I write about guarding attention for a living. Most of what I have learned comes down to one habit I call intentional friction. One of my own rules for it held until about nine one evening, then lost to a thumb and a lit screen.
Last month I did the thing I keep telling other people not to do.… Read the rest “Everything in My Life Got Easier, and I Got Worse at Living It”
The night a batch of transmission housings failed because one exhausted operator trusted his own discipline instead of the checklist, I stopped believing in routines — and started believing in systems over willpower.
It was 11:40 p.m., second shift, on the floor at a transmission plant outside Dayton, when my best line lead made a call his training told him not to make.… Read the rest “I Spent 40 Years Stopping Catastrophic Failures. Willpower Never Once Made the Fix List. (Here’s What Did.)”
There is a road bike in my hallway. It is made of Italian aluminium, painted the aggressive, vibrant colour of a wasp, and it cost £1,200. I have ridden it exactly four times. Two of those excursions were simply to the end of the road and back to check if the brakes were rubbing.
Watch the short companion video on YouTube, or read on for the full essay. This piece also lives on Medium.
I used to be a proud member of the 5 AM club. At 11:43 PM on a Tuesday, I was answering emails that could have waited until Thursday.… Read the rest “I Quit the 5 AM Club and My Career Moved Faster (Seneca Saw This Coming)”
A reply six days late, a heart emoji, and the two-month experiment that cured me of being everyone’s low-maintenance friend.
Last Thursday, I finally answered a text that had been sitting in my inbox for six days.
It was from Jess. A decade ago, I’d have called her my closest friend without needing to think about it.… Read the rest “I Stopped Being a ‘Low-Maintenance’ Friend and Nearly Lost My Best Friend Over a Heart Emoji”
