Work Less and Do More

Ok, big epiphany today.
I was complaining. Then I noticed that somethings, I complain about. Others, I don’t. What’s the difference?
For me, complaints seem to be statements of where in my life doesn’t seem under my control. Even when complaining about myself (”Darn these love handles”), I only complain about the things I have trouble with [...]

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I’m trying to get a sense of what kinds of things stay on our backlogs and clutter up our mental lives.
When you don’t get to something on your “to do” list on a given day, how long does it stick around before you finally do it or drop it from the list? What kind of [...]

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Here’s a video by Barry Schwartz, the author of “The Paradox of Choice.” Having more choices seems to be a recipe for doing less and being less happy (exactly the opposite of what we all want). I want to work this material into the book somehow, but am not quite sure how to do it.

Where [...]

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Ok, my desk sometimes gets a tad messy. So now I’m working on techniques for whipping that desk back into shape. Looking around, there’s a clear pattern: I’ve got Books-I’ll-read-someday here, along with a bunch of incoming paper mail that needs attention (utility bills? I don’t need no stinking gas! … oh, wait. Yeah, I [...]

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I’ve been getting a lot of letters from college students asking for tips that are specific to them. I’m trying to get a sense of what the big issues are in college these days. In my Taking Killer Notes episode, I talked about my note-taking technique from college. What other issues/problems did you have in [...]

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I’ve been exploring ideas around self-promoting at work, being recognized, and motivation as it relates to recognition and achievement.
What is the relationship for you between achievement and recognition? How do you know you’ve achieved something? What forms of recognition do you want for your achievements (from self? others?)? Is there a relationship? If you achieve [...]

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In yesterday’s post Can money buy happiness, people seemed to agree that money doesn’t buy happiness directly, but it can buy choices, security, freedom, etc., which can help happiness.
This question isn’t for the book, but for my own curiosity. I was talking with several people from European countries this February. We compared tax rates, and [...]

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Well, isn’t that just the cat’s pajamas. There’s a new study out that shows that happiness may be linked to absolute levels of income, after all. Of course, as the article states, it’s linked to other things as well, like time spent with friends. This may change part of my thesis for the book. …. [...]

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I’d value your thoughts. I just wrote a fairly rambling post about my frustration at how we ignore data in favor of superstition, and that could lead to stuff like, oh, the collapse of modern society.

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In my business blog today, I got a little, er, hot about tax season. In my footnote, I flamed on about the 2004 elections, noting:
One thing I’m sure of: none of you stopped to analyze the quality of your 2004 decision-making and explicitly change the criteria you used to make your bad decision. It may [...]

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