Articles
Writings on life, love, the mind, stress, anxiety, distraction,
and living skillfully in the modern age.
Why 'Completion Addiction' Might be Your Biggest Barrier to More Productive Work
Originally published in Inc. Magazine.
It's 2 a.m. I'm wide awake. Thoughts about the vendor I need to reply to, the email I forgot to write, and my overflowing inbox spin through my head, pinging me awake like mental smartphone notifications. Finally, I've had enough. I get out of bed and pull out my computer.
I open my inbox: "121 unread messages."
I spend the next two hours flying through my inbox. It's a blur of calendar invites, Slack messages, emails, and Asana...
Overwhelmed by Your Inbox? You Might be Experiencing 'Email Apnea'
Originally published in Inc. Magazine.
Have you ever wondered why, after spending hours on email, you feel tense and tight? Why you feel more anxious than before? Or why, even when do you stop, your mind keeps spinning?
This is the state that psychologist Linda Stone calls "email apnea." It's characterized by "shallow breathing or breath holding while doing email, or while working or playing in front of a screen."
Email apnea occurs for a variety of reasons. First, our posture slumps...
Want to Know the Real Reason You're So Distracted? Harvard Scientists Have the Answer
Originally published in Inc. Magazine.
When it comes to how to be more focused and less distracted, we've got things inside out.
We tend to think that we are distracted because of the devices in our pocket, Instagram, Facebook, text messages, phone calls, and the thousands of other notifications beckoning for our attention.
But according to the research of two Harvard psychologists, the real problem isn't our chaotic environment, its our minds.
Psychologists Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel...
Ecstatic Emailing: Turn Your Inbox From Torture to Bliss
Let’s face it, email sucks.
Each day, I open my inbox to find hundreds of messages waiting for me. Even though I’m a religious unsubscriber, 30% are marketing emails that go straight to the trash. The rest are messages from co-workers, friends, and family members with thinly veiled requests for how I should be spending my time: “Can you send me that file?” “Hey, we really need to think about this new partnership?” “Can you make a reservation for...
Is There A Cure For Social Media Mind?
Following the 2016 Election, I stopped using social media for two reasons:
- The fact that a foreign entity manipulated American public opinion and undermined the legitimacy of the democratic process using these tools
- The fact that numerous studies have linked time spent on social media with higher rates of anxiety, depression, and even suicide.
In recent months, however, I came to the realization that the modern professional often has to engage in these spaces. These tools, after all, help us...
The Cost of Time - How Much Would You Pay to Have More Time?
The people I know who seem to have it all still lack one thing. Time.
In just about every conversation I have these days, I hear people complaining about the scarcity of time. “I’m crazy busy,” “I’m grinding,” “I’m back-to-back all day,” “I’m slammed,” they say.
My life is no different. I often feel that I’m trying to cram 2 days worth of activities and events into a single 24-hour period – trying to make space...
How to Work Like an Olympian With 24-Hour Sprint and Recover Cycles
Monotony is the enemy of productivity and innovation.
And yet it’s so easy to slip into the trap of doing the same things, the same way, over and over. We eat the same breakfast. We take the same commute. We face the same daily onslaught of texts and emails. We move through the day at the same pace. Then we wake up and do it all over again.
The deeper I slip into this state, the more rigid I become, both in mind and body. Mentally, I lose the big perspective of...
