If you view knowledge for its utility, you will never fully appreciate it. — The ethos of note-taking is simple: Free your mind from the burden of information storage, and direct it toward creative expression. This is the slogan that any note-taking aficionado will point to, and it’s one that makes sense. However, I’ve come to realize that there’s a problem with this. And…

“Whatever I am, that I want to understand.” — I recently came across a passage from Krishamurti’s Think On These Things that gave me pause. I rarely highlight entire paragraphs when I read, but this one was so poignant that I had to elevate it from the page and into my memory. Here it is: I am envious because…

In a culture so focused on managing time, we have become subservient to it. — In Seneca’s opening letter to his friend Lucilius, he writes: Everything we have belongs to others; time alone is ours. If I were to sum up the culture of productivity in one sentence, that would be it. The reason why time management software and note-taking apps are multi-billion dollar industries…

It’s what you don’t see that matters the most — This is Stan. And this is his friend Creativity.

Our expectations of the world are truly perplexing — The strangest thing about reality is how un-strange it actually is. Let me explain. When Newton discovered the laws of gravity in the 17th century, this was a fundamental departure from the prevailing paradigm at the time. Prior to Newton, people believed that celestial bodies orbited around one another in…

A step-by-step playbook for the skill of the future — My earliest childhood memory was stressful. I was about five years old, and it started with me waking up from an afternoon nap. Since I was a child with many needs, the first thing I did was ask for my mom.

Beat perfectionism by embracing this one simple concept — When I start on a new post, I’m off to the races. Words connect, the creative juices flow, and I’m able to get a lot done.

You can’t predict the countless benefits that await you on the other side — Life leaps come in varying distances. Some feel lofty and risky:

Learn the three rules of self-doubt to silence its voice for good — Of all the emotions I struggle with, the toughest is self-doubt. To give you an idea of our tenuous relationship, here are some of the questions self-doubt routinely asks me: “Hey, you. Yeah, you. Will your work ever be good enough?” “Do you really think you’ll be able to grow…