This page is out of date as of late 2011. We'll get a new version up at some point, but don't hold your breath. There's some good crazy posts lately though, look at November and December 2011 as a jumping off point.
New around town? Good. Howdy. Welcome.
I'm Sebastian Marshall. You can read more about me on my About Page if you want the details. Long story really short, I'm a strategist, entrepreneur, technologist, avid reader and writer, casual historian, cowboy scientist, and I like doing some adventure and travel type stuff.
I make myself way more accessible than most people do. You can email me at sebastian -at- sebastianmarshall.com (brief emails get faster replies than long emails).
More contact info - please feel very welcome to reach out through any channel. I'm @sebastmarsh on Twitter - if you follow, I encourage you to send an @message to say hi. "@sebastmarsh hi how's it going?" will do. Here's Sebastian Marshall's Facebook - I spend traveling through countries where it's blocked (Vietnam, China, etc) so don't panic if I don't accept a friend request immediately. Next time I'm on a proxy or outside those places I'll approve. You can also find me at LessWrong and Hacker News. I comment extensively on HN, my profile there is lionhearted.
But enough about me. Let's talk about this site can benefit you.
My current headline is, "Strategy, Philosophy, Self-Discipline, Science. Victory." There's lots of that here - strategy, philosophy, self-discipline, science, victory.
I also spend plenty of time thinking about creativity, writing, reading and books, art, business, commerce, selling, technology, history, and warfare.
I do a lot of stuff here at SebastianMarshall.com and that's all well and good, but you should be having your goals and objectives served by hanging out with me here. I do believe that. This should be an excellent use of your time.
Thus, here's a curated "best of" by topic. At the bottom, there's a "Newest" section which hasn't been filtered into categories yet.
I encourage you to click around and come back here as a reference - I write a minimum of once a day, so I've got lots of posts. While you're new to the site, definitely come to this page to find what most interests you.
Please feel welcome to use this site more interactively than most blogs. I like feedback and I like making myself useful. Comments on page and emails are very welcome. If you're normally a passive consumer of information, please feel free to take that shell off and become more active here.
Okay, here's a best of by category -
Want to get more done?
The Evolution of My Time/Habit/Life Tracking (probably my best post on getting more done)
The Joys of Public Accountability
More About Intek – Knowing a Skill vs. Living a Skill
Some General Life Goals
Guest Post: On Being On-Track With Obsessive Tasks
Why Isn’t My Book Done?
Fill Up Your Dead Time
New Word: intek
Positive Sum Games Don’t Require Natural Talent
Quitting Spectator Sports
Becoming Prolific
My Philosophy:
Me? I’m a strategist
I think greatness is something you do, not something you are
Guest Post: Greatness and Humility
Becoming a Liberal and Magnificent Tipper
Why Build? Because I Like Humanity
Producing is a Million Times Better Than Consuming
Luck Doesn’t Exist
Rule an Empire, Fistful of Rice
Bad Stuff That’s Happened to You = Expensive Lessons You’ve Already Paid For
If luck doesn’t exist, then should we give way to fatalism?
Cowboy Science
We All Get 24 Hours…
Watching the Lightning
Observing the Pain
A Lot of Victory is Just Walking Around
Some General Good Advice:
The Problems With Half-Working
Is it cheaper to fly internationally to buy your next suits, luggage, etc?
Hey you – yeah YOU – you can be an entrepreneur
I Think Good Marketing Is Mostly Just Having People Want to Spend Time With You
I’m Realizing How Much a One Night Vacation Can Be Worth
On Refining Diet
If You’re Intelligent, Beware the Cleverness Disease
Constantly Improve Your Environment
Gratitude Tracking
Some Collected Quotes and Poetry:
Invictus
Going to sleep a lot and rejoin the land of the living tomorrow. (Hamlet)
Patience – In Macro, Yes; In Micro, No (Tokugawa quotes)
Sun Tzu says – Make It Look Easy
Wisdom Shouts in the Streets (Proverbs from the Bible)
We’re Living in the Future (video: "Everything's amazing but nobody's happy" - watch it now if you haven't already seen it)
A Few More Things I'm Working On:
Whose on Your War Counsel?
