Working notes
I’ve started publishing some working notes to show my work and learn in public. These notes are continually evolving, in contrast to the blog posts below.
Reflection
One thing I’ve changed in 2020 has been to shift (even) more time towards structured reflection. The volatile and sometimes chaotic environment this year provided a helpful nudge for what would have been worthwhile without it already. In this post, I’ll elaborate on the benefits of reflection as I currently see them and suggest ways…
Self-care
Self-care is challenging yet essential for almost anything you care about. In this post, I’m going to address why I think that’s true, and offer a few strategies that you can implement to manage yourself more deliberately. If you’d prefer a more animated version of this post, you can find a recording of my talk…
Energy Log
Being able to show up energized and motivated every day is necessary to achieve big goals and enjoy the process. This post presents a tool to benchmark your current energy levels as the basis for improvement. Energy levels are a complex issue where causal links are hard to establish. There are too many variables at…
Issue Log
Mistakes are one of our best opportunities to learn and improve. Unfortunately, we’re conditioned to associate mistakes with failure instead of opportunity and to deny or turn away from them. This way, we end up staying the same and likely making the same mistakes over and over again. To start learning from mistakes requires a…
Career Reflection Framework
In early 2019, I felt stuck in my career and took this as an opportunity to reflect on my situation and career prospects. Here, I’m sharing the framework that emerged from this period. I’ve removed personal content so you can directly apply it to your own career. The framework helps you work through a complex…
Coaching Learning Map
In this post, I’m sharing the learning map that I’m using to acquire a strong coaching skill set. After some deliberation, I decided to pursue the first year as a self-guided learning project instead of getting formal credentials. To set myself up for success, I wanted to get clear at the outset on my motivation…
How to Give and Receive Feedback
Giving others feedback is critical to help them succeed. It’s also really difficult, both for the giver and the receiver. Here are some pointers on how to do well in both roles. How to give feedback Goal: Provide outside perspective and encourage effective future behaviour.Step 1: Permission. Ask the Receiver whether you can give them…
Life Principles
Cultivating a list of “life principles” can help you discover what you want and how you can align your actions with your values. It enables you to bring your unseen and unquestioned perspectives and ways of being into the open where you can critically examine and change them. I started working on my own list…
Brainstorming
Coming up with options is one of the critical steps in any decision-making process. Brainstorming is a useful tool to explore the options space. This post illustrates how to do it. People who have trouble coming up with good ideas, if they’re telling you the truth, will tell you they don’t have very many bad…
Goal Setting
This post provides guidance on how to set and evaluate goals in a work context. I recommend doing this on a monthly basis. Set aside 2-4 hours at the end of each month to go through the steps outlined below. Your manager should invest about 1 hour to give feedback. Why set goals? Identify and…
Professional Development in Operations
In my previous role as COO at the Effective Altruism Foundation, I was seeking answers to the question of how to become an excellent business operator—both for myself, the people I managed, and others in my network. I condensed my best guess into a roadmap.
Minimalist Productivity System
To be productive at work without struggling unnecessarily, you need to have a reliable way of organizing everything that’s part of “your world”, including tasks, deadlines, meetings, external dependencies, etc. This post outlines a minimalist approach to designing a productivity system that helps you do your best work. Introduction Getting Things Done, or GTD as…