Loneliness: Coping with the gap where friends used to be

One bad (possibly the second worst) thing about being old is how difficult it is to make friends. Good friends you have had for a long, long time drift away and new ones are hard to come by. Is it impossible?

Fully Oligarchic Luxury Californication

The tech elite have joined forces with progressive visionaries to establish a model of America’s feudal future.

Scott Burns: What history tells us about stock market returns

As I think/dream about retirement, the stock market becomes very, very important to me.

Changing Habits: Interview with Dr. Amy Bucher, a Behavior Change Designer

I recently caught up with Dr. Amy Bucher, the author of Engaged, a compelling guidebook on designing products and services that change people’s lives. She talks about behavioral design, the science of crafting products and services in such a way as to shape or influence human behavior. Here is our conversation.

Timeboxing: The Most Powerful Time Management Technique You’re Probably Not Using

Timeboxing is the nearest thing we have to productivity magic, yet most people don’t utilize it. Here’s how to overcome the top 3 reasons why.

“I can’t seem to get enough done.”

“I’m always distracted.”

“Why can’t I focus?”

I hear these complaints from my clients and readers all the time.

But when I recommend perhaps the most effective technique ever devised to help people stay on track, most of them balk.

“You want me to plan every minute of my day?”

Yes! Now what are you waiting for?

The Pulp Tarot

A new Tarot deck, designed by graphic artist Todd Alcott, drawing inspiration from midcentury pulp illustrations

I use a Tarot deck to help generate fiction writing ideas. I just have an ordinary (cheap) Rider-Waite tarot deck – but I look at more artistic and interesting decks – it could be a rabbit hole – but if I had a little more money I know I’d buy a few.

Is Dreaming Real?

When you’re lucid, it can feel so real the distinction ceases to matter.

What Kind of Burnt Out Are You? (And Why It Matters)

Different types of burnout require different solutions.

Classic Songs Reimagined as Vintage Pulp Book Covers

Time Management Won’t Save You

How bacteria are changing your mood

Time blocking 101: A step-by-step guide to getting the most from your daily schedule

You can probably count on your fingers the number of times you’ve completed 8 hours of work in an 8-hour workday. Whether it’s endless meetings, constant emails, or coworkers popping in for a “quick chat,” your productivity rarely makes it through the day.

The problem is that when you design your to-do list for an 8-hour workday but end up with just 1-2 hours of productive time, you’re going to be in trouble.

Deep Habits: Use Index Cards to Accelerate Important Projects

The Depth Deck

The idea behind the depth deck is simple. Identify one or two deep projects that are important to your professional life.

For each project, identify one or two concrete next steps that:

1. require deep work;
2. are self-contained in the sense that they have a single focus and a clear criteria for when they’re completed.

Garland, Dallas County tag team on another trail to connect Garland to Richardson

The More Options You Have, The Happier You Are

I have read some opinions that the opposite is true, that we are all suffering from too many options. This article makes more sense to me, though.

New website allows users to track mesmerizing journey of a raindrop

Take a look, play around with this website. It is really cool. Try Western Colorado.

River Runner

How to Make Time Slow Down

Japan’s unusual way to view the world

Wabi-sabi offers a refuge from the modern world’s obsession with perfection, and accepts imperfections as all the more meaningful – and, in their own way, beautiful.

By Now, Burnout Is a Given

The pandemic has stripped our emotional reserves even further, laying bare our unique physical, social, and emotional vulnerabilities.

Fight Fatigue by Harnessing the Power of Your Internal Clock

Sluggish? Tired? Seven tips for getting your body into better alignment.

People Think What You Do With Your Shopping Cart When You’re Done With It Says A Lot About You

I remember sitting by the ponds at the end of my block, reading and enjoying the beautiful day. I saw two kids on the other side of the block pushing a shopping cart from the local Kroger with about three items in it. When the path they were on veered away from the water they took their items out and pushed the cart down the slope into the pond, where it promptly sank. They were across the water and too far for me to do anything, but I was disgusted.

A year ago they drained the ponds to clean out the silt, it was full of carts. The Kroger has gone out of business, replaced by an Aldi where you pay 25 cents (refundable) for a shopping cart.

He Didn’t Make the Olympics—So He Used His Bike Racing Skills to Rob Banks Instead

After fizzling out on a number of disparate career paths that included a go at social work, the Catholic priesthood, and underwater welding, Justice started robbing banks. As Leckart tells it, it wasn’t about the money—it was about doing something he could be exceptional at. At first, Justice gave away most of what he stole, leaving bags of money in alleys for homeless people to find, or in port-a-potties. But he later kept the cash to cover his growing drug habit.

Whether slow or fast, here’s how your metabolism influences how many calories you burn each day

Does the speed of metabolism really vary all that much from person to person?

Got too much stuff? Try these 7 tips to help pare down

Most of us have no problem admitting that we have more than we need. The difficulty lies in the next steps: How to get rid of it? What room to tackle first? Should we toss, regift, donate, recycle, repurpose, sell?

