Fidelity is not quality
Fidelity is the level of detail and functionality in a deliverable. I might create a high-fidelity video by focusing on the narrative, but omit transitions,...
Life is not a sport
Sports have a limited scope of possibility. You could hit a home-run and score 4 runs. That's the MAX return you'll get from any one at-bat. In life, there...
Loneliness is optional
Being alone is no easy task. This might not seem like a problem. After all, when are we truly alone? With all the noise we can hide (or lose) who we truly...
Comparing ourselves
Competition is a dangerous game to play, especially when we're trying to measure up. It can be hard to trust the process, especially if we look around and...
Marketing is Product
Marketing starts with product. Product starts with two principles: Be opinionated about what you're building, Be opinionated about who you're building it...
You know what to do
No one will tell you to do the work. It's likely that no one will even tell you to do important things. Many will tell you to do what's safe, but it's likely...
If you're so smart, go do it.
There's a oft-quoted paper from the MIT Technology Review, If you're so smart, why aren't you rich? with a simple premise: Intelligence & work ethic follow a...
Every problem is the same
Every problem is a leadership problem. The problems in your life. The problems in your family. The problems at your job. The problems in the world. A good...
What the iPhone did for photography
What will AI do for programming? Easy.The same thing the iPhone did for photography. Programming (engineering) is the process of solving problems with code....
Suffering is optional
Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional Pain and suffering are not synonymous. The first is a fact of life, the second is a response. I might experience...
Main character energy
It's telling humans first thought the solar system revolved around Earth. We love to think the universe is here just for us. "Main character" energy is...
Build for where you want to be
Many startups have died a painful death to "improve" LLMs. If you build an improvement on a model, it's likely the next version will end your product. The...
You'll never be on the same team twice
It's rare to be on a great team. It's rare to have a championship season or a winning run. Those experiences can be unforgettable. In work and life, great...
Life and plants
Plants are surprisingly easy to kill. Trust me, I speak from experience. Too little water, too much water. Not enough sunlight, too much sunlight, you get...
Pen, not pencil
For many of us, the first tool we used to express ourselves was the pencil. Pencils are forgiving, mostly thanks to their sidekick—the eraser. But...
It's easier to win if you're a winner
Life is easier when you're a winner. That seems self-evident and unfair, but it's true. But winning is a chicken-and-egg problem. It's hard to win until you...
Are you going through the motions?
When we get into a routine, even a productive one, it can be easy to go through the motions. How intentional were you on the last squat of your final set?...
There's more than one way to do a hard thing
As a society, we glorify achievement and tests of will: grueling workouts, day-long sprints of unbroken work, consuming no meat, consuming only meat, cold...
Despite their training
There's an old saying in sport that many of the best succeed "despite their training, not because of it"—professional athletes are notorious for having diet...
Make life fun again
sunday 🌶️ take: you'll do the best at things you a) enjoy and b) do for decades. the easiest path to a) & b) is to make those things fun. yes, life can be...
A game with many games
In a fast-paced world, the "all or nothing" mindset is both common and incredibly distracting. To many, life is a single game where a flawless performance in...
We are what we think
What defines you? What's your identity? For many of us, identity is dictated by how we spend our time. Working, with friends, at the gym, in the woods. Our...
Direction is not absolute
If you're going the wrong direction, you won't end up in the right place. Going South from San Diego won't get me to San Francisco... well, not for a while....
It's hard to lose a friend
I'm not oblivious—I know life is ephemeral. Still, I take for granted just how transitory it can be. The places we go, the things we do, and the people we...
A responsive web app in 150 lines of Python
At the time of this writing, there's quite a bit of volatility in both markets and tech. I feel it's unwarranted. It's a rare event when technology comes...
Speed bumps
This morning I woke up to make a cup of coffee. Kettle on, scale out, beans measured & ground, pouring commenced. But no steam came off the water. The beans...
Making the same mistakes
While navigating my early 20's and making mistake after mistake, my dad shared a poem with me that I still read weekly—Portia Nelson's Autobiography in 5...
Learn how to focus
I’m re-listening to one of my favorite books “Peak Performance” by Steve Magness and Brad Stulberg. The most striking thing about the book is the advocacy...
When I was a kid
When I was a kid, I thought it would be cool to play baseball in college. More than that, I thought it important to go to a good school. I worked really...
Overcoming fear
Feeling uncomfortable Every day, we're confronted with problems. Some problems are easy: "I'm out of soap and I need to buy more." Some problems are hard:...
The journey can be fun
I recently saw a quote from the founder of AirBnb, Brian Chesky, and it got me thinking... Somewhere between working for startups, moving across the country,...
One year ago today
A year ago today, I put everything I owned in my truck and moved across the country from North Carolina to the Bay Area. I didn’t know where I was going, I...
📫 Life is a game of catch
You don’t try to win a game of catch. In fact, the whole point of catch is that you’re playing catch. And it goes on indefinitely until either you or your...
📫 It’s easy to be a hypocrite
I’ve been participating in sport my entire life. I’m grateful for finding my love for strength training around 18— it’s been a huge part of my life since....
📫 Everyone is a genius
What does it mean to have writer’s block? To have no ideas at all? To be a lazy procrastinator? At some point, we’ve all been there, utterly unable to be...
📫 Takeaways from my first course
A few weeks ago, I traveled down to the LinkedIn Learning studio in Carpinteria, CA to record my first course (Fundamentals of Data Transformation 🤓). It’s...