Posts Tagged ‘meaning’

Finding Purpose

At the beginning of the semester, I asked my students a simple question. See, I teach an unusual class, a core requirement that fulfills not just a social science or humanity requirement but also fulfills my university’s diversity requirement. In practical terms, that means that students working on satisfying their general education requirement can take just my class instead of having to take two classes to satisfy the same requirement.So… Continue reading

March 17 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: activity, life, meaning, purpose, task, work | 18 comments»

Toward a New Vision of Productivity, Part 5: Drowning in Information

This is the fifth part of a 12-part series I will be posting into January 2009, examining the current understanding of productivity and where the concept might be heading in the future. I invite Lifehack’s readers to be an

January 2 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: attention, career, entertainment, information, information-overload, meaning, tim_ferriss, work | 11 comments»

Toward a New Vision of Productivity, Part 3: The Trouble with GTD

This is the third part of a 12-part series I am posting through the end of December and into January 2009, examining the current understanding of productivity and where the concept might be heading in the future. I invite Lifehack’s readers to

December 26 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: david_allen, gtd, meaning, next-action, system, weekly review | 25 comments»

Toward a New Vision of Productivity, Part 2: The Ghost of Productivity Past

This is the second part of a 12-part series I will be posting through the end of December and into January 2009, examining the current understanding of productivity and where the concept might be heading in the future. I invite Lifehack’s readers

December 24 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: culture, david_allen, history, meaning, religion, society, stephen_covey, system, taylorism | 11 comments»

Back to Basics: The Big Picture

It’s easy to get wrapped up in the details of any productivity system, all the fiddly little bits that fit together just so. But how does everything you do add up to a life? Or does it?Thinking about the big picture too much can get in the way of our day-to-day lives – you don’t want to be dreaming about your life 20 years from now while you’re trying to… Continue reading

September 12 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: 50000-feet-view, back-to-basics, gtd, life, meaning, mission | 12 comments»

Selective Apathy Frees You to Care More

Photo courtesy of LibbyWhat do you think of this phrase: “The Joy of Apathy”? It sounds like such a clashing contradiction: how can joy, which is associated with happiness and passion, be found in the opposite stoicism of apathy? While joy and apathy certainly aren't the same, they often work together and are complementary, as we’ll see.Every one of us has a capacity to care and be… Continue reading

August 7 2008 | By Torley | Tagged: apathy, balance, boredom, caring, emotion, feeling, focus, health, joy, life, meaning, purpose, thought | 2 comments»

What Makes Life Worth Living?

My partner is taking a class in psychology and one assignment asks her to write a paper answering the question “What makes life worth living?”For the past few days, she’s been asking the people around her – kids, friends, co-workers – what they think makes life worth living, and the answers have been pretty much of a sort: family, friends, work, music, some possession or other, faith, maybe health. Computer… Continue reading

August 4 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: growth, life, meaning, self-examination | 48 comments»

Labor Day Meditation

Today is Labor Day in the United States. A product of the labor movement, Labor Day was established in 1882 (it became a federal holiday in 1894) as a day to celebrate and acknowledge the achievements of American workers -- though you’d hardly know it from the drunken barbeques and (non-drunken) white sales that are our preferred means of celebrating the day today. Achievements like the… Continue reading

September 3 2007 | By Dustin | Tagged: laborday, meaning, Productivity, work, work_life_balance | 11 comments»