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Good sources for free, quality fonts
There are a lot of places where you can download free fonts out there, but as a design person, I’ve found a lot of them require you to weed through piles of less-than-useful fonts to find something that looks professional but different – you know, the quality stuff. Here are a few sites I’ve appreciated…
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Get started early. Let your mind get to work.
Fred Wilson shares profound advice from his father about problem solving and subconscious information processing: “He explained that I should start working on a project as soon as it was assigned. An hour or so would do fine, he told me. He told me to come back to the project every day for at least…
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Fewer cowboys, more pit crews
Atul Gawande, in his commencement address at Harvard Medical School, talked about needing more pit crews and fewer cowboys in hospitals. It’s a great analogy for the medical field, but it also fits most anywhere else. Two million patients pick up infections in American hospitals, most because someone didn’t follow basic antiseptic precautions. Forty per…
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Putting “10,000 hours” to the test
Our last post mentioned the 10,000-hour rule – a theory by Dr. K. Anders Ericsson, Professor of Psychology at Florida State University, and made famous by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers. Well, it’s an interesting concept. In observations, becoming an expert is less about talent and more about intentional practice. So anyone should be…
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Success and mastery take work
“Almost nothing worthwhile is easy, and it’s hard to just jump in and be good at something difficult right off the bat. Think, say, of Twitter, whose business plan, such that it is, has always been something along the lines of “Get big and popular, then just flip the switch and start making money when…
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Simplifying solves problems.
“The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life. It’s so easy to make it complex. The solution for a lot of the world’s problems may be to turn around and take a forward step. You can’t just keep trying to make a flawed system work.” – Yvon Chouinard
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Working on a project? Listen to the owners.
In “The math of action” we talked about how action matters as much as creativity for impact. One way to apply this is to filter others’ input through the lens of action and ownership. We often celebrate ideas, but ideas are cheap – implementation makes the difference. In brainstorming sessions, it’s good to hear a wide…
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The math of action
How many times have you sat in a meeting where hundreds of great ideas are tossed around, but in the end, not much happens? In his book Making Ideas Happen, Scott Belsky repeats the adage that creativity (or productivity, progress in our projects, and growth in relationships) is 2% inspiration and 98% perspiration. He looks further…
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Life lessons from a three-month-old: time to refocus
When our kid was just a few months old, everything was new and overwhelming. He couldn’t handle much stimulation or input for very long. He’d begin to get disorganized – flailing about and fussing. He couldn’t focus and his emotional state quickly went downhill. It doesn’t change much when we get older. Sure, we hide…
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My Kindle/eBook wish list
I’ve been using a Kindle since the second version came out about a year and a half ago. I also work on an iPad and use the Kindle app there. When eBooks first came out, I was hesitant. I like having the physical copy. Over time I’ve come around. I love having any book I…
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First things first. One thing at a time. Start now.
With the holidays just around the corner, my to do list (and, probably yours!) just keeps growing. It’s easy to get stressed and overwhelmed. But that mental energy spent worrying about what needs to get done doesn’t really get anything done. So instead, I’m trying to live out the advice above. First things first –…
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You don’t know (and that’s ok)
It’s hard to understand something until you’ve been there. Doing this job with a kid, it suddenly clicked. I’ve always wondered why those parents out there seemed a little (a lot) frazzled at times. But now, I understand. I get how much those parents are juggling. People who haven’t been there don’t. I didn’t. I…
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Good enough stuff
People talk about how Americans consume for meaning. We create who we are by the clothes we wear, the decorations in our homes, and the cars we drive. We shop for entertainment. We get more stuff to fill our time. One way to attempt to avoid the consumption trap is to focus on good enough.…
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What’s next vs. what’s now
At this time of the year we are already talking about next year’s RAs and potential changes in the RD staff. It’s easy to get caught up in thinking about what’s next. I’m guilty of it. I like thinking about the future and doing a little stratgizing. It’s what I do. But when we do…
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Creating connections – proximity vs. affinity
Take a second and think of your three closest friends. How did you meet them? How did your relationship grow? In the Residence Life world, we focus a lot on relationships and connections. It’s all about helping people feel welcome and helping them become part of a community. Most of the time, we’re focused on…
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Jon Sampson 