Article Archive

Welcome to the article archive. Here's everything I've written here on the site [almost]. Articles over the years have covered an array of topics, but more recently are related to the psychology of performance and creative expertise. Articles are grouped under these categories.

☕️ So pull up a seat, pour yourself a coffee or two and enjoy a read.

2025 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017

2025 (2)

04/05/25 - Annie Dillard on Time, Structure, Coffee, & Learning A Trade
02/05/25 - Albert Einstein on The Need For A Socialist Economy

2023 (20)

14/12/23 - Wellington Street
03/12/23 - Here's The Problem
27/11/23 - Intelligence: You Either Have It, Or You Don't
14/11/23 - Cursed With A Brain
27/04/23 - Like A Church
26/04/23 - Less Is More?
25/04/23 - Get To Work
13/04/23 - The Coffee Man
10/04/23 - The Machine
09/04/23 - Is Work Good For Us?
07/04/23 - Data vs Feelings
06/04/23 - Becoming Magnolia
29/03/23 - Does Anyone Really Love Anyone Else?
20/03/23 - A Metaphor For Life & Work
09/03/23 - The Pint
26/02/23 - A Monday to Friday Sort of Dying
29/01/23 - What It Takes To Survive
16/01/23 - Gimme Full Fat
08/01/23 - One Day Soon, You Won't Be Here
02/01/23 - Another Year Over, So What Now?

2022 (18)

09/12/22 - Icy Morning
08/12/22 - Sunday Letters Gift Ideas
04/12/22 - Never Enough Time
20/11/22 - A US Air Force Pilot on The Meaning of Work
10/10/22 - Reality
07/10/22 - Wage Slavery & The Fundamental Problem with The Workplace
30/09/22 - It's Autumn, Thank God
20/09/22 - Sunday Letters Merchandise
13/09/22 - What do you think?
12/09/22 - Introduction To Peak Human Performance
07/09/22 - [Bonus] Beyond An Economy of Work & Spend
06/09/22 - On The Merit of Doing Nothing
31/08/22 - Bukowski on Work
29/08/22 - You Abstract Working Mule of A Human
25/08/22 - The Magic of Donald Thomas
21/08/22 - Talent: You Either Have It Or You Don't
18/08/22 - What work do you do?
17/08/22 - Dr Jonathan Murphy on Free Speech, Psychology, Future of Work, AI, & Identity

2021 (6)

28/11/21 - How To Be An Optimist
21/11/21 - Bertrand Russell on Happiness & Unhappiness
31/10/21 - Oíche Shamhna
24/10/21 - Longtermism: Something You Should Know About
03/10/21 - How To Turn Off A Humming Fridge
21/02/21 - Cyclical Time

2020 (63)

14/12/20 - Making For Its Own Sake Versus Making For Success
05/11/20 - Business or Vocation?
18/10/20 - The Pursuit of Happiness Part 3: Nine Factors That Impact Your Happiness
13/10/20 - More Time For What?
04/10/20 - The Pursuit of Happiness Part 2: The Focusing Illusion
01/10/20 - On Mortality
28/09/20 - The Fool
27/09/20 - The Pursuit of Happiness Part 1
20/09/20 - Have We Mistaken A Shiny Penny For The Sun?
13/09/20 - Scepticism: An Antidote To The Dangers of Groupthink
11/09/20 - How To Be Resilient
09/09/20 - Bide Your Time
06/09/20 - On Becoming The Performatist
04/09/20 - On The Edge of The World
27/08/20 - The More Real
24/08/20 - Too Much of A Good Thing
23/08/20 - Carl Rogers on The Resolution of Internal Conflict
16/08/20 - Whitehead: The Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness
09/08/20 - Taking Score Too Soon
26/07/20 - On The Merits of Introversion
12/07/20 - On The Slavery of Work
07/06/20 - Building Resilience In Turbulent Times
01/06/20 - The Hidden Benefit In Boring
29/05/20 - Momentum: Help Or Hindrance?
24/05/20 - Creative Polymathy In The Life of The Everyday Genius
21/05/20 - What Is Randomness?
17/05/20 - A Word On Performance
12/05/20 - Work For Yourself
10/05/20 - The 7 Properties of Play
08/05/20 - It's Not Such A Big Deal
07/05/20 - When Sitting With A Problem…
05/05/20 - The Sword Upon Which You'll Fall
04/05/20 - There Is No Point In Work, Unless…
03/05/20 - Maslow: How To Resolve The Creative Dichotomy
29/04/20 - Move Closer To The Centre
27/04/20 - Try Many Things
26/04/20 - Is It Any of My Business?
24/04/20 - Build A New Skill
23/04/20 - A Return to Craft Based Work
22/04/20 - All of A Sudden You're There
19/04/20 - 7 Life Lessons From The Diary of a Stoic Philosopher
16/04/20 - Chomsky on Controlling Your Own Work
15/04/20 - How Quiet It Has Become
13/04/20 - Enjoying Work For Its Own Sake
12/04/20 - The Anti-Business Model
10/04/20 - The Making of Machines
09/04/20 - A Time To Fight
08/04/20 - To Be A Mule
07/04/20 - The Pursuit of The Eternally Elusive
06/04/20 - Hyper-Positivity And The Flourishing of Naivety
05/04/20 - What's The Future of Work?
03/04/20 - There Are No Shortcuts
02/04/20 - A Monday to Friday Sort of Dying
01/04/20 - The Arrogance of Fools
31/03/20 - Knuckle Down
30/03/20 - Leave The Door Open…
29/03/20 - Georgia O'Keeffe on Daily Work, Happiness & Success
27/03/20 - The Value In Doing Nothing
26/03/20 - It Gets Better
22/03/20 - Coronavirus: The Human Game Has Irrevocably Changed
18/03/20 - Things You Can Do In A Crisis
14/03/20 - How To Create A Genius
12/03/20 - How Do You Really Feel About Work?

