Tuesday, December 30, 2025

Imposter Syndrome Contrasted With Growth Mindset

Impostor syndrome says, “I don’t know what I’m doing. It’s only a matter of time until everyone finds out.”

Growth mindset says, “I don’t know what I’m doing yet. It’s only a matter of time until I figure it out.”

Adam Grant, in Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Creating Your Future Self

The person you will be in 5 years is determined by the books you read, habits you start, and people you meet today.

- This specific quotation is from a LinkedIn post by Jade Bonacolta but there are many variants and sources of this wisdom.


Monday, December 15, 2025

Mindset For Tool Selection

Whereas the any-benefit mind-set identifies any potential positive impact as justification for using a tool, the craftsman variant requires that these positive impacts affect factors at the core of what’s important to you and that they outweigh the negatives.

Cal Newport, from Deep Work: Rules For Focused Success in a Distracted World

Saturday, December 6, 2025

Certainty

 Being certain about something doesn’t make it true. 

Wednesday, December 3, 2025

Making Decisions - Cutting or Killing

When making decisions, deciding to cut options can be terrifying—but the truth is, it is the very essence of decision making. In fact: The Latin root of the word decision—cis or cid—literally means “to cut” or “to kill.” You can see this in words like scissors, homicide, or fratricide.

It’s how you get from the Trivial Many to the Vital Few.

-from Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, by Greg McKeown

Monday, December 1, 2025

The White-Space Walk

Every week, take one 20-minute walk with no phone, no music, no podcast. Just you and your thoughts.

Boredom isn't the enemy. It's where your best ideas live. They just need a little white space.

(Stolen from The Quiet Rich weekly newsletter from Jade Bonacolta)

Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Note From the Shower

Travel toiletries such as soap or shampoo usually need to be opened in the shower, yet the product packaging is designed to be next to impossible to break open when wet. Our best packaging engineers should be assigned to Tylenol, not Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Shampoo.