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Nobody knows anything. We’re all just guessing. Humans are poor historians and even poorer predictors of the future. In a world where people have falsely predicted armageddon over two hundred times, not to mention the coincidence that the average person stores between five and ten pounds of feces in their colon, maybe it’s time to admit to ourselves that we are all full of shit. And so, let’s stop…

Prolific, my new software as a service company, was founded upon a simple principle. Personal expression is a bedrock human need. Bettering our relationship to creativity is a moral imperative of our species. But most people stand in an unfortunate relationship to their own creativity. They have few ways of quantifying or speaking sensibly about it. Hence, the launch of Personal Creativity Management. It’s just my life philosophy in…

The best decision we can ever make is to stop choosing. To allow the countless other available choices to become irrelevant and accept our path. Bonheoffer, the renowned theologian and political dissident, gives the following advice in his book of daily devotions: The question about whether or not we have made the right beginning no longer needs to be asked, for it would drive us into fruitless fear. Our job…

Startups tend to be volatile and chaotic. There isn’t one in town that wouldn’t find that gift of clarity valuable. Because it fosters execution. If you’re the kind of person who leaves things more organized than you found them, it’s amazing what kind of output that generates for the team. Hyde writes that one of the reasons ideas are treated as gifts is because they accomplish the task of assembling a…

Stravinsky was not only considered one of the most important and influential composers of the twentieth century, but also one of the most prolific. He ranged in subject and emotional temper, and restlessly diversified his style throughout his career. But the volume of his musical output wasn’t just an urge, a task, a project, an occupation, a compulsion or even an addiction. It was simply who he was. In…

Anyone whose livelihood revolves around making things struggles with motivation, focus, fear, overwhelm and the like. Creative resistance cannot be eliminated from our lives. What we can do, however is diminish its ability to derail progress by being in harmony with probability. Prolific was built for that exact reason. Comprised of more than three hundred battle tested tools for every step of the ideation, organization and execution process, now…

My first codependency management technique was taping a fortune cookie sized scrap of paper onto the outside of my flip phone. It simply read the word, boundaries. This small, simple and stoic visual cue reminded me that there are no emergencies. As if to place a calm hand on my shoulder and whisper: Hey man, you don’t have to drop everything you’re doing just to respond to this phone…

Most project management software comes with inherent problems. First, the majority of these programs are far too complex and cumbersome for the average person to use. Even if people do enroll in the system, they typically spend a few weeks getting all their tasks organized, but once they realize that it’s actually creating more work than they’re completing, they quickly abandon the platform for something simpler and more lightweight…

Not everyone has a burning desire to navigate the treacherous waters that ambition requires them to travel. Nor is everyone interested in being consumed by the frustration of trying to fulfill their ever escalating ambition. And that’s okay. It’s not weak to be oriented towards that. Lack of ambition should not be a shameable offense. Some people just don’t feel like making the journey. Tarantino wrote in one of…

Addictions and compulsions are all about avoiding unpleasant outcomes. They are born in anxiety and remain strangers to joy. Beagley’s illuminating book on extreme behavior shows that people engage in repetitive behaviors over and over again. To alleviate the angst brought on by the possibility of negative consequences. But this cycle can be defeated. We can practice the subtle art of response flexibility by training ourselves to notice, pause, evaluate and…