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Solitude Deprivation

Since I’m doing some editing and cleaning on my site, I figured it might be fun to do another link love issue. Enjoy! — CJ 1 Author Cal Newport explains the collected research on whether smartphones are bad for kids or just another moral panic. This was more even-handed than

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Are you useful?

I preach about the miracle of constraints and their ability to boost creativity in anyone. But I see un-useful constraints being used all the time by creators, so I wanted to make a small list of examples to clarify what a useful constraint looks like. There’s only two real

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The C Word

“Curation” shouldn’t be a dirty word, but it is. In the last decade, it has come to mean slapped-together-links, or outright-stolen content, used to fill space and capture just enough attention to convert free onlookers into consumers. There’s a lot of truth behind that association. In fact, I’

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Your Smartest Dumb Tech

If the resurgence of blogging and newsletters wants to remain sane, it should really be a resurgence of RSS. Email has new problem. For the longest time, I’ve advocated for publishing by email as the most independent, universal, and effective form of getting the word out about anything. That’

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Just putting it out there

Publish your weird ideas in public. You never know who’s listening. Back in May 2021, I posted this idea about a guitar design to Twitter, tagging EVH guitars: I asked EVH for a Nuno-style version of the guitar (which is a natural-finish ash or swamp ash guitar body with

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Having trouble starting your next thing?

Make a list of writers, podcasters, and YouTubers who are consistently pushing out great stuff – in the ugliest ways. Refer to it often. I love slap-dash creators! I won’t name names here, but they’re not hard to find. From the CEO who records videos on his morning walks

Having trouble starting your next thing?
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You are more interesting than you think.

I’m guessing you’re a generalist, because most people are. But the online content-consumption machine seems to reward those who make their personalities all about one thing. I believe that’s a distracting, unhelpful remnant of the first 29-ish years of the web — minus the first five years. Why

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Why move to Ghost?

I got a lot of messages after my move to Ghost Pro from Squarespace (after being there almost 15 years). I figured it made sense to post the reasons publicly. So, here goes. Better Experience Yes, you pay a lot more. But, you’re paying for the time saved toward

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Be everywhere. But be your best here.

The biggest trend in branding this year appears to be one of the oldest trends — signature models. From shoes to guitars, old-school brands are flooding the market with products stamped with a creator’s personal brand. A “brand” is just a “reputation.” The bigger you get as a company, the

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Ghosting to Improve Relationships

This post is my first on my new host, Ghost. They were kind enough to port my 15+ years worth of blog posts and newsletters over to kick the tires. My former host, Squarespace, was built up by word-of-mouth during the second golden age of blogging, and evangelized by bloggers