"It often costs more, but I’ve found it to be the most worthwhile investment you can make. There’s nothing better for your work and your life than a quiet, focused mind."

"I expected a lot of things when I started traveling, and most of them ended up being accurate. One thing which I didn’t expect, or plan for in any capacity, was just how drastically my general outlook on the world would change following the removal of material possessions. I don’t know why I didn’t expect it, really, cause it’s something that’s written about frequently. Prior to departure I’d absorbed countless articles discussing the sense of freedom from giving up all one owns. But I’ve never really been that attached to “stuff” – and I had no reservations about giving up mine – so I didn’t really see it as a big deal.

The shift in perspective doesn’t really have much to do with the things you own owning you, as such. It’s a state of mind. Whilst living a “normal” life, even as a relatively non-materialistic person, I was always thinking about the next “thing” to buy, or pay for, or do. I had absolutely no appreciation for how much time my mind spent locked into this rut of: earn money, buy something, do cool things with it, earn a bit more money, buy another thing."

Great post about the benefits and downsides to working from home.

"There are so many productivity tools and philosophies out there, but it ultimately comes down to our own inner compass and ability to stay on track with whatever we are doing. And the key to that is the ability to be aware."

Interruptions happen because we allow them to.

Derek Sivers moved to Singapore and plans to continue living in various countries.

"Not getting enough sleep as a programmer is like a chef dulling his taste buds with cigarettes. You can do the job, but you’re seriously handicapping yourself for no reason."

Great essay on bubbles and lifestyle by Umair Haque.

Great post about the benefits to renting a home.

Really wonderful essay about life, technology, and connecting people.

"Let’s not be marketers for companies, no matter how cool we think they are. Let’s not identify ourselves by what we buy and use, but what we create and how we help others."

"Now consider our current consumer environment: Multiply the desire for Respirer by thousands of products of varying levels of utility: iPads, leather couches, crystal martini glasses, cars, garden gnomes. It’s like having thousands of little motivational speakers hovering around us."

"So let it slide. Limit your intake. Take a deep breath and enjoy the space you’ve created. I have read the entire internet and don’t worry, you’re not missing much."

As Detroit shrinks it's city leadership and private consultants plan for the future.

Turns out that you really do need 8 hours of sleep per night.

"We can afford to go on this vacation because we make choices about how we spend our money day-to-day. I pack a lunch for my wife every single day. I work from home and very rarely eat lunch out. And we try to keep eating out to a minimum in general. I cook most of our meals and plan for leftovers. We eat very well, but we don’t spend a lot at restaurants. Except when we travel and we dine in style."

Taking a month off of screen time can be a great way to recharge and truly experience life.

You can live minimally in any location and context. It's about adapting and lessening the things you need to enjoy life.

A tale of dreams, debt, and heartbreak in California.

Cool essay about work and what it means to Jeffrey Essmann.

Dan Benjamin's introduction to starting a regular breathing practice.

"If everyone has everyone’s attention the value of attention is nullified." This is why we should save, invest, and be conscientious of the attention we give things.

"What I mean by freedom is the ability to say no. I don’t consider this a negative way of thinking, but rather a very positive way to have permission to opt out of the things we don’t want to do. I feel we need to acknowledge the value of the freedom derived from simplifying and eliminating the useless things in our life. This means having an understanding of what’s important."

Sometimes it's our fear that causes us to consume more.

"Whether as creators or consumers, whether you ascribe to happiness theory or the set point theory of happiness, as another year begins, don’t forget to plan a vacation, take time off — even just a day or an afternoon. You may only remember the peak-end."

Small victories and incremental goal setting is a great way to stick to making your goals a reality.

Danah Boyd explains why she takes time offline every year.

"More than any other technical design or social institution, the railway stands for modernity. No competing form of transport, no subsequent technological innovation, no other industry has wrought or facilitated change on the scale that has been brought about by the invention and adoption of the railway."

"I have often said that Rs 2000 is what I pay to my maid servant who comes to clean my house and wash the utensils twice a day. She works one hour and walks away with Rs 2000 a month. The poor farmer works 24x7 with his family of five members and yet is unable to earn more than what a maid servant makes in one hour of daily work. This is how we treat our farmers, our annadata."

Stowe Boyd summarizes a Pew study that correlates internet usage with income level.

Shawn Blanc's tips for brewing coffee in a French Press.

"Americans, plugged in and on the move, are confiding in their pets, their computers, and their spouses. What they need is to rediscover the value of friendship."

Living in a San Diego on poverty wages.

Alex Payne talks about why he bought a house when he did.

