Author: Jeff Shearer

I try to keep track of the media I consume over the year – books, games, shows, movies. Here’s what my November looked like: Books Keep Going – Austin Kleon Not as memorable as Steal Like an Artist, which I got a turned onto during the altMBA program, but a quick, inspirational read. The Mosquito:…

I was reminded of a great post recently about the value of daily practice. And earlier this year, this blog was perfect evidence of how a daily routine can keep itself running. Some days, I’d be happy with the post I published to the world. Other days, it felt a little rough. Like it could…

Besides regularly contribution on this blog, one of the most productive exercises I’ve adopted in recent years has been a daily journal. Nearly every morning I sit down and write a few pages in a handwritten journal. There’s no strict format, but my entries typically are a log what happened of note in the previous…

I spend a lot of time in complex systems and data, so I know where the pitfalls and shortcuts lie. I’m so close to this work, and I do these tasks so often that they’re automatic. As a result, I often lose sight of just how remarkable some of this knowledge is, especially to the…

I took a Lyft on my way to the airport recently that had a tablet mounted to the back of the seat with a bunch of ad-supported games. Trivia, mostly. And I love trivia, so I had to check it out. But I quickly realized the questions were all stupidly easy. A few samplings from…

Fall as told by TV and popular media is an orderly affair. The tree leaves change colors from burnt orange to deep amber, and eventually they all fall off. But if you actually pay attention to the trees around your home, as I did yesterday on a walk, this transition is not uniform at all.…

You’re fooling yourself if you think you’ll remember all the important work you did a year or two from now. Sure you may remember a few of the big, visible projects, but the more subtle work you did may be tough to recall. So when it comes time to update your resume, you’re up a…

A few years back, I got completely sucked into the business and self improvement book genre, reading basically everything I could find of value. My favorites? Rework, Anything You Want, the Lean Startup, Let My People Go Surfing. But at some point, I started hitting a rut. Maybe it was the retreading of popular anecdotes.…

Early in my career, I made a few enemies. Mostly because a disagreement in my mind turned into an attitude of “they’re out to get me”. I created these enemies myself, and the animosity I held towards them lasted for years. Looking back on those times is embarrassing – disagreement & conflict are natural parts…

The perfect feature set. The perfect structure. The perfect circumstances. We never quite seem to reach any of them. It’s worth knowing where perfect lies for getting your bearings, but endlessly chasing it is like trying to catch your shadow. Settle for “good enough for now” instead.