Embracing silence in a world of noise — Lately, I’ve been listening to the High School Musical soundtrack a lot. Some bro on Instagram said it would make me live longer. You’re thinking “oh yeah. That song ‘We’re All In This Together,’ right?” No. The deep tracks. Scream. Can I Have this Dance. Humuhumunukunukuapua’a. I listened to HSM…

References for everything from note-taking to the history of publishing — It’s odd work, making stuff for a living. Yancey Strickler, one of my favorite writers and thinkers, put it best: “Broadly, I am on the right path. I am doing intellectual work. I spend much of my time thinking and dreaming. Day to day, I’m all over the place.” That’s…

Behind the mysterious forces that tug at all artists — I’m on a quest to discover why some people get famous and others get forgotten. Often, this work results in a furrowed brow that will probably become a deep wrinkle. One day, my hope is that all those stray ideas might weave themselves…

What “celebritization” is doing to everyone with a smart phone. — When you watch an actor on screen, you see at least 3 people. The character being played The public persona they wear “off-screen” The person they really are That’s the sort of bizarre reality worth keeping in mind while watching something like the Academy Awards. Most of these people aren’t…

Why do we hate writing tools? — Several years ago, I helped my father-in-law move a couch. (This is something you should never do unless you are serious about staying with his child forever. The twists and turns of marriage don’t compare with the terror of moving furniture.) The chair was a black, wobbly leather thing. We…

How a single, random phone call changed my life forever — 6 years ago, I agreed to take a phone call from a stranger. I had no idea what to expect. An interview? A business pitch? An article idea? Was this guy normal? I paced around my queen-sized mattress, trodding across the hopefully-clean hotel carpet. Big drifts of snow were plopped…

When the world floods you with the wrong advice, what do you do? — Generally speaking, the message we are told in order to find success is not “make your work as frictionless as possible.” It’s “hustle your face off.” This story dominates our culture. It seeps into every nook and cranny, every blurb, every billboard. You can’t scroll YouTube without seeing an homage…

(Even though you still need them) — After refusing to touch the platform for 12 months, I’ve spent 10 days in a row on LinkedIn. It started as a challenge from my friend Tim Denning. We’re building a LinkedIn course together. I’m the on-screen student, asking questions, taking notes. He’s the expert. During lesson 5, I saw…

What movies, magicians, and a legendary writer taught me about finding a clear path to success — Movie season is like Christmas in the Brison household. Every year, we line up the best picture nominees, grab a pile of snacks, and sit down for waves of spine-tingling inspiration and gut-wrenching despair. The Sound of Metal took both of those emotions to a new level. The story of…