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Call it what you want: The Slip-Box, the Note Card system, or Zettelkasten — everything you read on it will be useless without these two basic tenets
I’ve been trying for the last year and a half to implement Ryan Holiday’s great index-card filing system for keeping ideas in place. The idea immediately appealed to me: I scribble in books and mark them up and make notes in the margins and on Post-It notes.
I also really…
The “No, Sh*t, Sherlock” law of behavior change is still a necessary one.
James Clear’s Atomic Habits lays out the way that tiny changes can contribute to lasting behavior change. In other words, micro-movements you make in your schedule, your life, and even the way you talk to yourself can help you to build good habits that last a lifetime.
Apps, software and other technology can streamline your process, allowing you to focus on the work that matters most
I’ve heard so much about the good reasons to add automation to your life: It can help you save money; it can help you to be more efficient; it can help you to be more productive.
But I could never take it seriously, and the reason ranged from outdated opinions…
In order to stick to something, get rid of the roadblocks
In his book Atomic Habits, writer James Clear posits four laws of behavior change. The third is all about making good habits easy. And its inversion, making bad habits difficult, is just as important, maybe because it’s so closely related to removing the friction from creating a good habit.
Before…
Can a hand-drawn map tell us what matters to you?
I recently read Elly Griffiths’ Crossing Places, in which one archaeologist encourages another to consider a map of her living room to help future generations understand her. What, he asks, would be the most important thing to notate?
Inventory, she replies, doubtless thinking that her books and her belongings will…
Hi. Here’s how to pronounce my name: say “yeeshun” for my first name — pronounce the “y” until you remember it’s there, and make it a short “u” — and “lie” for my last.
This is the first thing I tell almost everyone I meet. Folks have this funky thing…
EXPRESS YOURSELF
We contain multitudes; should our avatars reflect that?
The other week I woke up in an absolute, hellfire snit. I had not been that cranky in a long time. (I know you have been there.)
While I was lying there in bed, kvetching out loud and in general making a nuisance of myself, I recalled a creature I’d…
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Watercolor-and-ink illustration of a scale of goodness in orange-and-orange-adjacent beverages. Title is spelled out with illustrations of oranges and script: “[orange illustration] and [orange illustration]-adjacent.” …
How to make good habits attractive, and bad habits unattractive
We’re covering the ways writers can use James Clear’s Atomic Habits to make their own good writerly habits, and ultimately build a strong writing life. This week: the second law of behavior change for writers is all about how to make a good habit attractive, and a bad habit unattractive…
