Ten Tools for Embracing Your Finitude:
- Adopt a “fixed volume” approach to productivity. Establish predetermined time boundaries for daily work.
- Serialize: focus on one big project at a time.
- Decide in advance what to fail at.
- Focus on what you’ve already completed, not just on what’s left to complete. Keep a “done” list.
- Consolidate your caring. Consciously choose which causes to support.
- Embrace boring and single-purpose technology.
- Seek out novelty in the mundane. Pay more attention to every moment.
- Be a “researcher” in relationships; deliberately adopt an attitude of curiosity with others.
- Cultivate instantaneous generosity. Whenever a generous impulse arises, act on the impulse immediately.
- Practice doing nothing.
April 10, 2026
© Henning Bertram 2026