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Navigating The Unknown

A few days ago I read the transcripts of an interview with the renowned author of the Jack Reacher books, Lee Child. When asked about his approach to writing the Reacher books, Child said he doesn’t create a plan before writing. Rather, he creates a scenario and asks: What would Jack Reacher do? And he takes it from there. I found the entire interview interesting, but it was this response that piqued my interest, and…

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To Do or Not To Do?

Let’s assume you’re going on a week-long holiday with your family and on the third day, you’re going on a day trip that’ll take you out of the coastal resort you’re staying in, to the nation’s capital. Your family have worked together to create an itinerary for the day trip, featuring all their interests. It’s a whole day’s worth of activities including museums to visit, historic sights to see, exotic cuisines to sample, malls for…

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On Luck

A few weeks ago, I had a thought while listening to a No Stupid Questions podcast episode. For the uninitiated, No Stupid Questions is a podcast where the hosts – currently Angela Duckworth and Mike Maughn – pick a question (either submitted by a listener or drawn from the hosts’ lives or experiences), and attempt to answer the question by drawing on research findings in conversation. The conversation in question was on the premise of…

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Reflections on a Creative Journey

A few weeks ago, I was invited to play a gig in a bookstore. The setting was intimate, the atmosphere was pregnant with creativity, and the space was lovely as I was surrounded by books and book lovers, writers and avid readers alike. There were a few readings – poetry, spoken word, short stories and novel excerpts – after which I closed the show with a 20-minute set. Overall, it was an evening well spent…

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The Paradox of Productivity (Part 3)

The last two posts on this blog have centred on the paradox of productivity. This post carries on the same theme as it relates to technological innovations and AI. I know I’ve written a few posts about AI over the last few months, but this is a topic that deserves more of our attention due to the ramifications it could have for our everyday lives. When the applications of AI are discussed in the media,…

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The Paradox of Productivity (Part 2)

A few years ago I read a book that upended everything I thought I knew about time management and productivity. The book is Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. The gist of the book is in the title. The human life expectancy sits somewhere around 80 years, and if you do make it to that ripe old age, then you’ll have lived something like four thousand weeks. The book subtitle – time management for mortals…

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The Paradox of Productivity

Here’s a question for you: How would you like to be more productive?  This is a rhetorical question, but I feel like I can hear your answer through my screen, and it goes something like “Duh, who wouldn’t want to be more productive?”  The thing about the productivity though, is that it’s an endless pursuit, one which might as well be a poisoned chalice. By all indications and metrics, we’re more productive than we’ve ever…

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Be Soaked And Happy – Part 2

Last week I told a little story about the night my wife and I got caught in a storm on one of our date nights and had little choice but to make the most of the experience. I’ve spent the last few days thinking about this still, especially in the wake of the recent storms that have been making their way through Western Europe, because this is storm season after all.  I’ve previously written how…

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