Here are the best things I’ve discovered, learned, read, wrote, made, and accomplished in 2013. There’s no particular order and not everything on the list was conceived this year, even if they were a part of my life this year. Want to see how I stacked up to last year? Check out my 2012 year in review!
It’s no surprise to me that many of my students are searching for a technical cofounder.
If you have a good idea but not the ability to bring that product to life, it makes sense to try to find someone with a complimentary skill set: a coder without an idea.
But this thinking is based on flawed logic — these students are assuming that their idea alone is valuable. This is flat-out not true. It’s the execution of an idea, not the idea itself.
Even if you don’t know how to code, there are a ton of other things you can do that will actually help move your idea forward. Knowing how to code is not the be-all and end-all of building apps or other technical products. Continue reading
When building new habits or learning new skills, it’s important to focus on the smallest changes that will result in the biggest results. This is known as the Pareto principle, or the 80-20 rule, which states that “for many events, roughly 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes.” This is an extremely powerful rule, because it means that you can have a huge impact on your life, or your work, by simply focusing on the right tasks.
I’ve compiled a list of five easy changes that will have a huge impact on your quality of life. These aren’t huge systems nor will you have to change your entire life around. Rather, they’re small habits that will become second nature in a couple of weeks yet have long-lasting effects on your productivity and mental state. Continue reading
If you’re like most people, the main page of your email inbox is a mixture of emails you need to respond to, emails you should respond to, daily deal alerts, and random newsletters you told yourself to read at some point. Go back a page or two, and you’ll find emails you should have responded to, expired daily deal alerts, and random newsletters that will never hold your attention again. Farther back still is the “well, I guess it’s way too late at this point” section of the inbox. And, if you’re like most people, just thinking about your inbox backlog gives you anxiety.
There is a better way to deal with your emails. It’s super fast and easy, too! You’ll never have to wonder if you’re forgetting anything because you’ll know what needs to be done at a quick glance. You’ll never have to start an email with “I’m sorry it took so long to respond” again. Continue reading
Skillshare is one of my favorite startups to emerge from the recent innovation boom in the education field. Simply put, Skillshare is a platform that allows anyone to teach a class or take a class. After taking a couple of fantastic Skillshare classes, I decided to develop my own, based upon my experience getting two iPhone apps into the App Store with no prior coding experience.
I’ve been teaching a local class in New York City, The Non-Programmer’s Guide to Getting an App in the App Store, for eight months now. Class growth and student sign ups were slow at times, but I’ve stuck with the class long enough to have a generated a lot of positive feedback.
It’s been an amazing and educational experience for me. If you teach a class, or plan on teaching a class, here are some tips to help you make the most out of your class. Continue reading