Jonathan Vieker

Professional musicians often purchase a device called a practice pod.

Follow me on a brief thought experiment.

Musicians know three important things: Talent is vastly overrated.

I’ve got a three-year-old daughter, which means the movies Frozen and Frozen II are a big part of my daily life.

A longtime reader wrote me recently, and we talked a bit about perfectionism and how hard it is to ship: to put one’s work into the world.

Our lives are like finely-tuned machines: different components drift out of alignment over time.

In January 2019, I was a panelist on a Turkish international news show, talking about minimalism.

Success in any area of life isn’t just a result of high personal standards—it also depends on how we react when we fall short of those standards.

I started a new job last summer.

One of the most damaging beliefs we can hold about those we disagree with is that their beliefs aren’t sincere—that they have some ulterior motive, that they’re not acting in good faith.

In my twenties, I listened to a lot of personal development seminars by speakers like Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy, and the best of the best, Jim Rohn.

The other day at work, I spent an hour on an onerous task that comes up three times a year.

Andy Grove was the CEO of Intel during its meteoric rise to the top of the semiconductor industry.

The social psychology of this century reveals a major lesson: often it is not so much the kind of person a man is as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that determines how he will act. — Stanley Milgram In our quest to understand the world and

Success is about learning how the world works and aligning our actions accordingly.

Do you have a lot to do?

A reader wrote me the other day and asked if the pandemic had caused me to rethink my fairly hardline position on social media.

At work, our days are pretty structured.

No one’s life is normal right now.

In challenging times, everything counts for more.

Change is hard to swallow, and the entire world has choked down a heaping spoonful of it over the last few weeks.

This coronavirus thing is getting surreal, isn't it?

Let me explain what I mean by that.

They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel. — Carl W.

How do you build a good career?

In commercial aviation, accidents are very rare.

By the mile it's a trial, but by the inch it's a cinch. — Zig Ziglar As we move through life, most of us develop a collection of personal productivity hacks—little tricks that help us get things done, even when we don’t feel like being productive.

Social psychologists have a saying: “bad is stronger than good.”

Until two weeks ago, I didn’t drink enough water.

A comment on a recent post got me thinking about a simple habit that improves workplace communication: When asking for help, make it as easy as possible for the other person to say yes.

Stand guard at the door of your mind. — Jim Rohn This time of year, folks are paying attention to their diet.

Now is the time to fix the next ten years. — Jim Rohn A new decade!

Stop what you would not start. — Peter Drucker When we want to improve our lives, we tend to add.

Whether or not you make New Year’s resolutions, the end of the year is a great time to reflect on the past year and plan the next.

Email is a huge part of modern life.

Let us consider the humble break.

I'm in the middle of a big, long-term project at work right now---one that eats up a significant portion of my workweek.

Say we’re trying to build a new habit—working out three times a week, for instance.

For the last year and a half, I’ve used a program called org-mode to manage my life.

My wife used to run an after-school program for elementary school kids.

Assume your temperament will always be somewhat childish and impatient, and set your rules accordingly. — Tyler Cowen Many plans for self-improvement rely on the idea of wholesale personality change—that if we work hard enough for long enough, we can over…

Among the general population, rituals are underrated.

A planned-out day is an anti-anxiety pill.

Between stimulus and response there is a space.

If you want success, figure out the price, then pay it. — Scott Adams Success always has a price.

As I learn more and more about productivity, I find less and less about willpower and self-discipline.

On Practicing at Work What is it you do to train that is comparable to a pianist practicing scales?

Change is coming.

Doing our best work takes focused effort.

I keep a “Things to Remember About Myself” document on my computer.