type. He pecks out his books two fingers at a time on an electric typewriter. There are two reasons to avoid learning a proven new technology: You know what it can do a…

Here's a simple question to ask yourself - any time you find yourself facing the impulse to give up and distract yourself.

You might not call me "well dressed." But I feel great!

My Journey to Working Multiple Remote Jobs

When the researcher Daniel Chambliss decided to study a group of elite swimmers to figure out what led to excellence, he was surprised to find just how much the top swimmers enjoyed the aspects of training — participating in early-morning practices; swimming back and forth along a black line for hours on end — that […]

Adam Smith and Karl Marx both wrote about the pin-making machine. Not too long ago, pins (for hats, to hold shirts in place, etc.) were incredibly expensive. They were a luxury item, and a handmade…

Last in the series… Most of us were indoctrinated to believe that completing chores is the appropriate measure of productivity. “I did all my homework.” Doing all your homework is…

Or trying better? Fast runners aren’t the same as slow runners, but with more effort. And great chefs or violinists or actors… it’s not about doing what you did yesterday, but mor…

Photo by Fikret tozak on Unsplash Matt Mullenweg’s 40th birthday is coming up — and as a gift, I was going to buy him 40 types of cables. However, for a gift, he wants everyone to blog — especially…

Johnny.Decimal is a system to organise your digital life

If productivity is useful work created by time or money, it’s worth thinking about what we mean by ‘useful’. There are areas where reliability is crucial. It turns out that buildi…

Deciding to take ownership over the meaning of my work has unquestionably changed my life for the better. This post is the first time I've shared my process publicly.

Have you ever wondered what sets highly intelligent people apart? It’s not always about high test scores or extensive vocabulary. Sometimes, it’s the quirky habits they have that signify their […] More

Reduce inflammation and skip added sugars in this 30-day high-protein meal plan

We need you. But only if you need us. Purple.space is six months old, and there are about a thousand of us now. It was an experiment, now it’s a useful tool. The initiative hat is often ill-f…

Welcome to 2024. Back to work, here we go. So it’s Productivity Week on the blog. Productivity is the measure of the output (value) we get for the time or money we spend. Two hats for product…

Only 16% of people manage to keep their New Year’s Resolutions, according to the Washington Post and the Economic Times India. That’s pretty low, and a

Being happier is a choice that starts with consistent, positive habits. And there’s no better time to start than first thing in the morning. If you want to become a […] More

“You’re obviously talented and sharp. But I have no idea how to use you”. About the third time I heard this from different bosses, I felt like an utter failure. Why would someone as capable as I felt be so woefully misunderstood and underutilized? As it turns out, it

For some fortunate 17 year olds, the end of the year is the day for a momentous decision, one that’s largely out of the comfort zone of a 17 year old. A four-year college education in the US …

We evolved to be wary of change. Our attention is limited, new things can be a threat and the status quo feels comfortable. As a result, we spend a lot of time and energy being afraid (and arguing …

Every day matters. It seems like a waste to spend one as a to-do list item on someone else’s agenda. It’s easy to become so focused on checking the boxes that we forget that there are p…

For centuries, humankind has pondered the eternal question: what brings true happiness? While the pursuit fills books by philosophers and songs by poets, the

It’s almost impossible to remove a screw with your bare hands, but easy with a screwdriver. The handle might only add a little torque, but it’s more than enough. If someone is succeedin…

Many grow out of it and become serious people

Our brains are organized in substantial part by levels of abstraction. Brain layers go from those connected directly to outside, to layers that attend to fine details of both inferences and plans, to layers that attend to larger scale aggregates and distant sparsely-described things, up to layers that manage our most highest level summaries and plans.