My best work. Start here if you are new to my writing.

  • How companies trick you into overpaying

    Psychological tricks rich people use to look generous (without actually spending more money).

      
     
     

  • Friendships form via shared context, not shared activities

    You’re one among millions, not one in a million.

      
     
     

  • I tried 21 diet and exercise programs. None of them worked. Except for one.

    If you started a new fitness program and haven’t seen any results yet, try this instead.

      
     
     

  • How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree

    A story about the unconventional strategies I used to land a job I love.

      
     
     

All Blog Posts

  • Neuroscience reasons for what AI cannot do (yet)

    The AI is only as smart as you pretend to be

      
     
     

  • Love requires grieving your expectations

    To embrace your beloved, they must descend their pedestal first.

      
     
     

  • Two ways to fall in love

    Waiting for love to hit you vs. pursuing it actively.

      
     
     

  • Healthy habits require courage, not sacrifice

    Trick your cravings, not yourself.

      
     
     

  • We should teach Shakespeare in modern English

    Learning is not just about absorbing information, but to inspire a love of learning itself.

      
     
     

  • Common ways startups fail to make what people want (and what to do instead)

    Why listening to customers is an unnatural skill.

      
     
     

  • BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) hurts communication and hinders innovation

    Summaries backfire when ideas are controversial.

      
     
     

  • Most ideas cannot be explained simply

    Some ideas are too complex to be simplified—if you try, the simplified idea will be incorrect.

      
     
     

  • All great civilizations work from home

    Remote is not the future of work, it is the past.

      
     
     

  • ChatGPT turns every user into a power user

    LLMs turn every API into a GUI.

      
     
     

  • Trust your Tests

    Write more automated tests instead of testing manually.

      
     
     

  • How companies trick you into overpaying

    Psychological tricks rich people use to look generous (without actually spending more money).

      
     
     

  • The real purpose of History

    It’s about making better decisions for the future.

      
     
     

  • How to spend money on your friends without it looking like bribery

    Owning things is more socially acceptable than renting them.

      
     
     

  • Why do we fantasize about the apocalypse?

    What could possibly be so seductive about wanting to live through the apocalypse?

      
     
     

  • Using graph theory to prioritize life goals

    Most goal-setting advice focuses on how to achieve goals, instead of which goals even matter. Here, I’ll share strategies I use to prioritize what matters most in life.

      
     
     

  • Hosting an arts & crafts and game show birthday party

    Co-creating a birthday experience with my friends.

      
     
     

  • Why dating apps don’t work

    Online dating is like online shopping for a partner.

      
     
     

  • Friendships form via shared context, not shared activities

    You’re one among millions, not one in a million.

      
     
     

  • Thoughts on Jealousy

    A collection of my reflections on how to manage jealous emotions.

      
     
     

  • Build a bigger engine, not a smaller fuel tank

    The top line is infinite and permanent. The bottom line is finite and temporary.

      
     
     

  • Creating Crew

    Creating Crew is a peer feedback, support, and education group to help you do more writing, drawing, singing, and producing of your artistic work.

      
     
     

  • I tried 21 diet and exercise programs. None of them worked. Except for one.

    If you started a new fitness program and haven’t seen any results yet, try this instead.

      
     
     

  • Book Review: Reinforcement Learning by Sutton and Barto

    Simpler animals require concrete rewards and punishments to drive behaviour, but you can get a human being to toil away in the fields with only a story about an imagined afterlife.

      
     
     

  • Canada is second place

    Canada is #2. That’s why it’s awesome.

      
     
     

  • Why Blog?

    In search of a shared language to communicate.

      
     
     

  • 3 quick hacks to make video calls less fatiguing

    Fight Zoom fatigue with these small 5-minute changes.

      
     
     

  • Vulnerability is Not Enough

    Open mindedness vs. open heartedness.

      
     
     

  • Prisons of the Mind

    When I was a teenager, I was falsely accused of a crime I didn’t commit. I prepared for the worst.

      
     
     

  • Idea Club

    Formerly named “Book Club”, we gather every week to share important ideas, perspectives, and experiences.

      
     
     

  • Building my own gym

    After my gym closed, I decided to build my own gym. I share some photos and my lessons learned.

      
     
     

  • Learning Night

    Learning Night is a TED-like speaker series where our coolest friends get together and give talks about topics they are passionate about.

      
     
     

  • The Problem with the Case Method

    Why the Case Method doesn’t work, and what business schools should teach instead.

      
     
     

  • I interviewed 14 expert marketers to learn their secrets. Here’s what I discovered.

    A surprising reason why growth hacking doesn’t work, and how to become a top marketer.

      
     
     

  • How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree

    A story about the unconventional strategies I used to land a job I love.

      
     
     

  • How To Get More Creative

    Creative people are not born with a magical talent. Research shows they followed a well-known process to get there.

      
     
     

  • Bob and Doug

    The true story of how we raised two goats in our backyard, and what I learned from their rise to fame.

      
     
     

  • Slaying the Dragon

    Do you remember the fairy tales they told you as a kid?

      
     
     

  • How I hacked the SAT and raised my score by 1000 points in 3 months

    The first time I wrote the SAT, I scored 1370. Three months later, I had a score of 2370, only two wrong answers away from a perfect score of 2400. This is the story of how I did it.

      
     
     

  • What chess competitions taught me about startups

    6 lessons from playing in chess tournaments for 2 years

      
     
     

  • What I learned from learning Spanish in 4 months

    I went from zero to fluent. But the biggest life change was not related to the language.