Essays

A collection of essays written between 2011 and 2014, exploring the rhythms of strategy, decision-making, and the structures of time in everyday practice. Each piece stands on its own, but threads connect them - tempo, momentum, learning, narrative, and the quiet art of paying attention to how things unfold.

A spread of handwritten notes and essay drafts on a wooden desk
All Years2014201320122011
All Themesstrategytempolearningtimethinkingdecisionsmomentumnarrativepracticepsychology

2014

September 2, 2014
When Is a Year Not a Year?
On the mismatch between calendar time and experienced time, and why your year rarely starts in January.
6 min
July 9, 2014
Effort Shock and Reward Shock
When the gap between expected effort and actual effort disorients. And the stranger inverse: when rewards arrive without the grind you anticipated.
7 min
January 13, 2014
When Finishing Is Easier Than Starting
The overlooked momentum of an ending, and why beginning something new can demand more energy than wrapping up.
6 min

2013

December 30, 2013
Noise and Signal in the Tempo of Work
Distinguishing productive rhythm from busy noise in the daily pattern of work.
7 min
December 9, 2013
On Making Mistakes
Mistakes as information, and the difference between error-avoidant and error-tolerant strategies.
6 min
October 28, 2013
A Gentle Introduction to Algorithmic Storytelling
What happens when narrative structure meets computational thinking.
8 min
October 18, 2013
Frictional and Structural Unknowns
Two kinds of unknowns and why confusing them leads to planning failures.
7 min
September 9, 2013
The Practice of Making Decisions
Decision-making as a skill that improves with deliberate practice, not just accumulated experience.
7 min
August 26, 2013
On Thinking Caps
The different modes of thinking we switch between and the rituals that trigger each one.
6 min
July 8, 2013
Pivots and the Erosion of Trust
When strategic pivots erode the trust that made the original strategy viable.
7 min
June 24, 2013
Lagrangian and Eulerian Decision Making
Two frameworks from physics applied to how we track change and make decisions.
8 min
May 21, 2013
Schleps, Puzzles, and Packages
Solving the meta-problem of which problems to solve, and why the unglamorous ones often matter most.
9 min
May 14, 2013
Deliberate Practice Versus Immersion
Two competing approaches to skill development and when each one works.
7 min
April 1, 2013
Why Habit Formation Is Hard
The structural reasons habits resist formation and what that tells us about lasting change.
6 min
March 18, 2013
How Many Steps Do You Really Look Ahead?
On the depth of lookahead in planning and why most of us overestimate our horizon.
7 min
February 19, 2013
The Cloistered Hedgehog and the Dislocated Fox
Two archetypes of thinkers and the traps each falls into.
8 min
February 4, 2013
Seductive Uncertainty
When uncertainty becomes a reason to delay rather than a feature of the situation.
6 min
January 7, 2013
The Innocence of Inertia
How inertia masquerades as intention and why doing nothing feels like a choice.
6 min

