AWP Podcast Episode 2: Why Cal Newport Thinks Your Phone is Destroying Your Inner World

Posted in: Applying Wisdom

RSS URL Direct Download Link Who is Cal Newport? Cal Newport is a computer science professor at Georgetown University who also writes contrarian advice about succeeding as a student, cultivating a meaningful career, and most recently, adjusting the way we use technology so that we can lead deeper, more meaningful lives. I highly recommend reading

AWP Podcast Episode 1: Ultralearning and Meaning with Scott Young

Posted in: Applying Wisdom

RSS URL Direct Download Link Who is Scott Young? Scott Young is an entrepreneur and writer who is an expert on Ultralearning, a method for acquiring difficult skills rapidly and effectively. While we talk a great deal about his recently published book Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career, Scott has

Acceptance, Not Escape: How to Stop Disappointing Yourself

In January, I left the full time, somewhat lucrative project I had been working on for a few years to focus on building out my business. With dreams of glory and dollars in my eyes, I confidently projected that I would wake up at 5 AM every day, do a bunch of business activities, work

What is New is Old: Nuns and Nones

I recently read a fascinating article in the New York Times about a new organization called Nuns and Nones. The goal of this organization is to bring together Catholic nuns (a group whose members are literally dying and not being replaced) and millennials who have no specific religious affiliation (the “nones”) to build relationships in

The Soul Abhors a Vacuum: Why Deliberate Wisdom is the Cure for Hidden Religions

Posted in: Applying Wisdom

I recently finished Cal’s latest book, Digital Minimalism, and was thoroughly impressed by his core insight: we are mindlessly ceding our autonomy and personhood to technology. While everyone understands, and agrees that Facebook, Reddit, and Instagram are distractions, most people severely underestimate the damage these tools are doing to the core elements of self-hood. His

Ancient Wisdom Paper 2: Why Ancient Wisdom Trumps the Personal Development Genre

  My previous post outlined the reasons why most of the modern personal development (PD) advice is generally terrible, which begs the question, how and where can we find good advice? By avoiding sources of advice that have the same weaknesses as the PD genre, we stumble on ancient wisdom. To give some background if you

Ancient Wisdom Paper 1: The Fundamental Flaws of the Personal Development Genre

  The Ancient Wisdom Papers (name inspired by the Federalist Papers shortly after seeing the hit Broadway musical Hamilton) is a series of posts I’m writing to make the case that ancient wisdom should be a primary source of advice and counsel as you navigate the tricky, the ambiguous, the painful, and even the happy

My Jewish Wedding Program

On September 2nd in Portland, Oregon, I finally married that girlfriend and later, fiancee, I keep mentioning. I will probably do an ancient wisdom post about marriage in not too long, but for now I wanted to share our program with you. We had a heartfelt Jewish wedding and it was important to us that

Modernity: An Age of Disordered Love

At the recommendation of a friend, I recently read the book “The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian World.” The author Rod Dreher argues that in the culture war between orthodox (small o) Christians and modern secular culture, Christians have already lost and that they should exercise “The Benedict Option” in order to faithfully