Since 2012 I’ve written about all manner of topics at Open Culture, and you can find a selection of some of my favorite posts over the years in the Open Culture section of my essays page. Below I’ve gathered my posts having to do with how to improve your habits in writing, thinking, learning, and other areas besides:
Doing
- Brian Eno’s Advice for Those Who Want to Do Their Best Creative Work: Don’t Get a Job
- Erich Fromm’s Six Rules of Listening: Learn the Keys to Understanding Other People from the Famed Psychologist
- How to Get Over the Anxiety of Public Speaking?: Watch the Stanford Video, “Think Fast, Talk Smart,” Already Viewed 15 Million Times
- How to Get Started: John Cage’s Approach to Starting the Difficult Creative Process
- Life Lessons from Anthony Bourdain: How He Developed His Iron Professionalism, Achieved Creative Freedom & Learned from Failure
Learning
- The Cornell Note-Taking System: Learn the Method Students Have Used to Enhance Their Learning Since the 1940s
- Deliberate Practice: A Mindful & Methodical Way to Master Any Skill
- How to Practice Effectively: Lessons from Neuroscience Can Help Us Master Skills in Music, Sports & Beyond
- How to Read Many More Books in a Year: Watch a Short Documentary Featuring Some of the World’s Most Beautiful Bookstores
- Nine Tips from Bill Murray & Cellist Jan Vogler on How to Study Intensely and Optimize Your Learning
- Richard Feynman’s “Notebook Technique” Will Help You Learn Any Subject–at School, at Work, or in Life
- What Are the Most Effective Strategies for Learning a Foreign Language?: Six TED Talks Provide the Answers
Thinking
- The Benefits of Boredom: How to Stop Distracting Yourself and Get Creative Ideas Again
- David Lynch Explains How Meditation Boosts Our Creativity (Plus Free Resources to Help You Start Meditating)
- How to Focus: Five Talks Reveal the Secrets of Concentration
- How to Take Advantage of Boredom, the Secret Ingredient of Creativity
- Pico Iyer on “the Art of Stillness”: How to Enrich Your Busy, Distracted Life by Unplugging and Staying Put
- Three Huge Volumes of Stoic Writings by Seneca Now Free Online, Thanks to Tim Ferriss
Writing
- David Ogilvy’s 1982 Memo “How to Write” Offers 10 Pieces of Timeless Advice
- David Sedaris Breaks Down His Writing Process: Keep a Diary, Carry a Notebook, Read Out Loud, Abandon Hope
- How to Fill the Blank Page: Advice from Jonathan Franzen, Margaret Atwood, David Mitchell & 5 Other Authors
- How to Tell a Good Story, as Explained by George Saunders, Ira Glass, Ken Burns, Scott Simon, Catherine Burns & Others
- Kurt Vonnegut Explains “How to Write With Style”
- Kurt Vonnegut Offers 8 Tips on How to Write Good Short Stories (and Amusingly Graphs the Shapes Those Stories Can Take)
- Martin Amis Explains How to Use a Thesaurus to Actually Improve Your Writing
- Ray Bradbury on Zen and the Art of Writing (1973)
- V.S. Naipaul Creates a List of 7 Rules for Beginning Writers