Tag: #self-improvement
Writing on GPUs, LLMs, MLOps, Kubernetes — and mindset · 55 posts
The Power of Small Habits — The 21-Day Myth, the 66-Day Median, the 18-to-254-Day Reality
The claim that a habit takes 21 days has no research behind it. That number came from a plastic surgeon's observation in 1960. The most-cited habit-formation study, from Lally and colleagues, actually reported an average
2026-08-16 · 12 min read #mindset#habits#psychology#self-improvement#2026-08How Not to Wait for Motivation — Drive Is Not So Much the Cause of Action as, Often, Its Result
Why does the plan to start once the drive arrives fail structurally? The order of action and mood as shown by a behavioural activation meta-analysis, the autonomy, competence and relatedness of self-determination theory,
2026-08-16 · 12 min read #mindset#motivation#psychology#self-improvement#2026-08The Structure of Being Good — Self-Assessment, Feedback, and a Narrow Scope
The wish to be good at something runs strong, yet what being good is actually made of is a question people ask surprisingly rarely. This is a map post that lays out the structure of skill in three pillars: calibrated sel
2026-08-16 · 10 min read #mindset#growth#deliberate-practice#self-improvement#2026-08When Your Purpose Is Unclear — Clarity Is Not a Precondition for Starting
Why does the strategy of waiting until purpose becomes clear fail, in a state of not knowing what you are living for? The view that purpose is discovered downstream of accumulation rather than upstream of planning, the l
2026-08-16 · 12 min read #mindset#purpose#career#self-improvement#2026-08People Do Not Change Easily, and People Change — The Evidence and Speed of Personality Change
The statement that people do not change and the statement that people can change are both true, and that tension is the subject of this post. The rank-order stability of the Big Five that holds throughout adulthood, the
2026-08-16 · 12 min read #mindset#personality#psychology#self-improvement#2026-08What It Means to Work Hard — Effort Is Not a Virtue but a Problem of Allocation
The advice to work hard carries no direction. Treat effort as a budget rather than a total and the picture changes. The nonlinear relationship between working hours and output, a meta-analysis of more than 600,000 people
2026-08-16 · 12 min read #mindset#productivity#burnout#self-improvement#2026-08How to Decide Well — A Good Decision and a Good Outcome Are Not the Same Thing
When the last pass of the Super Bowl was intercepted, everyone called it the worst call in history. But grading a decision by its outcome erases almost everything there was to learn from it. Here is the idea of resulting
2026-07-26 · 12 min read #mindset#decision-making#psychology#productivity#self-improvementMotivation Is Overrated — Design Systems, Not Goals
When a January resolution vanishes by February, the cause is not weak willpower but a flawed design. Motivation is a resource that rises and falls like waves, so any plan that leans on it is bound to collapse. Starting f
2026-07-20 · 7 min read #mindset#habits#routine#self-improvement#productivityWhy 10,000 Hours Alone Will Not Make You Better — The 4 Real Conditions of Deliberate Practice
Why do some people have ten years of experience but the skills of a third-year? The 10,000-hour rule is a popular distortion that Anders Ericsson, the original researcher, himself called a misreading. This post restores,
2026-07-20 · 7 min read #mindset#self-improvement#deliberate-practice#learning#growthConfidence Is Trained, Not Innate — The Sports Psychology of Self-Efficacy
The moment you believe confidence is a personality trait, you stop training it. Sports psychology treats confidence as a repeatable skill. This post covers the four sources of confidence in Bandura's self-efficacy theory
2026-07-20 · 7 min read #mindset#confidence#sports-psychology#self-efficacy#self-improvementJordan Peterson's Major Books: A Thoughtful Reader's Guide
Jordan Peterson is a clinical psychologist and a genuinely polarizing public figure. This guide sets the political controversy aside and focuses on the actual content of his three major books — 12 Rules for Life (2018),
2026-07-11 · 6 min read #books#self-improvement#psychology#jordan-peterson#philosophyPractical Stoicism: Applying an Ancient Philosophy to Modern Life
Stoicism began in Athens around 300 BCE, yet its core tools fit today's anxieties surprisingly well. Grounded in the actual texts of Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius, this post lays out practices you can use: the d
2026-07-11 · 8 min read #philosophy#stoicism#self-improvement#life-adviceHabits Aren't Built in 21 Days: Re-reading Micro-Habits Through the 66-Day Study
'It takes 21 days to build a habit' is folklore that traces to a 1960 surgeon's observation, not a habit experiment. Lally and colleagues' 2010 study, which tracked real behaviour, found a median of 66 days to automatici
2026-07-11 · 6 min read #self-improvement#habits#psychology#productivity#behavior-changeManage Your Energy, Not Your Time — a grounded read on the 2026 wellness trend
2026 self-improvement coverage is shifting its center of gravity from time management to energy management, nervous-system regulation, and emotional fitness. But the framing is actually an old idea from a 2007 Harvard Bu
2026-07-11 · 6 min read #self-improvement#wellness#productivity#energy#recoveryThe Law of Compounding — The Strongest Force in Learning and Life
Compounding is what happens when returns start earning returns of their own. The principle does not stay confined to money. It works the same way in learning, skill, reputation, and relationships. This essay looks calmly
2026-07-05 · 13 min read #learning#compounding#habits#self-improvementLifelong Learners — The Attitudes of Great Students
A balanced look at the attitudes and habits shared by people who never stop learning — deep curiosity, the willingness to be a beginner, teaching as a way to learn, intellectual honesty, and patient humility. It opens wi
2026-07-05 · 14 min read #learning#curiosity#self-improvement#lifelong-learningStoicism — How a 2000-Year-Old Philosophy Answers Modern Life
Through the dichotomy of control, negative visualization, and three Stoic philosophers, we explore how a philosophy born 2000 years ago meets the anxieties of today. We trace its link to modern cognitive behavioral thera
2026-06-21 · 40 min read #philosophy#stoicism#psychology#history#self-improvementHow to Build a Sense of Humor — Are Funny People Born That Way?
Funny people are not born; they are built. From observation and timing to callbacks, the right dose of self-deprecation, and prepared improvisation, this essay cheerfully lays out how to train a sense of humor like a mus
2026-06-20 · 19 min read #culture#humor#comedy#self-improvement#storytellingWake Your Brain With Urgency — Designing Motivation That Beats Procrastination
Procrastination is not a failure of willpower. The brain only revs up its focus when it feels urgency. This essay lays out how to trick your brain in a healthy way with deadlines and vivid outcome imagery, while avoiding
2026-06-19 · 42 min read #culture#motivation#procrastination#productivity#habitMistakes Are Better Than Fake Success
Fake success, where you copy an answer or pass by luck, stops your growth. Honest mistakes, by contrast, are the most accurate learning signal. This essay covers the real learning that mistakes provide, psychological saf
2026-06-19 · 44 min read #learning#failure#psychological-safety#growth#self-improvement