Twenty years of collecting wisdom — the people, books, quotes and speeches that shaped how I live. I gather the best of it here and try to make it easy to use. Start anywhere.
108 inspiring people • 1,537 quotes • 28 great speeches • 12 great letters • 16 book reviews • 24 interviews • 1 free course
A wall of 108 faces — family and friends, writers and leaders, a wizard or two — and the full stories of 8 of them so far: Mary Oliver, Mister Rogers, Randy Pausch, Amy Purdy, Ben Franklin and more, each with their best quotes and where to learn more. This shelf keeps growing, and it’s the seed of my next book: a daily dose of optimism from the people I admire most.
Meet them →Every quote from my five quote books, free to browse and search — 1,537 lines from the Dalai Lama, Lincoln, Franklin, Gandhi and Mark Twain, organized by each book’s own themes. My personal favorites live in Quotes I Love, with a wall of 44 quote cards.
Short rules for life I actually try to live by, each with the story behind it. It starts with Rule No. 1: if it’s not a hell yeah, it’s a no.
See the rules →16 books I’ve summarized and reviewed, from The 7 Habits and Essentialism to the novels I couldn’t put down.
Letters written to one person that turned out to be for all of us — Seneca on time, Franklin’s pros and cons, Van Gogh to his brother Theo, Hemingway telling Fitzgerald to go on and write — each with the story of who wrote it and why.
Read the letters →The books I keep coming back to — the Tao Te Ching, Walden, Man’s Search for Meaning and more. Plus my quest to read every Stephen King book and two playlists of poems read aloud.
See the shelf →Favorites from before the Saturday essays, rebuilt by hand — how Tunga changed my life, ten days of silence, getting rid of mice without killing them, everybody can be great — plus 27 posts from the Peace Corps and every post since 2005.
Browse by topic →28 speeches worth hearing again, each with the story of the moment — from the Gettysburg Address and the Man in the Arena to Steve Jobs at Stanford and Mister Rogers at the Senate.
Read the speeches →Seven talks I return to again and again — Elizabeth Gilbert, Brené Brown, Ken Robinson, Simon Sinek and three more — each with a note on why it stuck.
Watch the talks →Two dozen conversations with people doing good in the world, including Everyday Humanitarians, my free online conference with 21 speakers, and my own Peace Corps story.
See the conversations →Twenty-five movies and three shows I’ll rewatch forever — The Goonies, Back to the Future and the rest of the wall. Heavy on the ’80s. There may be a button.
See the wall →The movie picker my best friend Jon and I built from 1,657 of our own ratings. Set the time circuits (how long you’ve got, your mood, how you want to feel after), hit 88 mph, and get tonight’s pick.
Set the time circuits →A guided exercise: ten quiet minutes, and you’ll walk away knowing your top five values, in order. Free, no email required.
Start the exercise →Six quick questions to find out which of the book’s four sections — Helping, Becoming, Doing, or Being Enough — you actually need right now.
Take the quiz →Ten quick questions, two scores — how much you believe good things are coming, and how much you act regardless. A fun mirror, not a diagnosis. For the science, see the best research on optimism.
Take the quiz →One gratitude question a day, the same for everyone and never the same twice in a year: people, causes, small luxuries, the things you’d miss. No journal, no account.
Today’s question →A version of the little app I write my 1,000 words on each morning, free for anyone: a blank page, a dot that turns green at 1,000, and past entries you can’t edit. No account, works offline, and your words never leave your device.
Start today’s page →My four-week course, now free: your values, your roles, the remarkable people around you, and one awesome project. Videos, workbooks and audio. More free classes, from job interviews to goal-free living, are in the Optimist Program.
Start the course →My master’s thesis on what makes workers happy and what leaders can do about it, studied in Certified B Corporations. Watch the presentation or read it free.
Explore the thesis →Every book and story he’s ever written, on one wall of covers I tick off as I go. Keep your own list right beside mine, pick your favorite for the top of the page, and let the dice choose your next one.
We’ll find it or we’ll make it.
Two high school friends set out to taste every cream soda in the universe. The Ten Creamandments, head-to-head reviews, and a list you can tick off yourself — with a button that picks your next soda.
The palette button at the top of every page restyles the whole site, from Apple’s Think Different posters to a Mars colony. Tap one to try it right here. Each has its own link to share, with its own preview picture.
The story of my own AI assistant, told from the record, and the chart she built of the world’s AI adoption, one dot per 3.2 million people. And Evolution: this website growing, day by day, handmade in public.
Read the story →My life list: the dreams that have come true, year by year, and the ones I’m still chasing. Plus the theme I pick for every year, the page I start each day with and my numbered ideas.
See the list →The organizations, classes and side projects I’ve started over the years — from Peace Corps Mongolia to the perfect cream soda.
See the projects →More joins the shelves regularly — the Saturday essay is where I announce what’s new.
