Blog - Louis Shulman

Who Is Cal Newport?

Why Am I Obsessed With His Work?

Newport is an incredibly prolific academic, author, and blogger and he reached this level of professional success with stunning speed.

3 Easy Questions, 1 Day of 'Hard' Labor

Slam a cold brew and answer these prompts

My dad’s close friend has a concrete business. My dad has always encouraged me to shadow his friend for a day and see what all is involved in the process of finishing concrete. I took that offer today.

The Power List

5 Non Negotiable Tasks That Move The Needle

If you get all 5 done, no matter what else happens during the day, you can cross them off and write a big "W" on that piece of paper because you won the day.

Computers Broke the Old World

Why I Want To Start The Accelerated Masters Program at The University of Alabama

Zero marginal-cost economics, instant digital delivery, globally accessible talent pools, international communication networks, and computational power have completely redefined modern life.

Reflect On Every "Chapter" Of Life

Last Day In Scottsdale, Last Day of July, Plans For August, Upcoming Semester

I don't do all this self-reflection without purpose. It's extremely helpful-->you should try it.

Podcasting As Leverage

Journaling In Public - Number One

I'm dividing the written content on this site between the 'blog' which is a collection of more thoughtfully produced articles and the 'journal' which is more raw and reflective.

Borrowing Awesomeness

Does Free Leverage Exist?

Many successes are often explained as the consequence of adding one improvement to a pre-existing, awesome concept.

Graph Databases, RoamResearch, and PKM

How RoamResearch Uses New Database Technology To Bring Life To An 80 Year-old Idea

In this short article, I explain the (very) basics of graph databases and use RoamResearch’s note-taking software as an example of an early and powerful mainstream application of this new technology.

3 Good, 3 Improve, 3 Lessons

Buy an Alarm Clock

Lately, I’ve been using my phone as an alarm because I left my physical alarm in Alabama. That means I’m in the habit of setting my alarm at night and turning it off in the morning. It means my phone is the first and last thing I touch, and I don’t like that.

Summer 2020 Bullet Journals

Documenting Life Without Writing Essays

These are journal entries on days where I didn't write an accompanying post for the entry. Most recent entries are on top.

21 Rules For Getting Your Shit Together

It’s my 21st birthday — I wanted to write something

After bombing a math test in my first month of college, I overreacted so dramatically that I developed an obsessive and vague drive to “get my shit together” that continues to this day.

4 Ideas For Deliberate Improvement

Input Management, Happy Habits, Truth Seeking and Abundance

Systems rarely “get better” by accident. Instead, progress is usually a product of intentional efforts aimed at positive change.

Produce More Than You Consume

Make Digital Assets - Start Now

Digital assets are cool. Blog posts are assets. Podcasts are assets. YouTube videos are assets. Designs are assets. You produce them once and over time they continue to bring value as long as the internet exists.

The Power of Positive Constraints

Making one decision to simplify thousands of future decisions.

Whenever I need to take something more seriously, I come up with a challenge to guide me into action.

What It's Like To Know An Author

Reflections on reading a friend's first book

I’m still trying to decide the long-term takeaway here, but it was one-of-a-kind in my life so far and I was deeply moved by it.

Pointers for Starting Your Company

Lessons from Yishai Goldstein — CTO and Co-Founder of AutoLeadStar

Hard skills alone aren’t enough. Founders need to be very flexible, focused, and fast learners.

Asymmetries, Batching, and Constraints

Productivity Lessons from the Four Hour Workweek

Challenge basic assumptions you hold about what is possible, and learn rules and techniques to enable a lifestyle with abundance in time.

Trust The Process & Workout Like A Boomer

5 Lessons From Completing The 75HARD

The 75HARD is an internet challenge dubbed as the “tactical guide to winning the war with yourself.”Andy Frisella, the host of the MFCEO podcast, created the 75HARD to teach listeners how to cultivate discipline, integrity, and physical and mental toughness.In this post, I share the five most significant lessons I learned from completing the challenge this summer.

Follow One Course Until Successful

Do You Follow Your Own Advice?

I tried to do too many things today. So many books tell the same story. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are at dinner. They are asked what the single most important factor for their success was. Reportedly, they both said “focus.”

30 Mini Essays on Self-Improvement and Happiness in The Modern World

An exploration of productivity, technology, and personal thriving

All of my essays from the January 2021 Ship 30 for 30 Challenge

More and Less - Two Lists You Need To Make

Ask Yourself Good Questions

The things that make you feel happy, healthy, smart, fulfilled? Reflect on what they are and keep doing them. The things that make you unproductive, unsuccessful, unhealthy, and anti-social? Hit the brakes and swap for something better.

Fall 2020 Bullet Journals

5 Minute Entries Documenting Life

If you don't stop and look around every once in a while...

Leverage, Environment, and Books

Three Short Lessons From Hosting an Interview Podcast while Still In College

Our goals for the show were simple: grow an audience, learn about entrepreneurship, and gain access to incredibly smart mentors.

Rules for Distraction Free Work

Five Positive Habits for Consistently Overcoming Resistance

Don’t let laziness limit your potential. Build a system, automate self-discipline, and execute. Let the results speak for themselves.

Skipping The Line In Life

9 Takeaways from The Third Door

What if he could ask the world’s most successful people for guidance in this phase of life? What if Bill Gates taught him entrepreneurship, Lady Gaga taught him music, and Warren Buffet taught him finance?

Take Control of Your Education

Five Books Every College Student Needs to Read

In my first year of school, I read the following books. Without a doubt, I would not have achieved a fraction of my goals otherwise.

The Power of Mindset

Lessons Learned from Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck

Individuals, empowered by Dweck’s research can manipulate their own reality in their favor by embracing the appropriate mindset.

Questioning Modernity This Father's Day

Undoing Modernity - I'm Beginning To Realize How Much We've Gotten Wrong

Our ancestors did not eat seed oils, impossible burgers, naked juice, and hormone-fed livestock. These new foods are the ones that need to prove themselves. What we’ve been eating for thousands of years do not.Buy your processed food with skepticism--or don't buy them at all.

The Torah and Deep Work

How Shabbat Subsumes Mainstream Self-Help and Productivity Advice

Through Deep Work, the secular community is coming to terms with facts that have been known to the Jewish community for millennia.

Why You Need To Have A Unified Theory

Are you building toward something?

Elon Musk's genius reputation is amplified when you realize that everything he does is mutually reinforcing in the short and long term. Elon does not know at what point his projects will converge into space colonization. Elon does know that his probability of reaching Mars increases with each of his activities, so he'll stay the course.

Make Your Mess Your Message

The Most Interesting Thing I Learned Today

To make journaling worthwhile, ask yourself interesting questions. Here’s an easy one: what is one thing I learned today? You can’t claim to know something until you’ve tried to explain it to someone else. Today’s question challenges you to do just that.

Why Does Tempe's Target Sell So Much Tito's

Writing Prompts Are Helpful

This is day four of this experimental “journal in public” format for me. I don’t have a theme to write about, so I created four prompts. Then, I answered them.

Make Failure Suck

The Silver Bullet of Accountability

Leverage external consequences to win internal battles.

The 2-Hour Cocktail Party (Inspired by Nick Gray)

How to Build Big Relationships with Small Gatherings

In this post, I discuss why Nick's mission is to help 500 people host their first cocktail party, the formula for hosting the perfect cocktail party, why parties are so helpful for making friends and improving your life, how to have fun while staying sober, how throwing parties can impact your dating life, the pros and cons of blogging, and much more.

Louis Shulman Blog