RANDOM THOUGHTS AND PROJECTS

Always thinking, even if it hurts.

Books I am Reading

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Great book about how habits shape people, organizations, and cultural behavior. For myself, the chapter on keystone habits was enlightening, the idea that developing one habit can have positive cascading effects in many other parts of your life. This inspired me to redouble my efforts on developing a monthly budget, where you plan the month ahead and allocate your money accordingly. This in turn pushed me to finish this website and develop app games.
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Dense but enlightening. Dense because it challenges you to think about your thinking...so it's totally meta. Enlightening because you catch yourself examining your own biases and misjudgements. I set a goal to read one book a month and this was the first one, needless to say I am adjusting my expectations. I can't imagine what it would be like to read this one drunk or high.

Favorite Podcasts

Podcasts are like books. The best books (I am a heavy non-fiction reader) activate parts of my brain, get me thinking about things I can do differently in life or a new approach to try. Good podcasts serve a similar purpose, inspiring me with a new approaches or perspectives. Given this, these are the qualities of good podcasts in my opinion:
  • Constructively feed my head
  • Learn something new, especially to apply to my life
  • I return to them over a period of time
  • The speaker is authentic
  • Has positive/substantive and often a tough/challenging message
Types of podcasts I don’t like make me feel like I wasted my time or "less than" after listening to them. I don’t like to feel angry or agitated after a podcast and many of the ones I avoid are political in nature or drive an agenda. Also, I tend to avoid comedians and other personalities, while often entertaining, I don’t find them to be a good use of my time. I make sure to always go to the authentic youtube channel or website as well. I know the horse is out of the barn on this but I don’t like people reposting content (essentially stealing intellectual property). I don’t like to support it by listening to a repost. I am always suspicious of secondary posts that also may be have been doctored or edited. These are my current favorite podcasts:

Dan Carlin: a journalist with a fascination for ancient empires and wars, Hardcore History delves in great detail (some podcasts are 4 hours plus) but these are great storytelling experiences and Carlin has a wonderful way to relate issues and themes to current times.

Jocko Willink: Jocko Podcast. Retired Navy Seal Team, author of “Extreme Ownership” along with Leif Babin. What is unique about this podcast is that there are few guests, it is primarily a discussion of questions posted and a discussion between Jocko and Echo Charles. Guests are typically war veterans who have sacrificed more than we will ever know. Advice is practical and based in my opinion on self-awareness and humility. Great advice and thoughtful discussion.

Mike Rowe: I have been a fan of Mike Rowe’s since Dirty Jobs and his work narrating Deadliest Catch. He doesn’t post very often, but he tells great stories…he’s our generation’s Paul Harvey. He is also is one to give practical and direct advice.

Game App I Created

Adaptation of 2048 Game to Presidential Succession

Took the open source game 2048 and adpated it to Presidential Succession.

POTUS Ladder Game

Tim Clifton

Welcome! I use this site to talk about things of interest to me, with a focus on practicality and productivity.

Words that Matter to Me

  • Integrity
  • Belief
  • Accountability
  • Persistance

Quotes

Zig Ziglar "You can go where you want to go, you can be what you want to be." Anthony Robbins "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten." Jocko Willink "Discipline equals Freedom" "You must own everything in your world. There is no one else to blame." Malcolm Gladwell "There can be as much value in the blink of an eye as in months of rational analysis." Martin Scorsese "There's no such thing as simple. Simple is hard."