Staring at a blank screen for twenty minutes doesn’t mean you’re a bad creator. It’s simply a signal that your brain needs a new source of inspiration. Everyone experiences a creative block at some point, whether you’re a gifted designer, writer, musician, or even a YouTuber who uploads videos every day seemingly effortlessly. Your talent … Read more
When I noticed that half the audience was looking at their phones, the presentation was already on the third of the forty slides. The speaker—a highly skilled and talented professional—had lost the audience’s attention simply by listing points. It wasn’t that his points were incorrect; it was that his tool was flawed. Since 1987, PowerPoint … Read more
Most people do not keep a diary. For them, a diary is simply a daily summary—a record of events, complaints, and a list of the trivial things of the day. There is nothing wrong with that in itself, but it does not make you more creative, efficient, or smarter. It is merely emotional comfort, not … Read more
Three years ago, I created a spreadsheet for a website overhaul. Sixty lines of tasks, prioritized with different colors, with columns for dependencies and various calculations—enough to make an accountant proud. Technically, it was finished. But it was completely meaningless. The problem wasn’t with the numbers, but with the formatting. Spreadsheets require linear thinking, line … Read more
Let me tell you about the worst podcast I have ever heard. The host used a $400 microphone, a $200 microphone stand, a $150 pop filter, and a $2,000 audio jack. The sound was terrible. Not because the equipment was bad, but simply because he didn’t know how to handle it. Every breath sounded like … Read more
Your phone already shoots 4K video. It has optical picture stabilization, computational photography and processing capacity to edit feature films. Your camera in your pocket is technically better than the $50,000 broadcast cameras used for television news in 2010. And yet most smartphone footage still looks like… footage from a smartphone. This gap is not … Read more
I once witnessed a small business owner agonizing over two shades of blue for three hours before finally choosing her website title. It wasn’t that she was indecisive; she simply lacked an effective decision-making system. After choosing a color, she kept mulling it over, consulted friends, sought various opinions, and ultimately started all over again. … Read more