Taking My Own Digital Platform Medicine: Simplification
One of my written goals (are there any other kind?) this year is to improve my digital platform. The first step is to improve its cornerstone: my website. With that in mind, I will take some of my own medicine ( via Thoreau, as a mentioned in my blog Thoreau: On The...
Time and Flip-Flops
Although I am a “time-person” (where being on time means being 15 minutes early), next to my bathroom clock is my “Life is better in flip-flops” artwork —set there to remind me to enjoy life every day with the people whom I love. Don't let your system dictate your...
Resuming My Writing-by-Dictation
An effective, high-volume writing technique is the use of digital dictation and it is one I've used in the past. I've discussed this approach in an old blog post Physician: Too Busy To Blog? The Blog by Walking. Unfortunately, it is a subtle skill, and like all subtle...
Caution: Ikigai Is Not Happiness
A word of caution. Although pursuing one's ikigai—one's purpose—can lead to a fulfilling life, it doesn't necessarily lead to a happy one. For example, just take a look at any of the several tech billionaires so well known to all of us. They are passionate about what...
My Big Book of Causation!
In philosophy, there are big books and small books. This spring, I am reading The Oxford Handbook of Causation. It's just arrived, and it’s a big book! At 37 chapters and roughly 800 pages (approx. 22 pages per chapter), my short-term goals are simple: read two...
Writers: Beware the Second Spectator
When studying Creativity—capital “C,” as opposed to her defanged cousin, the small “i” innovation—one will likely run across Nietzsche, which means considering his first major work, The Birth of Tragedy (TBOT). Now, in reference to writing, deep within TBOT (Section...
Who I Am
An important visual reminder of who I am and what I do. "Do or do not. There is no try." Yoda
Twitter Friendliness: Medical Community vs. Writing Community
On Twitter, I am active in two Twitter communities: the medical community and the writing community. The hashtags which represent the medical community can be broad (ex. #medtwitter and #physician), disease-focused, (ex. #obesity and #diabetes), conference or...
I Love My Hoban Cards
For most of the things I purchase, I focus strictly on functionality and cost. But there are rare purchases that are important to me at the level of my ikigai—my purpose. And for these items, I always strive for quality. For me, these items include my Montblanc pens...
In Perpetuity: The Foundational Principle of Corporate Ethics
In a recent New York Review of Books article by Jake Bernstein (Loopholes for Kleptocrats, referencing the books American Kleptocracy: How the US Created the Worlds Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History, by Casey Michel and The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires...