Jay Matthews

That is the predicate of the slender, poetic 1993 novel  Einstein's Dreams by physicist Alan Lightman — a book about time and the tricks we play on ourselves to bear our transience, a book that does for time what Alain de Botton’s  The Course of Love does for love: punctuating a fictional world with philosophical quickenings, thought experiments,... See more

C. Failing is OK: It usually takes overconfidence to stay the course through adversity, but a humble mind to evolve and iterate. While it became clear to me that I had overestimated my risk-tolerance for working in an early-stage start-up, I also began to realize from having personally invested in start-ups that I much preferred being the investor... See more

Systems where defects are swept under the rug, or “will be dealt with at the end of the project” inevitably gain that unshakeable perception of being “buggy”, which will harm your digital product, no matter how innovative it is.

Pathological Perfectionism has been very damaging, and as a result there has been a movement towards increasing acceptance of self and circumstance. Dr. Gena Gorlin argues that this is good, but it is only the first step. She presents a mindset and proposal for how we can pursue excellence in healthier ways—as builders.

A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To... See more

“The word “poverty” was a fine, somehow noble word. It evoked an image out of old schoolbooks: poor but clean. Cleanliness made the poor socially acceptable. Social progress meant teaching people to be clean; once the indigent had been cleaned up, “poverty” became a title of honour. Even in the eyes of the poor, the squalor of destitution applied... See more