2019 (13)

19/10/19 - Darkness Descends
08/09/19 - The Courage To Go Where There Is No One
14/07/19 - Maslow's 16 Aspects of Peak Experience
04/07/19 - The Illusion of Free Will
23/06/19 - Why Do We Work Jobs We Hate?
02/06/19 - What's The Meaning Of Life?
19/05/19 - How To Make Rational Decisions
13/05/19 - Analogical Thinking: A Method For Solving Problems
06/05/19 - The 22 Self Disciplines of Buckminster Fuller
03/02/19 - Going Narrow And Deep
30/01/19 - Creativity Happens When…
13/01/19 - Letting It Happen
07/01/19 - Too Much Data

2018 (36)

24/12/18 - Creative Isolation
07/10/18 - What Is An Artist?
30/09/18 - How To Create Order From Chaos
23/09/18 - The Creative Self: Who Is Doing The Making?
16/09/18 - The Paradox of Work
02/09/18 - Time To Quit
26/08/18 - Saying Sorry: When Nothing Is Gained From Apologies
19/08/18 - Artistic Temperament And The Challenge Working With Others
12/08/18 - Does It Make You Happy?
30/07/18 - Eddie Doherty, Handweaver
22/07/18 - Success Hacks: The Folly In Following Shortcuts
15/07/18 - What To Do When Creative Ideas Overwhelm
08/07/18 - Engineering Consent, Eating Paleo & The New Studio
24/06/18 - State of Flow & Expert Performance
17/06/18 - The Timeless Creative Mind
20/05/18 - The Power Of Deliberate Practice
15/04/18 - Spontaneous Laughter
08/04/18 - Finding Time For Self In The Elaborate Game
25/03/18 - In Defense Of The Unambitious
18/03/18 - Effects Of Stress On Creativity
04/03/18 - Are You Doing It For The Money?
25/02/18 - Challenging Authority: The Creative Imperative
24/02/18 - The New Religion & The Righteous Menace
23/02/18 - The Mere Exposure Effect: Do We Have Control Over Our Descisions?
21/02/18 - Mentorship And Advice: Is there A Difference?
20/02/18 - Reversing The Momentum
18/02/18 - The Merit In Playing The Long Game
16/02/18 - Why The Butcher Shop Closed
15/02/18 - How To Boost Creativity: 10 Creativity Books You Should Read
14/02/18 - The Inadequacy Of The Words
12/02/18 - Exchanging Art For Cash
11/02/18 - The Wisdom Of A Practical Man
10/02/18 - Creatures Of Habit
08/02/18 - Is It Worth The Sacrifice?
07/02/18 - My Biggest Challenge
07/01/18 - Imelda May Portrait: An Inside Look

2017 (5)

24/12/17 - Sunday Letters Christmas Eve
10/12/17 - Parent Child Relationship: What Is Its True Purpose?
03/12/17 - Have You Ever Failed?
01/12/17 - There Is No Time
01/05/17 - Does Time Exist?