"I can’t deny that testosterone has changed my behavior. I used to cry to let my rage out. Now, the tears rarely come, even when I’m sad. I am more assertive, but in control. I channel my anger and aggression into running and weight lifting, into creative projects that set me free from pain. I go for long drives and take more risks on the road. I’m less likely to ask for directions."

"Since open-ended tasks with distant deadlines are much easier to postpone than focussed, short-term projects, dividing projects into smaller, more defined sections helps."

"It took me a while to realize that there’s a big difference between someone who feels busy and someone who has a lot going on in their business."

"These needs are created by fears, and the more honest we are about these fears, the better. Face the fears, and give yourself a little trial period — allow yourself to let go of the need, but just for an hour, or a day. Just for a week. If nothing bad happens, extend the trial, and slowly in this manner you’ll find that the need wasn’t a need at all."

"When you subtract the desire, you can subtract possessions, and leave your mind, heart, and life free. Then the possibilities are endless."

An essay on love, war, and the connected nature of human relations.

"Here’s a much simpler solution: make the work itself interesting and rewarding for your employees so they can get satisfaction from their jobs, make the environment warm and enjoyable for people to be a part of. If you do these two things (which, admittedly, is difficult, but that is your job if you are running a company), workers will find fun things to do naturally with their colleagues."

"That first hour of the day, Apple and Google employees are banging out emails and getting ready for the day, not sitting in traffic carrying out a set of repetitive, low-level, and occasionally dangerous tasks to maneuver their exoskeletons southward."

"Happiness is easier to find when you don’t fill your life with all that clutter and that is the reason I have been thinking about all of this lately. It feels all too daunting to live a life so crammed full with information and constantly changing standards to keep track of."

Potential benefits of dropping the habit of multitasking.

The New York Times looks at the differences in the lifestyles of 20-somethings.

Part 3 from Frank Chimero.

Part 2 from Frank Chimero.

Part 1 of a great series from Frank Chimero.

Derek Powazek's tips on how to be a good driver in San Francisco.

Very interesting interview with Shawn Blanc about the tools he uses throughout the day.

"The quest to understand the impact on the brain of heavy technology use — at a time when such use is exploding — is still in its early stages."

"Many have begun trading in CD, DVD, and book collections for digital music, movies, and e-books. But this trend in digital technology is now influencing some to get rid of nearly all of their physical possessions - from photographs to furniture to homes altogether."

Basic lessons for learning the Dvorak keyboard.

Paul Graham on the acceleration of addictiveness in our society.

"We’re masters of the attentive float. We get in and out of the water easily and are very happy to find our friends waiting on the beach, offering a towel and a shard of poetry washed ashore from the deep pool of our distracted wanderings."

The importance of tracking the milestones in your life.

Discussion with Patrick Rhone about some of the tools that help him work every day.

Shawn makes note of what it is like to not have Wi-Fi at home for a short while.

"In a world where whomever is screaming the loudest sound bite is considered to be providing information, I think the act of chilling out is essential."

Some small towns in the American South are offering incentives for Jewish families to move and resettle.

America faces some difficult decisions going forward if it is to lessen the prevalence of obesity.

"When you know that being on the job 60 more months is inevitable, you have to have the courage and character to ask: How can I make them the most pleasantly and professionally productive of my life?"

Computers are having various effects on our brains and neurological activity. It's still early, but watching how these effects strengthen (or not) will be interesting.

If we were inventing a workplace in today's age the office would seem like an antiquated relic.

Interesting details about social policies in Sweden.

Marco Arment details his setup up for brewing coffee.

Perhaps there's better things we can be doing with our investments than funding children. h/t @danielbachhuber

"Minimalism is simply eliminating the unnecessary. And while the poor (anyone who’s not in the middle class or above) might not have the ridiculously unnecessary things that the affluent have, there are usually things that can be eliminated."

Sometimes a short digital vacation can be remarkably refreshing.

The immense potential of a hyper-connected health system.

"One of the under-reported stories of the internet is this: it constantly reports on what's possible. Somewhere in the world, someone is doing something that you decided couldn't be done."

"Welcome to 21st century business. It's a movement to do meaningful stuff that matters the most — and if you're not part of it, well, the hard-nosed chance is: you're kissing your future goodbye."

Scrapbooking the 21st-century child's life, the digital way.

Sometimes taking an economical approach to movement, words and materials is important.

Interesting profile of David Foster Wallace from 1996.

A great article from "A List Apart" that explains some of the ways in which you can create habit fields when working from home.

Jeff Atwood details his experience with working remotely on Stack Overflow. Full of some tips and tricks.

Merlin Mann gives a great talk about time and attention in the business world. The talk was largely a riff since the slides didn't work.

Sometimes even the most detail oriented people (i.e. Project Managers) like to put control in someone else's hands.