Focus

How to Read Others’ Thoughts by Their Gestures (Without Them Knowing)

I used to think reading people was something only FBI agents or poker players could do. Then I spent...

The People I Stopped Trying to Keep Up With

"It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages." — Friedrich Ni...

The Argument We Had About Nothing

Maya and I got into a stupid argument last spring about something I can't even fully reconstruct now...

The Piece I Almost Didn’t Finish

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." — Jack London, John B...

The Movie I Saw Alone on a Tuesday

I went to a matinee by myself on a Tuesday afternoon, which I'd never done before because it always ...

Stop Forcing Productivity: Recover Your Energy First

I woke up at 10:47 AM yesterday. My alarm had been silenced three times. I didn't remember doing it....

The Soup I Made From Memory

I made my grandmother's soup last October without a recipe, just from memory and instinct and a roug...

Why You Can’t Stick With Anything And How to Fix It

I sat on my bedroom floor staring at that half-finished wing. The glue had dried into little yellow ...

The Client I Finally Fired

I'd been working with a client for almost two years who left every interaction feeling faintly worse...

Twelve Minutes at the Laundromat

The dryer finished before I expected it to and I had twelve minutes to kill at the laundromat on Bur...