In his book Slow Productivity, Cal Newport shares with us the lost art of accomplishment without burnout. Here I’d like to sketch out some of the highlights. Knowledge Work and …
How do we tell the story of America? (Visual Explainer)
How do we tell the story of America? That’s the question Yoni Applebaum explored in an article in The Atlantic in July of 2026, as our country celebrated its 250th …
Parenting for Comfort vs Confidence (Visual Explainer)
How do we raise kids who can handle hard things? That’s the question that Kathryn Hecht explored in a recent TED talk, starting with the story of Sammy, a kid …
One Notebook, Every Idea: My Daily Visual Thinking Practice
I recently filmed a lesson for the Make Models course where I flip through the pages of my daily driver: a large Leuchtturm1917 notebook that has become the center of …
The Purged: Recklessly Abandoning Civil Service Members
Civil service has got a bad rap lately. So much so that the President deemed it necessary to create the Department of Government Efficiency, which took on a campaign that …
Where Will the Money Go? (Overpaid CEO Tax)
If Los Angeles manages to pass the Overpaid CEO Tax, which I explained in my last video, where will the money go? That’s a question that many of you had, …
The Overpaid CEO Tax (Explained Visually)
You can also watch this video on TikTok and Instagram There’s an interesting showdown happening right now between the city of Los Angeles and mega corporations like Starbucks. It has …
How Mark Rober is Solving the Science Motivation Gap
In his new TED Talk, Mark Rober outlines the $60 million science experiment he is conducting. Here I’d like to share my visual notes of that talk. A Visceral Opening …
Why I’m Moving from Subscriptions to Ownership
Two questions have collided in my world recently, related to the work that I do here at Verbal to Visual and the future of this project. The first question: How …
6 Principles for Designing a Visual Thinking Space
Later this year, I’m going to be building a new office from the ground up on our two-acre property just outside of Eugene, Oregon. That has got me thinking about …