Working Theories

November 2024

November 2023

Play your own game

👋 Hey, it’s Matt. This is Working Theories, the weekly newsletter where I share stories, ideas, and frameworks for accelerating your career or…

Nov 14, 2023 • 

Matt Tanner

1

1,000 days of logging my life

How I finally maintained a lightweight daily journal—and why you should too

Nov 7, 2023 • 

Matt Tanner

7

2

August 2023

The tyranny of reviews

The other night, I started a new TV show (huge deal, I know). I really liked the pilot—so much so, I found myself thinking about it multiple times the…

Aug 1, 2023 • 

Matt Tanner

2

July 2023

Advice and indignation

I saw something recently about how there are two paths to gaining an online following: indignation and advice. With indignation you simply take a…

Jul 25, 2023 • 

Matt Tanner

5

Quantity over quality

On being prolific

Jul 18, 2023 • 

Matt Tanner

4

The upside of over-engineering

When I was a kid I used to love the board game Mousetrap. For those unfamiliar with it, the game involves moving a plastic mouse around a board while…

Jul 11, 2023 • 

Matt Tanner

3

Nuke your lists

Declaring productivity bankruptcy

Jul 4, 2023 • 

Matt Tanner

3

3

June 2023

You don't need permission

First the good news. . .

Jun 27, 2023 • 

Matt Tanner

6

How belief bends reality

When I was the GM for a popsicle company, it was my job to get our pop slingers out the door on Saturday mornings. We worked a lot of farmers markets…

Jun 20, 2023 • 

Matt Tanner

3

Get comfortable with discomfort

Courtney Dauwalter won the 2017 Run Rabbit Run, a 100-mile ultramarathon, despite going temporarily blind during the final 12 miles. A few months later…

Jun 13, 2023 • 

Matt Tanner

2