Over 60? Here Are 5 of the Best Exercises You Can Possibly Do

This total-body workout builds strength, stability, mobility, and better posture.

You Fail to Reach Your Goals Because You Designed Them Badly

Reaching any goal requires motivation, self-discipline and commitment. But where do those things come from?

Want to taste the sweetest onions in Texas? Order the rings at Lakewood Landing

A few miles south of Tyler, in the little town of Noonday, the soil is the right mix of sandy and rain-soaked for growing onions. Accordion to legend, as written in Onion World Magazine, it happened by accident:

“Several farmers here in East Texas started experimenting with growing yellow onions and soon discovered they had the proper type of sandy soil to produce a sweet onion.”

They’re both easy and difficult to find. They show up at Central Market every now and then for a little bit more money than your other local onions. Or you can make a phone call and gas up the car:

“Tomato shed, how can I help you?” “Tex” answers the phone. There are no social media handles, and the online store leads you to a physical address. They’ve got small-to-large bags of Certified Noonday Sweet Onions, ranging from eight bucks to 30, right from the ground of the vice president of the Noonday Sweet Onion Grower’s Association.

The 50-mile trail around Dallas: When White Rock to Trinity Forest will open and why that matters

The 7.5-mile Spine Trail segment will mean that, for the first time, residents south of Interstate 30 “won’t have to use a car to get out of our neighborhoods.”

What Happened When I Told Marie Kondo I Have a Better, Higher-Tech Method of Tidying Up

Throw them away? “By keeping less — documents, folders, files, emails, etc. — you create more space in your life,” Kondo told me. “Though digital clutter is not tangible like clutter in your home, I believe it carries the same weight.”

I don’t agree. Precious memories don’t need to go into dusty photo albums or the trash. They should go online.

I Know the Secret to the Quiet Mind. I Wish I’d Never Learned It.

Of all the injuries we suffered, mine is the worst. My brain injury has shaken my confidence in my own personality, my own existence.

Hey, There’s a Second Brain in Your Gut

Scientists have known for years that there’s a “second brain” of autonomous neurons in your long, winding human digestive tract—but that’s about where their knowledge of the so-called abdominal brain ends.

8 Ways to Read (a Lot) More Books This Year

How much do you read?

For most of my adult life I read maybe five books a year — if I was lucky. I’d read a couple on vacation and I’d always have a few slow burners hanging around the bedside table for months.

And then last year I surprised myself by reading 50 books. This year I’m on pace for 100. I’ve never felt more creatively alive in all areas of my life. I feel more interesting, I feel like a better father, and my writing output has dramatically increased. Amplifying my reading rate has been the domino that’s tipped over a slew of others.

The Damaging Double Standard Behind Intermittent Fasting

Is it “optimization” or an eating disorder?

This Is the Most Bizarre Grammar Rule You Probably Never Heard Of

But I’ve been following it all my life, and so have you.

What We Really Lose When Highways Destroy Historic Neighborhoods

A few old news reports about Deep Ellum in the late 1960s unintentionally document the huge costs of highway-driven demolition.

4 Ways to Cut Dow Your Stuff Without Going Insane

You may not be a capital-H hoarder, but chances are you’ve got more stuff packed away than you really know what to do with. If it’s time to reduce the clutter, start here.

Trying to Lose Weight? Here’s Why Strength Training Is as Important as Cardio

Don’t spend all your energy on the treadmill if you’re trying to drop a pants size. Strength training is an important way to boost your weight loss. Here’s why—and how.

Resistance training: here’s why it’s so effective for weight loss

The perfect number of hours to work every day? Five

Research shows that five work hours a day can improve productivity and bolster wellbeing. There’s only one thing holding companies back

How Low Can America’s Birth Rate Go Before It’s A Problem?

Earth’s core is growing ‘lopsided’ and scientists don’t know why

The Joys of Short Bike Rides

How to Think Clearly

By learning to question and clarify your thoughts, you’ll improve your self-knowledge and become a better communicator

The Most Irrational Number

The golden ratio is even more astonishing than Dan Brown and Pepsi thought.

Hot Pants, Love Potions, and the Go-go Genesis of Southwest Airlines

Fifty years ago this month, the Dallas-based carrier first took flight. Those who were there reflect on its past as it confronts a future shaped by the pandemic.

The ’20-5-3′ Rule Prescribes How Much Time to Spend Outside

Americans today spend 92 percent of their time indoors, and their physical and mental health are suffering. Use this three-number formula to make yourself stronger and happier.

Want to Make Difficult Conversations Easy? Try This 1 Counterintuitive Trick, According to Psychology

anxiety you feel before entering a tough conversation can be greatly mitigated

The Key to a Good Life? Lose Yourself in Something

A Danish PSA for wearing bicycle helmets is the best Viking movie in 63 years