I’ve recently come to a very important realization that has revolutionized my approach to productivity and really my life in general.

I frequently used to feel overwhelmed by the opportunities I have around me and the stress to be successful and do all the worthwhile activities that I have the opportunity to do. The problem is that there never is enough time in a day, and that leads to anxiety and a sense of having missed out on something great and instead spent time on something less useful.

Here’s an exercise that I started doing periodically, and it really is the starting point to living a great life.

Imagine you had infinite financial resources and time to do whatever you want. What would you do? I make a list of all the things I want to do, and categorize them into daily, weekly, and less frequent things.

Here are some examples:

Daily

• Meditation
• 5 hours of work
• Studying languages
• Reading a book

Weekly

• Calling friends and family
• Cooking a new dish
• Cycling day with my wife
• Attending meetups

Occasional

• Short (1 week or less) trips to other countries
• Research and shopping

The fastest way to gain control over your time and eradicate this sense of overwhelm is to eliminate everything you can and have a proper framework for saying Yes to the right things and No to the wrong things.

As Steve Jobs said during Apple’s WWDC in 1997, there are situations where “the total is less than the sum of the parts”. Apple was doing too many things and failing as a company before he was put back into the driving seat. His biggest move was to ditch many of the projects (a painful exercise) and focus on a very limited number of products that could really revolutionize the market and Apple’s fortunes. The result of that was legendary products such as the iMac and iBook.

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all… It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully… I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things we have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things” – Steve Jobs

What all this boils down to is the act of starting from zero and imagining that you have infinite resources, then start noting down what you would spend your time on. Of course, the resulting list will probably include things that you really enjoy or that give you a lot of benefits in return.

So the act of thinking in terms of infinite resources helps to clear your mind from any judgments and artificial walls that might be preventing you from committing to doing something. On the other hand, the fact that you focus on eliminating distractions and judiciously choosing which items to put on your list will make sure you have a limited list of things to focus on. When a new distraction comes along, you will most probably have already thought about it and discarded it in favour of more important things, so you can quickly dismiss it before it starts eating into your day and mind space.

Here’s another post from my old blog (originally published in 2008), that I thought would be good to re-publish here.

A couple of years back Dr Robert Cialdini, an expert psychologist came up with a set of principles that can be applied in order to harness the power of persuasion and thus influence people. In today’s article I will talk about these six principles and how they can be used.

Principle No. 1 – Liking
People like those who are like them and who create bonds with them. It is important to create early bonds with new acquaintances by informally discovering common interests. This will make them more comfortable and increase their willingness to trust you. Praising other people will also generate more willing compliance.

Principle No. 2 – Reciprocity
People repay in kind, therefore you should develop a habit of giving what you want to receive. Help someone in need and it will be much more likely that he will help you back later.

Principle No. 3 – Social Proof
People follow the lead of similar others. Harness the power of peer power by getting one person from a group to approve your new initiative, the others will most likely follow.

Principle No. 4 – Consistency
People fulfill written, public, and voluntary commitments. Get things down in writing and publicise commitments, then it is more likely that people will fulfill those commitments.

Principle No. 5 – Authority
People believe experts who provide shortcuts to decisions requiring specialised information. The key here is to establish your expertise beforehand by for example describing how you solved a problem similar to the one at hand, or talking about your qualifications and experience, without being boastful.

Principle No. 6 – Scarcity
People value what’s scarce. This is a fact that can be observed in all areas of human behaviour eg. relationships, buying trends etc. You can also use it to your advantage by using exclusive information to persuade. Arouse their curiosity and attention by offering them something nobody knows about eg. “Very few people have heard about this technique…”

Apply these 6 principles in your relationships and you will see that your persuasion power will be better than ever before. Do you have any of your own tips on how to persuade and influence people?

Since early on in my childhood, I’ve had electronic toys and computers to play with. My parents were very avant-garde in this area, although none of them had any involvement in the technology sector. As I’m never short on ideas and interests to pursue, I’ve lately decided to dedicate one theme for side projects each month. This month’s project was gaming and retro computing.

The first step was to look back in my archives and try to remember all the computer games I played as well as the systems I owned over the years. Digging in my drawers and cupboards I managed to unearth most of them; luckily the vast majority are still in excellent condition.

Each machine or device I found took me on a trip back in time and I couldn’t resist switching them back on after so many years and spending some time on each. It’s amazing how skills can lie dormant in us for many years but can then be re-activated instantly once the appropriate trigger is pressed. As I switched on each console or game, all the commands and history of each game rushed back into my mind and it was like no time had passed at all. Pretty powerful and amazing stuff indeed.

That got me into a deeper mood as I reflected on the influence that these games and devices had on me while I was growing up. I’d say the most intensive of my gaming days was between the ages of 6-13.

To give some context I’m going to proceed in listing the various devices I used or had access to, as well as some of the best games for each. This is going to be a personal post but perhaps it will also rekindle some fond memories of others in my age group.

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Originally published: August 2017

Note: I wrote another article about Malta in 2022, sharing my latest views and feelings about the situation there.

A few years ago I decided to leave my home country and try my luck abroad. This wasn’t a spontaneous decision at all, rather it was the result of many years during which my disillusion and frustration with Malta had been growing and growing until I felt I had to take action or I would fall into a very negative perpetual state of mind.

Of course, I have many friends and dear family back in Malta, but honestly, I don’t miss living there. I make it a point to visit at least once a year and I usually have a good time catching up with friends and spending time with my family, but I don’t feel like I would like to go back and live there.

As you can imagine, several friends and family members ask me why this is so. I’ve finally found some time to really list the reasons for my moving away from Malta and why I don’t feel as comfortable living there as I do in other places.

While this post will be very honest, I’m afraid that some readers will find it too negative or downright offensive. Please keep in mind that is an honest outpouring of my thoughts and feelings and is no way meant to attack anyone or show any lack of appreciation. I did grow up in Malta and received many good things, I was blessed with a great family and a good education and also had lots of great experiences. However, as I grew older I started to feel that this was not the place where I wanted to spend the rest of my life in, and this is an attempt to describe why.

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