Parker Conley

I've been practicing with the excellent The Mind Illuminated for a couple years now.

I interview Tyler Cowen about learning, history, and investing in ideas.

I interview Emmett Shear.

1.5 months ago, I started using the following "custom instructions" prompt in ChatGPT below to receive shorter AI responses: be brief and less formal. none of this 'Sounds great!'

Brief Introduction I’ve been using Anki for 2.5 years as of writing this.

Update 2-24-2026: This is an anecdote of a productivity workflow that worked for me a year or so ago.

I have not done much traveling.

I have an ongoing fascination with uncommon media: tacit knowledge videos, reference works, internal documents.

Update, 2026-05-01: I will no longer be updating this article as I that now think the best way to find reference works is to ask LLMs.

Could you review the literature on [literature name here]?

Introduction In some circles, having an Anki habit seems to hold similar weight to clichés like "you should meditate", "you should eat healthy", or "you should work out".

Introduction Focusmate changed my life.

I’ve read at least a few hundred blog posts, maybe upwards of a thousand.

Create a comprehensive PR/FAQ document for a proposed software product or feature, following Amazon's "Working Backwards" process.

I'm going to send you a description of a project.