Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers

July 2023

If you collected lists of techniques for doing great work in a lot of different fields, what would the intersection look like? I decided to find out by making it.

Partly my goal was to create a guide that could be used by someone working in any field. But I was also curious about the shape of the intersection. And one thing this exercise sh... See more

Here are some other techniques people use to access and maintain the zone:

• Introducing a long delay between when you do the work and when it is shown to the world. Annie Ernaux writes about this in A Simple Passion, a memoir about how she becomes obsessed in a banal way with a man who is having an affair with her—the thought that others will read th

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I usually don’t know what I want until someone shows me, or until I encounter it in the world for the very first time. That’s why, when I work with a creative professional like an illustrator, I am careful never to lead them too much about what silly ideas I think I have; I want to give them maximum freedom to put their own stamp of creativity on m... See more