Life is full of opportunities with upside risk, a known cost, but a chance of a massive upside. This post is about why we miss out on so many, and how to fill your life with them

When I procrastinate, I often put something off until creeping guilt and deadlines force me out of inaction, and I do something about it. This generally sucks. But far worse, is when something is important but doesn’t have any deadlines, and can be put off indefinitely. I call this failure to achieve my long-term goals macro-procrastination.

Overcoming bias is a key step for forming true beliefs. But this is hard, because biases don’t feel like biases from the inside. I outline my thoughts on identifying your most important and common biases, noticing them in the moment, and overcoming them by sticking to policies that systematically favour better beliefs

How I approach giving advice to friends, help them work through problems in their lives, and encourage them to actually take action to fix their problems

The list of “things I want to do when tired” and the list of “things that rejuvenate me when tired” do not overlap, and this is a problem. This is a post exploring this problem, and my tools for solving it.

About how and why the habit of actually thinking about something for 5 minutes is an incredibly powerful tool for solving problems and being more creative

A retrospective on my month of daily blogging, what I’ve gotten out of it, why you should do a daily writing project, and advice for doing this well.

On the importance of having true beliefs about myself, seeking feedback, and receiving it constructively.

Friendships are a really important part of my life, and I think a standard approach to friendship is nowhere near as good as it could be. I outline the basic principles of how I think about friendships, and how I try to put them into practice

It’s easy to encounter an interesting idea, and really want to act on it, but to never get around it, while feeling a latent sense of guilt. This post is about my tools to translate that guilt into action, and overcome procrastination

I think people systematically don’t take social initiative enough. I try to outline why, and ways you can improve on this. And my thoughts on “networking without being a terrible person”!

The default state of the world is that things are inefficient, that 20% of the effort put in results in 80% of the output. This is a fundamental part of how I see the world, and this post outlines how I have internalised this idea, and how to pursue the clever hacks that can make things better

The first step is often the hardest step. It’s easy to procrastinate, to get stuck, to feel overwhelmed, and to do nothing while feeling constant guilt. This post is about my toolkit for getting past this

A common trap, especially for quantitatively minded people, is to ignore your emotions and intuitions as “irrational”. I outline why I think this is a clear error, and how I try to balance between listening to my emotions and not letting them hold me back

On the mindset of “thinking in systems” as a way to solve personal problems, and structuring my life so I do the right things with the minimal use of willpower.

My thoughts on how to teach ideas effectively and efficiently, especially giving talks and tutoring. With a focus on the high-level concepts and pitfalls to bear in mind, and my thoughts on the general process of learning

Some tools for overcoming emotional resistance to prioritisation, how to choose between different options, and common mistakes. (A continuation of Post 16)

Why prioritisation is incredibly important, and how to get started on figuring out your goals

A lot of my problems boil down to an attachment to safe options, and a desire to not put myself out there. I try to dissect where this error comes from, and propose concrete actions to overcome it.

A concrete, actionable approach to being more empathetic and better at communicating