Michael

Welcome! I'm Michael.

I'm an ENTP based in the United States—in Portland, Oregon (living in an "intentional community" house I created with five other humans).

My mission is to help people unlock their potential as Full-Stack Humans.

I write about topics like these:

  • Lifestyle & Habit Design (energy management, todo list prioritization, easeful decision-making (yes, even for over-thinkers), habit formation & retention, and more)
  • Mindset & Meaning (rationality + mindfulness, building existential resiliency, creating purpose, and systematically dealing with depression, anxiety, and nihilism)
  • Communication & Social Justice (making friends as an adult, deepening relationships, escaping small talk, and being an effective ally)

Videos

I recently started a YouTube channel as well—about developing deep self-awareness, purpose, and personal growth skills.

All this through the lens of an ENTP who's done a lot of work on developing emotional intelligence and mindfulness in myself (and directly helped hundreds of N-type people do the same).

My goal is to teach personal growth at the root human level, in a way that's highly effective but also realistic (i.e., not over-promising) and gentle (i.e., focused on actual life fulfillment rather than pure productivity).

I'll sometimes reference the 16 Jung-Myers types (and cognitive functions), but that won't be the main focus—less "here's everything you need to know about xNTP's," and more "as an xNTP, you'll probably appreciate it if I explain life purpose or motivation in this way..."

Here are two videos you might like to start with. If they resonate, please consider subscribing 🙂

Quick Reads

Below this section, you'll find all my deep-dive posts—the ones that explore the details and nuances of complex topics.

But I've also been publishing shorter posts that take just a few minutes to read. They're cross-posted to three different platforms, so you can pick your favorite:

LinkedIn
Medium
Twitter

Mindfulness & Meditation

I was a proud skeptic. I thought I was already self-aware so meditation would be a waste of my time. I was very, very wrong. I tried and failed at various meditation techniques for years, but it's now become my most important habit that I prioritize every day.

Especially if you're an analytical thinker, I believe this is the single most important skill for you to learn to succeed at life. I'll walk you through meditation step by step in a rational, non-woo-woo way, and I'll offer you the most important tips I've learned over a decade of practicing.

Where to start?

If you're ready to jump in, I suggest starting with my 7-day guided meditation series. Or, if you're unconvinced that meditation is worth your time (or you think that meditation isn't for you, you're just not a meditator, or meditation doesn't work), I suggest starting with my deep-dive series on meditation.

Purpose, Spirituality, Buddhism

I'm passionate about existential philosophy, exploring the meaning of life, and investigating spirituality through the lens of rationality and lived experience rather than faith.

(In particular, I've fallen in love with Sōtō Zen Buddhism, and I'm familiar with the Theravadan Vipassana lineage through Goenka as well.)

I've written about these topics quite a bit on a variety of platforms.

Here are some of my favorite pieces of writing to start with:

Social Justice

Hey, I see you!

You might have just read that headline ("social justice") and felt uncomfortable. What's in here might not apply to you, right? Or maybe it'll be impractical or unrealistically idealistic.

Worst of all, especially if you're a straight white guy, you might imagine that anything in this section will be designed to make you feel bad about yourself.

As a fellow straight white guy, let me assure you: I'm still learning too, and I know that we all make mistakes. This collection is meant to be gentle & educational. I won't be "canceling" you.

Finally, I firmly believe that being a good ally to people with marginalized identities (e.g., people of color or people who identify as LGBTQIA+) is not just for their benefit (although that's certainly important too). It actually benefits all of us. This work is about our collective freedom and liberation.

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is my newest obsession. As a multi-passionate analytical thinker, I love that crypto is so multidisciplinary. Especially if you're an ENTP or INTP as well, I believe this will fascinate you.

The first two posts are linked below, but there are a lot more of them on my page devoted to this series: Easing into Crypto. (P.S. Each post is also available for free as an audio podcast on Spotify or iTunes).

Cooking

For most of my 20’s, I was convinced that being a successful adult meant following recipes to cook fancy, exciting meals. I would spend hours searching Reddit and Allrecipes for interesting recipes, sorting by highest-rated, and pushing myself to try new flavor profiles.

Cooking seems hard. But it only seems that way because you’re used to thinking of cooking in terms of following complex recipes. It doesn’t have to be that way at all. Let's make it easy for you to cook easy, healthy, delicious meals in just 15 minutes.

Personal Growth

This section contains posts on a variety of topics related to personal growth.

Living with the Pandemic

I'm not a medical professional, but I was frustrated by all the misinformation and confusing advice out there on COVID-19.

So, I did a lot of research (synthesizing hundreds of articles) and created this series of posts with everything you need to know from how to keep a "bubble" or "pod" safe, to which specific masks are best, to the latest information about the virus "variants" and vaccines.

The most recent two posts are linked below, but there are a lot more of them on my page devoted to this series: Living with the Pandemic.