I'm glad I didn't see this on a Monday. Any time the world changes this much it is both terrifying in its scope and exhilarating in its possibilities.

As a right brainer, I have an aversion to finance and numbers. I loved geometry as a student, but derided economists as money-grubbers. Now, as a business owner, I have a more rationalist/objectivist viewpoint, though I still think Ayn Rand was a whack job, sorry!

Dave Gray's reading list

A lot of people have asked me to recommend books on visual thinking, visual learning, the brain, business, etc., so I have compiled this list. I've added a brief note to each book so you can see why I think it's important.

This isn't an exhaustive list, but I try to add to it whenever I have a moment.

Though my wallet is regretting my ever having found this page. I own a bunch of these books already, but there are dozens of great recommendations for everything from drawing with kids to project management to the cognitive theory behind visual thinking. It's an awesome collection.

Thanks, DG!

There are two types of schedule, which I'll call the manager's schedule and the maker's schedule. The manager's schedule is for bosses. It's embodied in the traditional appointment book, with each day cut into one hour intervals. You can block off several hours for a single task if you need to, but by default you change what you're doing every hour.

The past few years have been crazy and hectic for me professionally in leading at Fuzzy Math and personally as our second daughter was born.

I find myself on a schedule like Graham describes, with long blocks of time unpunctuated by interruptions only coming late at night. It worked for Graham because he could sleep in. You can't do that with a finicky newborn and a daughter in kindergarten, meaning those late nights charge a brutal fee the next morning.

I have always been a do-aholic, but not a workaholic. What I mean by that is that I don't like grinding on one set of problems all day, every day, but I do enjoy keeping really busy. My dad is the same way. Like him, I've always had a main project and several side projects, hobbies or whatnots to keep me busy.

This past year, with family and FM, only was about those things, and I had precious little creative time. It showed in everything: my work, my attitude, my health.

Well, I'm done accepting the status quo for my life, since when I do the things I'm more passionate about, good things tend to happen, though they are less quantifiable than many other more tangible short term benefits. More on that in a bit.

No matter what price you charge, be sure to give customers what they paid for. Elaine Biech, a consultant for 25 years and author of The Business of Consulting, offers a 100% money-back guarantee on the advice she provides. Says Biech: "If you don't believe in yourself, why should your clients?"

That is the money quote about consulting. If you don't believe in what you offer, you are stealing. I believe that happens all too often with larger consultancies where the individual practice members have so little skin in the game they may not care or believe in the work as much as they do the paycheck.