2012

December 31, 2012
A Year in Review
Looking back at a year of writing, thinking, and the themes that emerged.
6 min
December 24, 2012
The Quiet Power of Research
Why the patient, unhurried work of genuine research creates advantages that speed cannot.
7 min
December 6, 2012
When It Is Easier to Do Than to Think
The bias toward action and the situations where pausing to think is the harder, better move.
6 min
November 5, 2012
Too Much Trust
How excess trust can become a strategic liability.
7 min
October 2, 2012
Annealing the Tactical Pattern Stack
A metallurgical metaphor for how tactical patterns solidify, become rigid, and sometimes need reheating.
8 min
September 10, 2012
Negative Sum Scheduling
When the act of scheduling itself destroys more value than the meetings create.
6 min
August 20, 2012
The Arc of Intentional Change
How deliberate change follows a characteristic arc and what each phase demands.
7 min
August 6, 2012
Running Into the Future
On the difference between running toward something and simply being carried forward by events.
6 min
July 16, 2012
Positioning Moves Versus Melee Moves
Two kinds of strategic moves and the tempo that governs each.
8 min
July 9, 2012
Stress Failures Versus Decay Failures
Understanding whether a system broke from overload or from slow rot changes everything about the response.
7 min
July 2, 2012
Not Important, Not Urgent
The neglected quadrant of time management and why it deserves more attention.
6 min
June 25, 2012
Fertile Variables and Rich Moves
On choosing which variables to vary and which moves open new territory.
7 min
June 18, 2012
Analysis Paralysis and the Sensemaking Cliff
When analysis stops being productive and becomes a substitute for commitment.
7 min
June 11, 2012
Appreciative Versus Manipulative Mental Models
Two fundamentally different orientations toward understanding a situation.
7 min
May 29, 2012
Judgment Misfires and Unreliable Narratives
When the stories we tell ourselves about a situation lead our judgment astray.
7 min
May 14, 2012
Using Motivation and Momentum
The practical mechanics of keeping motivation aligned with the momentum of a project.
6 min
May 10, 2012
Scheduling for Creativity
How the structure of your schedule shapes the space available for creative work.
6 min
May 7, 2012
Everything Is a Rental
The overlooked insight that almost nothing we use is truly owned.
6 min
April 26, 2012
Thinking in a Foreign Language
How the language you think in shapes the decisions you make.
8 min
April 16, 2012
Hacking Grand Narratives
Deconstructing and reconstructing the big stories that shape collective behavior.
7 min
April 10, 2012
Trigger Narratives and the Nuclear Hormone
Stories that trigger cascading emotional and behavioral responses.
7 min
March 19, 2012
The Fundamentals of Calendar Hacking
Rethinking the calendar as a design material rather than a fixed constraint.
7 min
March 9, 2012
Routine But Cannot Be Automated
The category of tasks that follow patterns but resist mechanization.
6 min
March 3, 2012
Back to the Drawing Board
What it really means to start over and why it is rarely a full reset.
6 min
February 20, 2012
Live Life, Not Projects
On the difference between project-shaped thinking and the messier shape of actual living.
6 min
February 8, 2012
Slow Movie Review
A review through the lens of tempo and pacing.
6 min
February 3, 2012
The Bridge and the Boat
Two metaphors for crossing obstacles and what each reveals about strategic disposition.
6 min
January 28, 2012
Does Culture Eat Strategy for Lunch?
Testing the famous claim against what actually happens when strategy meets organizational culture.
7 min
January 16, 2012
The Tempo of the Stock Market
How market rhythms reflect collective tempo and what individual traders often miss.
6 min
January 4, 2012
Squeakastination
The opposite of procrastination: doing things too early, before they are ripe.
6 min

