Book review: Four Thousand Weeks

Book cover for Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

Everything I’ve been taught about time management, everything I’ve read, everything I’ve learned is about how to organize our time to get more things done. It’s been beat into me that time management is about focus, discipline, planning, and prioritizing.

Is it possible that what I’ve been taught, that what I’ve learned is wrong? Have I’ve been managing my time incorrectly all these years?

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman challenged my relationship with time and how I manage it. Instead of laying out yet another system that shows how to squeeze more tasks and activities into the limited time we have, Burkeman turns the concept of time management inside out. He start with the premise that we have a limited amount of time, approximately 4000 weeks if we’re lucky enough to live to 80 years of age, and works backward from there to develop techniques that get the most out of those 4000 weeks. Keep in mind that I didn’t say how to get the most things done in that limited time. I simply said getting the most out of that time, which is an important distinction that I’ll come back to in a bit.

Continue reading

A moment of self-importance

2022 SCGA Tournament of Club Champions towel

At the end of last year, I got the opportunity to play in the SCGA Tournament of Club Champions. As the name implies, it’s an annual event held by the SCGA that is open to those who win their golf club’s club championship. I’m still unsure how I happened to win the Sterling Hills Club Championship. It’s a 36-hole event, and I was mired solidly in the middle of the pack after the first 27 holes. Over the last 9, the putter came alive, I made a few shots, and lo-and-behold, I was told that I won by one stroke. Little did I know how important that last birdie putt on 18 would be.

Continue reading

Book review: The Maxwell Daily Reader

Book cover for The Maxwell Daily Reader by John C. Maxwell

In addition to reading a daily spiritual devotional, one of my other morning routines involves a daily reader that is more “secular” in nature. By secular, it means the reader contains inspirational notes around personal development, character, business, mindfulness, and/or leadership. Besides the inspirational notes, I’ll often use the reader as a jumping of point for my daily journaling exercise. Examples of daily readers I’ve used in the past are The Daily Stoic and The Mindfulness Journal.

Last year, my daily reader was written by renowned business leadership and management consultant John C. Maxwell and appropriately named The Maxwell Daily Reader: 365 Days of Insight to Develop the Leader Within You and Influence Those Around You.

Continue reading

Blog housekeeping – RSS feed

rss feed icon

When I originally set up this blog up over 10 years ago, I syndicated the feed through Feedburner. It seemed like a safe thing to do, and at the time, all of the top blogs were using the service. However, it’s a Google product, and given Google’s penchant for sun-setting (i.e. killing) services, there was always an inherent risk to relying on it.

For years now, I’ve been hearing about the imminent demise of Feedburner, but I’ve basically ignored the chatter. I continued to have the RSS icon at the top right of the header point to the syndicated feedburner URL. So even though the service is still active and working, albeit with reduced features, I’ve decided it’s time to make a change.

Continue reading

Book Review: The Entrepreneur’s Weekly Nietzsche – A Book for Disruptors

Book cover for The Entrepreneur's Weekly Nietzsche: A Book for Disruptors by Brad Feld and Dave Jilk

Part of my daily morning routine involves devotionals and daily readers. Last year, one of those books was a little different. It was a weekly read.

The Entrepreneur’s Weekly Nietzsche: A Book for Disruptors by Brad Feld and Dave Jilk is a collection of 52 essays on various entrepreneurial topics. The essays are grouped into five sections – Strategy, Culture, Free Spirits, Leadership, and Tactics. Each essay starts with a Nietzsche quote that is used as the starting point for that week’s topic. The majority of the essays also include a narrative by an entrepreneur that reinforces the message in the essay by way of personal experience.

Continue reading

Book review: Interference

Book cover for Interference by Brad Parks

As much as I joke about Amazon being my arch-nemesis, they offer good services for book readers. One of the services I follow is their First Reads program. The program provides early access to new books. Since I enjoy discovering new authors, the First Reads program provides one such avenue.

What’s the biggest bonus of the program? If you’re a Prime member, you can select at least one and sometimes two books off each month’s list for free. It’s how I discovered the book Interference by Brad Parks, which I doubt I would have otherwise stumbled upon.

Continue reading

2023 Fitness goals

I’ve tracked my fitness goals every year since I started blogging. This year is no different. Here’s a look at my fitness goals for 2022, and a look forward at what’s in store for 2023.

I have a firm belief in the adage that you get what you measure, which is why I like to do this exercise. If I’m measuring and tracking my fitness activities, then there’s a good chance the results will follow.

If you’ve followed my goals from previous years, you ‘ll remember that I like to focus on three areas – working out, physical activity, and diet. I’m going to do the same this year.

Let’s get started.

Continue reading