My Spending Over the Last 8 Days
Mark This Down and Watch Me
Newest:
“Son, as soon as someone puts their hands on you…”
Keeping Death In Mind
“You have a lot of nerve trying to earn $15,000 on one deal; why, you’re only a broker.”
Could You Do Genius Quality Work?
Yeah, I've Pretty Much Beaten Sugar
Some Differences Between Being High Born and Low Born
Lessons Learned from the Firestorm of Controversy
Steel on the Inside, Silk on the Outside
Excerpts from Hagakure, Chapter 1
The Pleasure of Walking
The Weakest of the Great Men of All Time
The line between impossible and huge effort possible goals?
NO SHAME
Chase Meaning, Not Happiness
Steps to Achievement: The Pitfalls, Costs, Requirements, and Timelines
How to Avoid Exchange-Based Relationships
Give Me Strife and Suffering (but in manageable doses)
What Gets Measured, Gets Managed
At the bottom of the page, eh? What now? Well, here's the main page of SebastianMarshall.com so you can see what's new. Again, I welcome email to sebastian -at- sebastianmarshall.com if you have a question, comment, suggestion, or I can lend you a small hand with something. Feel very welcome to comment on any page of the site - I read them all, and reply to post.
Here's the SebastianMarshall.com RSS feed if you're an RSS user - I highly recommend it, of course.
Now what?
1. Feel free to go through this page by category to find stuff that most interests you.
2. When you come across an interesting piece, feel very free to comment. I read all comments on all articles, even if it's an older one.
3. You can email me at sebastian -at- sebastianmarshall.com - I get swamped with email sometimes, but try to respond to it all.
4. I'm @sebastmarsh on Twitter. After you follow, definitely send me an @message. It's easy to do, just type "@sebastmarsh hi" into the Twitter box. I'll see it within a couple days max.
5. Here's Sebastian Marshall's Facebook - friend it up, if you like. Don't panic if I don't confirm right away, I travel through censored places sometimes.
6. Here's the RSS feed - highly recommended.
7. Stick around, learn, drop a line if I can help. Welcome, and I'm glad you're onboard.
Regards,
Sebastian Marshall
1. My answer is yes! Yes, you're all added.
2. However, I'm in Vietnam, where Facebook is banned.
3. I had a VPN I was using, but it stopped working. So you're all stuck in limbo in the meantime. Sorry and no disrespect intended!
4. In the meantime, I'm @sebastmarsh on Twitter. If you tried Twitter once but you don't understand it, go ahead and send out this message - "@sebastmarsh Okay, I'm trying Twitter, but I still don't get it!" I'll message you back, click on "@[yourname]" on the right-hand menu and you'll see when a reply when I write back. Basically @messages seem to be most of the value of Twitter when you're getting started, but it's a chicken and egg problem - you're not talking to anyone, so it seems useless. But, we can chat and connect on there a little, reactions to my posts or 140 character philosophical discussions are always welcome.
Finally, if you want to be pals on Facebook, here's Sebastian Marshall's Facebook - that's my page, not a fan page. But maybe I'll add a fan page later. Though! You'll be stuck in limbo for a while until I get a new VPN or leave Vietnam, so please don't feel unloved!
Ahoy! After six months of doing little other than working on it, Conversion Doubler is finished. You can see the rough draft of my copy at www.conversiondoubler.com. YES! It feels great to be done. It came out amazingly well... I'm 100% confident it's the best product out there. If anyone who reads here would like a copy, I will give it to you for 75% off ($50/mo). The catch? You must have posted a comment to the blog, sent me an e-mail, or have had an account before today on my forums.
In other news, my RV is for sale. If anyone here would like to carry on the tradition of being a nomad, here's the link : Tynan's RV. Even if you don't want to buy it, there are a bunch of pictures taken by my brother, so you can see how I lived for 9 months!
I wrote an article for Alex Shalman about my new productivity system that I talked about in my new years post. Check it out and come join me in the forums where I keep track of my progress every day.