2011

December 29, 2011
Clock Hacking
Manipulating your relationship to clocks and what it reveals about time.
6 min
December 27, 2011
The Successful, Sophisticated Clock
What makes a clock successful and why sophistication in timekeeping matters.
6 min
December 22, 2011
A Brief Consideration of the Reflexive Insight
On those moments when an insight turns back on itself.
6 min
December 15, 2011
Fallacy of the Undisturbed Relaxation
The illusion that rest must be unbroken to be effective.
6 min
December 7, 2011
Stress Helps
The counterintuitive case for moderate stress as a performance aid.
6 min
November 25, 2011
Tempo in Urdu
Exploring the concept of tempo through the lens of the Urdu language and culture.
5 min
November 11, 2011
Pomodoros and Time Management by the Clock
A critical look at timer-based productivity and what it actually measures.
7 min
October 25, 2011
Thrust, Drag, and the 10x Effect
Why the metaphor of aerodynamic forces reshapes how we think about productivity and momentum.
9 min
October 19, 2011
Tigers, Parrots, and the Subtleties of Mimicry
On the different kinds of imitation and what each reveals about learning.
6 min
September 19, 2011
Construction Traffic, Booms, and the Drag of Delays
How delays compound and create their own drag on progress.
7 min
September 1, 2011
War Between Developers and Managers
The structural conflict between building and managing, and how tempo differences fuel it.
7 min
August 17, 2011
Daemons and the Mindful Learning Curve
The background processes of learning and what happens when you pay close attention.
9 min
August 11, 2011
Thought Leader Insanity
The peculiar pathologies that afflict those who take the thought leadership label too seriously.
6 min
August 2, 2011
Anatomy of a Behavior Loop
Breaking down the structure of recurring behaviors to understand what sustains them.
7 min
July 25, 2011
Interview with the Author
Questions and answers about the ideas behind Tempo and the writing process.
8 min
July 24, 2011
Chet Richards Review of Tempo
A review of the Tempo thesis from a Boyd scholar and strategist.
5 min
July 23, 2011
Anthropomorphism and Other Design Errors
When we project human qualities onto systems, and the design mistakes that follow.
6 min
July 20, 2011
Bad Movie Review
Using a bad movie as a lens for thinking about pacing and narrative failures.
5 min
July 13, 2011
Storytelling for Problem Solving
How structuring problems as stories unlocks different solution pathways.
7 min
July 7, 2011
The End of the Parade
On what happens when the parade ends and the sustained effort begins.
5 min
June 28, 2011
A Brief Review of Tempo
A compact overview of the core tempo thesis for readers who want the essentials.
5 min
June 25, 2011
Life Is a Game, But Not the Way You Think
Rethinking the game metaphor for life in ways that actually help.
7 min
June 18, 2011
PID Control
A control systems concept applied to personal and organizational steering.
7 min
June 15, 2011
Psychological Tempo, Part 3
The final installment exploring how internal tempo shapes perception and action.
7 min
June 14, 2011
Psychological Tempo, Part 2
Continuing the exploration of tempo at the level of individual psychology.
7 min
June 13, 2011
Psychological Tempo, Part 1
The first in a series on how psychological tempo drives behavior and perception.
7 min
June 3, 2011
Towards Thick Strategy Narratives
Moving past thin abstractions in strategy toward stories rich enough to survive contact with reality.
9 min
May 31, 2011
Review at Zenpundit
A discussion of the Tempo ideas from the Zenpundit perspective.
5 min
May 30, 2011
Long Strolls with Straw Dogs
Walking slowly through ideas that resist easy interpretation.
6 min
May 26, 2011
Fast and Slow Thinking Habits
On the habitual rhythms of thought and what happens when you disrupt them.
6 min
May 25, 2011
Temporal Illegibility in 200 Words
The concept of temporal illegibility distilled to its essentials.
2 min
May 24, 2011
Rituals, Routines, and Temporal Horizons
How rituals and routines shape our sense of time horizons.
7 min
May 24, 2011
A Beginner in the World of Sushi
What being a beginner at one thing can teach about being a beginner at everything.
5 min
May 21, 2011
Taking It Easy with Silas
A reflection on ease, effort, and the tempo of taking your time.
5 min
May 20, 2011
Railway Time and the Pace of Innovation
How the railroads transformed our relationship to time and what that means for innovation today.
7 min
May 18, 2011
Week 3: Houston, Austin, Santa Fe, Denver, Silicon Valley
Observations from the third week of a road trip through American tempos.
6 min
May 17, 2011
How to Build a Startup Clock
Designing a clock for a startup - not literal, but conceptual.
7 min
May 16, 2011
Rabble Rouser, Benign Evil
On the useful role of provocateurs and constructive disruption.
5 min
May 16, 2011
Lame Name, Belmont, CA
A short observation about place names and the stories they carry.
4 min
May 15, 2011
On Ritual Time
How ritual creates its own temporal structure outside the clock.
7 min
May 14, 2011
The Author's Journey and the Blogger's Journey
Two different arcs of writing life and what each demands.
6 min
May 12, 2011
Functional Fixedness and Kata Learning
How the rigidity of functional fixedness intersects with the discipline of kata.
7 min
May 12, 2011
Freytag Staircases in Nashville
Narrative structure observed in the architecture and rhythm of a city.
6 min
May 11, 2011
The Car-Truck Ratio
An unusual economic indicator and what it says about tempo.
5 min
May 9, 2011
Week 2: Ann Arbor, Nashville, Atlanta, New Orleans
Continuing the road trip: tempo and character across four distinct cities.
6 min
May 9, 2011
Time Travel for Ghosts
On haunted places, residual time, and the ghostly quality of certain spaces.
6 min
May 8, 2011
Peak Oil and the Tempo of the Earth
Geological time scales and what they mean for how we think about energy and resources.
7 min
May 8, 2011
Darwin, Some Rationalists, and the Joker
Three different relationships to uncertainty and what each reveals.
7 min
May 7, 2011
Talking Temporal Illegibility in Montreal
A conversation about the concept of temporal illegibility and its applications.
6 min
May 5, 2011
Why Some Drives Are Fun
The tempo of a good drive and what makes the experience engaging rather than tedious.
5 min
May 4, 2011
The One Way of the Beginner
On the paradox of beginner certainty and the single path that beginners see.
6 min
May 4, 2011
Haircuts and the Guy Clock
A small observation about haircuts as a measure of personal tempo.
5 min
May 4, 2011
An Evening of Pace, Pace, Lead with Chuck
An encounter with the pace-pace-lead pattern in conversation.
5 min
May 3, 2011
The Tempo of Food
How food cultures embody different tempos and what eating pace reveals.
6 min
May 3, 2011
Island Time vs. Mainland Time
Two fundamentally different relationships to the clock and to urgency.
5 min
May 3, 2011
A Moment of Silence with John Boyd
Reflecting on the influence of John Boyd at the place where he is buried.
6 min
May 2, 2011
Week 1: DC, Wilmington, Albany, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto
The first week of a cross-country road trip, observing tempos in different cities.
6 min
April 21, 2011
Road Trip
Setting out on a road trip as an experiment in tempo and observation.
5 min