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5 Books That Changed How I Think About Work
A handful of books changed how I work. Not better tips — better assumptions about focus, motivation, and systems. Here are the five I keep coming back to.
Essays
productivity articles
38 articles matching this filter.
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GoalsWon Review: Accountability Coaching That Kept Me Focused
My honest review of GoalsWon after 6 months of accountability coaching—including what worked, what didn't, and whether the investment was worth it for staying focused on big goals.
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24 Things I Do to Maximize My Productivity
I've tried every productivity tip and tool that I could over the years. This post is a list of the most impactful habits I've developed, those that I've found most valuable and have stuck with me. These are habits anyone can adopt to get more done and make the most of their time.
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29 Lessons From Year 29
This year was a weird one, but there was just as much to learn. Here are 9 things that stood out for me this year.
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10 Things I've Learned About Remote Work
Ten hard-won lessons about remote work from years of experience—covering communication, productivity, work-life boundaries, and building meaningful connections with distributed teams.
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The Complete Guide to Annual Reviews
There are three steps to a great annual review: reflect, brainstorm, and plan. This article outlines my process and includes a template with 50+ prompts for things to review.
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8 Lessons from Year 28
Lessons I've learned on how to live better from my 28th year, including the formula for happiness, how to set good goals, and what you should read.
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My Favourite Tech Products
A curated list of my favourite tech products for productivity, focus, and effective work—from noise-cancelling headphones to apps that help me stay organized and get things done.
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My Morning Routine - 7 Things to Win the Day
Details of my morning routine, which includes 7 things I do to win the day, as well as my tips for creating your own morning routine.
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How to Balance Ambition & Happiness
Happiness is a skill that can be improved, and it is possible to be both wildly ambitious, yet happy with your day-to-day progress. This post talks about strategies for accomplishing both.
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Techstars Boston Week 3 - Sales are King
Lessons learned from Week 3 at Techstars Boston. This week the focus was sales, on which all businesses are built.
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Techstars NYC Week 2 - Sales & Mentor Madness
After determining that growth and product were going to be our two main points of focus in Week 1, we got prepared for Mentor Madness in Week 2.
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Why You Should be Buying Solar for Your Home
Thinking about buying solar panels for your home? This post breaks down the math, including the payback period, for panels located in the Northern Hemisphere, and shows you how to do the calculations for your own location.
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How I Do My End-of-Year Review
Whether you set New Year’s resolutions or not, you should do an end-of-year review. Here’s how I structure mine, which can serve as a starting point for your own review.
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How to Study in College
Learn about preparation and strategies for studying efficiently and succeeding in university/college.
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How to Take Notes in College
Learn how to take effective notes in college/university, with tips on what parts of the lecture to pay attention to, specific products, and the system I used to keep track of tasks.
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My First 3 Months at Unito
Reflections on my first 3 months at Unito, a Montreal-based tech startup—lessons on joining a growing company, product development, and startup culture.
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Techstars NYC Week 3 - Mentor Madness & Customer Acquisition
Mentor Madness is an interesting time – you repeatedly get questioned, given opinions, and you usually end the week feeling as if you have no idea what you’re doing.
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Techstars Boston Week 6 - Hangover
Lessons from Week 6 at Techstars Boston, with some great Founder Stories, learning about behavioural interviewing and exploring cofounder conflict.
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Techstars Boston Week 9 - Product
After dipping briefly following Mentor Madness (at least in feel), the pace here has started to noticeably increase again. That mostly means founders and teams have less time for distractions, and are putting in even longer hours than usual. New product is being shipped, and more time is being dedicated to fundraising and sales, in preparation for Demo Day. As such, the focus this week was mostly on product development, and putting more pressure on growth.
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Time Not Money
I’ve lost my childhood desire to own and drive a supercar daily. It’s a result of a gradual change in my own thinking, which can be summarized as: time not money.
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Techstars NYC Week 7 - Elevator Pitches
Week 7 kicked off the final stretch of the program, during which we would normally be preparing for Demo Day. There have been a few posts written recently (Ty Danco, Ross Baird) about why we should be changing Demo Days, and Techstars NYC has been experimenting with a different format.
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Just-in-Case vs. Just-in-Time Learning
Just-in-case learning is what we’re taught in school. But just-in-case learning is vastly more efficient. Learn when and why you should use each.
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10 Things I Do to Sleep Better
Good sleep has a huge impact on our lives, and most of us spend around a third of our lives sleeping. Don’t you want the best sleep you can get? Here are 10 things I do to get better sleep.
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How to Form Good Habits (and Break Bad Ones)
Forming new habits is tough–most of us fail when we try. But creating good habits is worth the effort. This post provides a detailed guide on how to form good habits and break bad ones.
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The Jocko Willink Workout Advice That Changed My Habits
Learn about the Jocko Willink workout advice that has changed my habits, helping me stick to things like scheduled workouts.
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Measurement is Not the Goal (and Sleep Anxiety is Real)
Those of us who like data try to measure everything. But what if that’s counterproductive? Measuring things is not the goal. This post explores when and what we should be measuring, using the example of sleep anxiety.
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Techstars Week 2 - Settling In
Learnings from Week 2 of Techstars Boston, covering the start of Mentor Madness, adjusting to the intense accelerator pace, and early lessons on startup focus and prioritization.
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Techstars Boston Week 7 - Fundraising
Lessons from Week 7 of Techstars Boston focusing on fundraising strategy, cap table structure, and how to approach early-stage investors with confidence.
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Techstars Boston Week 8 - Enterprise
For whatever reason, this week the workshops focused largely on enterprise-oriented companies, and the Founder Stories happened to come from two people involved with an enterprise-focused company. From a general standpoint, this week has been about growth. Companies are spending a lot of time working out their strategy for the next 6-12 months, and which direction they will head after Techstars.
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The 4 Things You Need for a Great Remote Work Setup
Remote work is here to stay. To make it productive, you need to make sure you have these four things in place. If you do, it will be almost like being in person!
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Techstars NYC Week 1 - Preparation
My plan was/is to write a post every week during my time here in Techstars NYC – we’re currently starting Week 6, but I plan to catch up.
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Why Positive Constraints Are So Valuable
I haven't managed to write nearly as much as I'd hoped for the past several months, but for good reason. After Techstars finished, I did a bit of traveling to visit some friends in Europe, and then headed back home to Nova Scotia. I ended up staying longer than planned - it's difficult to leave Nova Scotia in the summer (check out this video to see what I mean). Ultimately though, it was one of the best summers in recent memory.
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Writing and Stuff
The first post on my blog! This explains a bit about what I'd like to accomplish in my writing here.
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How to Communicate Effectively
Effective communication is important for every aspect of life. Here are two communication techniques I’ve learned that have proven to be exceptionally useful.
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How to Read a Book
Learning and applying knowledge from books doesn’t happen automatically. This article outlines how to make the most of the books you read.
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Lean Systems - My Next Project
I've joined a new startup called Lean Systems (as of September)! I'm super excited about the project, in which I'm now a cofounder, and the last few months since joining have been awesome. I wanted to share a bit about the company, as well as my thought process in selecting a new challenge following my time as an Associate with Techstars Boston (Spring 2016).
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You Must Tell Yourself the Truth
Telling yourself the truth may seem trivial in situations like casual golf games. But it may be more important than you think. Learning to see the truth is a fundamental life skill. This post explains why.