A skeptical dive into the weird, sketchy, occasionally life-changing world
of self-improvement.
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Yet, after all, why not?
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“Oh man, fuck this.” We were playing Halo on the big screen and I was compulsively checking the small screen in between games when I was all of a sudden fed up, fed up to the point of wanting to hurl the phone across the room and into a lake, or a fire; perhaps a
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Challenge Day 1 (of 30)
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For those who signed up for the Cynic’s Guide way back when, this new series may be what you were expecting (compared to whatever it is you got) it’s just me, trying on every damn self-improvement business…
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Challenge (30 day version)
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Gidday! I’ve been caught in that loop where I think constantly about sending an email out to you all but then think “but no it has to be good” and consequently don’t send anything at all. If…
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Pivot to video
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Announcing easily the most ambitious thing I’ve ever done: Project Everybob – painting along with every single episode of the Joy of Painting
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Life, the Universe, and
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I had a birthday the other week. The numbers are starting to run together but this one is special because it’s 42. If you know, you know. (I suspect quite a few of you do; even the…
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What You Can Learn From Elon Musk
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“Elon Musk is kind of a hero of mine” I wrote those words, with my own brain, controlling my own fingers. And when I wrote them, they were true. In my defence: In days of yore, around…
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Apropos of something
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I was in bed, scrolling through Bluesky, when I saw it. An activist and journalist I follow broke the story, moments after it happened. I told my wife. “Are you sure? It’d be on the news sites.”…
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It’s THAT time again
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The other day, while playing the famously egalitarian game of “golf” with one of my CEO buddies, we had a completely normal conversation, as humans often do. This being That Time Of Year, the topic of New…
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The best self-help book I’ve read
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It was only a few short months ago, not long after the birth of our second child, that I had the vain – and, in hindsight, very funny – hope that I could continue writing this newsletter…
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I painted the Prime Minister
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I am writing this using voice transcription software because at the moment I’m slowly pacing about the house, carrying a two-week-ish old infant around the lounge room, because if I stop for more than about 30 seconds…