I just found out about Coursera last week. Yes, I know, I'm late to the party! If you're late like me, here's what's Coursera about (taken from their About page): We are a social entrepreneurship company that partners with the top universities in the world to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free.... Continue Reading →
Why you need to learn MS Excel
Just five years ago Microsoft Excel was as alien to me as table manners is to a two-year-old child. Then during my university summer break in 2007 I got a job at a bank that changed all that. I learned that Excel makes calculations of complex formulas easy; Excel works great as a basic reporting... Continue Reading →
How to make better decisions using Opportunity Cost
The cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. -- Oscar Wilde Opportunity cost can help you make better decisions because it helps put your decisions in context. Costs and benefits are framed in terms of what is most important to you at the time of the decision. Every time we make... Continue Reading →
Trip to Montreal
This is my second final night here in Montreal. What an experience this has been. There've been times, countless times, when talking to someone here, I'd get all self-conscious on myself and think about how weird it was that I was here. I'd suddenly lose track of the conversation, think about how I'd think about... Continue Reading →
Local Adaptation
I could have sworn that I wrote this before, but I can't seem to find it anywhere! The following is a passage from the book Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure by Tim Harford, which had at that time (and still does) a great impact on me because of the scope of my work.... Continue Reading →
Normal People Look for Causality
From the book Be Unreasonable by Paul Lemberg: Freedom comes from responsibility. Be completely responsible for your actions and your results. Normal people look for causality, something or someone to blame for the way things turned out. Unreasonably lay claim to every miracle or debacle within your sphere of influence; make them all yours, for that's the only... Continue Reading →
Regrets at not living a fuller life
Imagine you’re 80-years-old, on your rocking chair, looking at your grandchildren running along in the large garden of your beautiful house, acquired almost 40 years ago. At that time, the house cost you a “small fortune” and (at least according to the stories you’d tell anyone who’d cared to listen), though you’re able to afford... Continue Reading →
How to write shorter, better e-mails
Each time I complete writing a lengthy e-mail, I save it in my drafts and let it sit there for a while (sometimes, just a minute or two would do). Then, returning to it, I look at it through the eyes of my recipient, and imagine how I’d read it if I had only ten... Continue Reading →
On Finding Work We Love
I once saw a mattress ad that argued that choosing the right mattress was the most important life choice you’d have to make after choosing a spouse. The basic premise of that ad was that since you’d be spending a third of your life sleeping, splurging on a good mattress would be money well spent,... Continue Reading →
The Performance Appraisal
A little over a year ago I wrote a short piece commemorating my confirmation appraisal, where I wrote about how lucky my company was to have me, and how thankful I was that they hired me when they did. Now that we know each other a little better, I can look back and see if... Continue Reading →
Donn, fragments 