Jan 2Forget New Year’s Resolutions. For Real Results Make the Tiniest Change Possible.I love making New Year’s resolutions. Some years I even keep them. Mostly the whole idea of getting a fresh start is a huge motivator for me. But there’s a problem with making promises to your self at the start of the new year. …Goals4 min read
Aug 25, 2021Everybody wants to tell you how to live. Nobody tells you how to die.The door to my mother’s apartment was standing open when the medication manager showed up for the morning check-in. Mom was sitting in her chair, smiling a little. Apparently she had been sitting there all night. She wasn’t able to speak or stand up. She was wearing a medical alert…Mwc Death7 min read
Aug 24, 2021How to Find a Sacred Space of Your OwnMy next door neighbor had the best fort. His father dug a large hole in the middle of the play yard, and put a sheet of plywood over it. We covered the plywood with sand. Except for the square keyhole entrance you’d never know the fort was there. I don’t…Mwc Space5 min read
Aug 23, 2021Coming in Hot, the Secret to Successful Re-entryIn the introduction to The Gods Must Be Crazy South African filmmaker Jamie Ulys makes a fascinating critique of civilization. Traditional societies spend much of their energy adapting to their environment. Modern societies, on the other hand, put all their energy into changing the environment to suit them. The effect…Mwc Reentry7 min read
Aug 23, 2021Putting More Life into Your LivelihoodMy wife and I have a small patio garden with a pear tree, an herb table, and a wild rose. There’s a sock filled with nyjer seed for the goldfinches and a tube of millet for the house finches, juncos, towhees. …Mwc Work7 min read
Apr 24, 2021How Thinking Like a Caveman Can Help You Avoid Post-Pandemic AnxietyThis morning my wife and I had breakfast in an indoor diner for the first time since lockdown started. It wasn’t the Hallelujah free at last! moment I had imagined it would be. …Pandemic6 min read
Feb 17, 2020Make Your Notes Work for You: the Secret Sauce of ZettelkastenWhen you get stuck on your next writing project wouldn’t be great to have a partner who could quickly help you work through the stuck point and arrive at clarity? That’s how Niklas Luhmann thought of his zettelkasten note-taking system. He saw his notes as an active partner with which…Notes6 min read
Jan 14, 2020How “Spark Joy” Can Be Your Secret Weapon for Success in the Coming YearYour gut knows more than you think — Photo by David Billings on Unsplash This story first appeared on The Wilder I. Read more stories here. Let me say right off that I’m guilty of mocking Marie Kondo’s advice of holding an article of clothing to your heart to see if it “sparks joy” before deciding to dump…Konmari5 min read
Oct 26, 2019Maybe It’s Time to Re-Think the To-Do List — 4 Ways to Shake It UpPhoto: Library of Congress Getting Things Done had a good run. For a while this powerful and intensely popular productivity method was really useful in helping me stay on track. But now I feel like it’s bogging me down. I’ve got two gripes with GTD — massive projects that span…Productivity4 min read
Jul 18, 2019Poison Oak — Get Ready for a Blistering Hiking SeasonPoison oak near my house On a recent hike to the falls in Rancho Sierra Vista I noticed that it’s not just the lacy phacelia that’s super-blooming. As noted by the California Poison Control System, there’s a bumper crop of poison oak along the trails. …Health5 min read
