Matthew's Blog
The Joy of Studying For Medical Boards
I'm planning to take my 10-year Family Medicine recertification exam in May 2023, and in preparation for this, I just got my first study guide, the 827-page Swanson’s Family Medicine Review. The test itself has a simple structure: 4 sets of 75 multiple choice...
On Favorite Things
I bought the leather bookmark (shown in the photo above) while I was in London over two decades ago. It’s one of my favorite bookmarks. I can’t really explain why. It’s not very functional as a bookmark. It tends to stick on the page when I move it. It's also not...
Creating vs Consuming; Creator vs Consumer
Although I think it’s hyperbolic to say someone is either a creator or a consumer, there is a creating:consuming ratio for nearly everyone at any given time, and, if you are aware of your own ratio, it can offer some valuable insight. For example, for writers one...
Running, Writing, and Rhythm
Back in my marathon running days ( way back!), I had a system—a rhythm—for training that worked every time. I trained 6 days a week. I rotated off mild running days, with moderate running days, punctuated by one long run each week. I then took the day after my long...
Twitter Tip: Twitter Lists and Signal:Noise Ratio
A common problem with Twitter is there is a whole lot of noise and very little signal. By this I mean you have to sieve through a lot of junk to get to useful content. But, by using Twitter Lists thoughtfully, I can target my scrolling; it's a quick and easy way to...
My Favorite June 2022 Blog Post
My favorite post that I wrote in June is A Fond Farewell To My Disabled Parking Placard. It’s about a key milestone in my adult life; a reflection on getting older, and the need to seize each day as if it’s my last. I will not take health or life for granted.
Being a Lazy Writer
In the Apple series Home, the architect Anna Chavepayre said: A good architect is a lazy writer; doing less is more. Here I think she’s talking about the practical and aesthetic value of minimalism—doing what is essential, but no more. Subtracting rather than adding....
My Keystone Problem?
We often think of terms such as cornerstones, lynchpins, and keystones in the positive sense: this is a cornerstone skill, she’s a lynchpin in our organization, that's our keystone supplier. But I wonder if we can also use these terms to help shed light on our own...
Don’t Try To Boil The Ocean
It's very difficult to boil the entire ocean. The ocean is so vast, that if you tried to boil it with fire or natural gas or lava or a nuclear bomb, you may be able to induce a few minutes of boiling within a small volume, but quite soon the boiling will stop. The...