When writing about the hyper-niche strategy, I thought back to all my own side projects. In this post, I offer a brief post-mortem for each one, so you can learn from my mistakes and don’t repeat them. (There were even more projects, but these were the main ones.) Webmaster forum (2003-2015)While this started as a…
Category: Happiness
Will I Buy the New Apple AirPods?
Will I buy the new AirPods? The short answer is: No. Should you buy the new AirPods? The short answer is: Yes. (If you don’t own any yet.) I bought my AirPods exactly two years ago. To be honest, I was reluctant to buy them. I have been pretty happy with my regular headphones, and…
Audio Is Titanically Important
I am a huge believer in audio. These days, more than ever. I started listening to audiobooks 11 years ago, inspired by a friend (thank you, Rouven!). I had a portable MP3 player. First, I had to buy or lend a CD, then convert the CD into MP3, and then load them onto the device….
Be a Useful Member of Society
Every morning, I answer the question “What is important to me?” One of the answers is “Be useful”. Benjamin Franklin has been teaching it 300 years ago. Charlie Munger is teaching it today. The idea is simple: Be a useful member of society. Remember Charlie Munger’s Three Basic Rules: Don’t sell things you wouldn’t buy…
The Cosmic Perspective
I am fascinated by space and the universe. Recently I discovered Google Maps Space View. You can access it by going to Satellite view and then zooming all the way out (only on desktop). You can turn the earth, see where the sun is and what parts of Earth are bright or dark. As you…
Zero Browser Tab Policy
Open browser tabs are just another nagging reminder of unfinished work. I used to have 5-10 open tabs on my laptop and 50-100 open tabs on my phone. It served as my reading list, my video list, things I was researching. It didn’t feel right. And it was a source of anxiety. Then, I implemented…
Automate your invoice payments
Paying invoices manually is a waste of time. Instead, I apply the principle “eliminate or automate” to get rid of as many invoice payments as possible. Whenever I get an invoice, I do a quick check: Can I add a credit card? Do they offer a direct debit option? (When in doubt, I ask customer…
Disable your notifications
For many years of iPhone usage, I became a victim of The Power of Defaults. I didn’t question the notification settings. Then it dawned on me: I can change them! So I did. My new default is inspired by Zero-based budgeting. I went through all notifications and disabled most of them: Sounds? Gone. Badges? Gone….
Top five regrets of the dying
A nurse has compiled the top five regrets of the dying. I have read the summary often, and I also plan to read the book. I’m drawn to such insights, because they help me to break out of my day to day routine and help me re-focus on what is truly important. Here are the…
Stop wasting your attention
Ever since reading The 4-Hour Workweek a decade ago I started applying the Low-Information Diet and stopped following the news: no newspapers, no news websites, no news on TV. The principle is simple: Quit the news. If it’s important enough you will hear about it from the people around you. In most cases, you won’t…