Discussion about productivity
A thoughtful reflection on Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig. My biggest takeaway: true quality comes from embracing the process, protecting your “gumption,” and being fully present. Lessons that apply as much to engineering and leadership as they do to life.
Should you start your project today or in three months?
The answer depends on whether you’re trying to save money or make money—and most organizations get this catastrophically wrong.
Deadline-driven projects should start as late as possible. Revenue-generating projects should start immediately. Yet most companies treat both the same way, padding schedules and managing to timelines while opportunity costs silently compound.
One project type rewards patience. The other punishes every day of delay. Knowing which you’re running changes everything.
We’re drowning in data and starving for insight.
We wear complexity like a badge of honor. Fifty-slide decks. Hundreds of KPIs. Intricate org charts. We think this proves we’re sophisticated.
But complexity is often where confused strategies hide.
The Universe’s Lesson
E = mc². Three letters, one number, one operator. It explains energy and matter—from stars to reactors.
F = ma. This equation built bridges and sent us to the moon.
They’re powerful because of their simplicity, not despite it.
Kristen Cox and Yishai Ashlag wrote *The World of Decorating the Fish* because they kept seeing smart organizations investing massive resources into initiatives that produced marginal improvements. Busy teams. Impressive presentations. Negligible results.
Their central metaphor is perfect: we’re decorating raw fish instead of cooking it. We’re making things *look* better without making them *be* better.
**Are You Decorating?**
If you respond with “it’s complicated,” you’re decorating.
This year’s reading explores human behavior, societal structures, and personal effectiveness. Insights challenge us to rethink motivation (Drive, Flow) & irrationality (Predictably Irrational), while exposing hidden systems of power (Caste, The World is Flat).
I couldn’t look away from the Titan documentary. As someone who’s built teams and pushed boundaries, watching Stockton Rush felt uncomfortably familiar—the drive, impatience with bureaucracy, absolute conviction you’re revolutionizing an industry. But Rush crossed a line that cost five lives, showing how passion can become perilous.
The next time you see a leader who is calm, steady, and quietly resilient, give them the ultimate compliment: call them a donkey. Donkeys are often dismissed as slow, stubborn, or even ‘dumb.’ But they are intelligent, disciplined, and take pride in keeping their space clean and orderly.
The race to “solve all diseases” has begun, and AI is leading the charge. A Historic Moment in Medicine Something remarkable is happening in pharmaceutical labs around the world. For the first time in history, drugs designed entirely by artificial intelligence are about to be tested in humans. Alphabet’s Isomorphic Labs will begin these groundbreaking […]
Like origami masters who transform simple paper into art through deliberate folds, successful businesses grow through Sterner’s 4S principles: Simplify complexity, Start small, Move slow, Practice short bursts.
Explore 10 common cognitive biases that quietly shape our decisions—from optimism and survivorship bias to anchoring and plan continuation. This quick guide links to detailed posts, helping leaders and professionals recognize and counter these mental shortcuts for smarter, more objective choices.