5 Skills I Acquired Working at a Tech Startup
The following is a repost from the blog of Praxis participant Nicholas Kleinhuizen. A couple of months ago, my life drastically changed. I went from being a college dropout who lived at home to working at a tech startup across the country. Over the past few months, here are 5 lessons I’ve learned. Lesson #1: The […]
3 Reasons Why You Should Learn Out Loud
You’re in the middle of an interesting online course. You just started reading a fascinating new book. You stayed up all night watching a series of talks by a provocative lecturer. Nobody knows. It’s a secret between you and your brain. One day, however, you’re going to surprise everyone. Maybe you’ll make an appearance on […]
Monday Morning Begins on Sunday Evening
Desperately clinging to your beer and the last vestiges of the weekend, you refuse to give in to Monday stress on Sunday night. Still, it’s in the back of your mind putting a subtle damper on your evening. The next morning, as you clear the cobwebs and crank up the brain for work, everyone can […]
How to Make Your Reading More Productive
A reader of the Praxis blog recently asked me “Derek, you seem to read a lot. How do you do it more productively?” This struck me as an odd question at first until I remembered that school has a way of reading into a tedious process of checking off academic boxes instead of the selfish […]
The Four Tendencies
Something we’re passionate about at Praxis is creating value for our customers. It’s incredibly difficult to make an impact at a high growth startup when you have little to no experience in the workplace. That’s why our application process is so challenging. We don’t take money from applicants if we’re not confident they won’t thrive […]
Free Charting Tools for Your Next Article
One of the key elements of the Praxis curriculum is that we push participants to create. Over the course of they bootcamp, they create multiple portfolio projects to showcase their skills, write every day for 30 days, submit articles to third party publications, and document their learning and professional growth along the way. A great […]
Turn Your Defeat Into a Growth Story
Here is a question I came across last week on Reddit: I was recently fired from a part-time bookkeeping job and replaced by someone with more experience who can do the job faster than I could. I graduated and am now looking for a full-time job in accounting. What do I say about this previous […]
What Are You Running From?
I recently had someone tell me they were questioning their love for writing. When I asked for a reason, they said it was because they didn’t write enough. “If I really loved writing” they said, “then I would be more consistent with it.” Well, I guess I don’t love reading then. For my entire life, […]
Your Skills Are More Transferable Than You Think
You tell me you want to be an athlete. I say, “Awesome! What sport?” You tell me you don’t know yet. I say, “That’s cool. I get it. A lot of athletes play multiple sports, experiment, switch sports, and settle where the returns to their skill are highest. College football stars have ended up playing […]
Never Say “Family Emergency”, Keeping It Professional on Social Media, and More | Office Hours Podcast
This week on Office Hours, TK and Isaac talk about why using “family emergency” as a reason to miss things can be problematic, how to balance professionalism with social media as a resource, moving away from home, and simple ways to come up with more ideas. Questions: What’s the right balance between using social media […]
Four Reasons to Stop Despising Your So-called Menial Job
“I Apologize for Wearing a Goofy-Looking Hat While I Take Charge of My Life” In the past several years that I’ve spent interviewing, coaching, and training young professionals, I’ve spoken with thousands of people who worked in the following kinds of jobs: maintenance, fast food, retail, dine-in restaurants, and daycare. Most of them have been […]
Three Critical Soft Skills for Young Professionals | Forward Tilt Podcast
This week on Forward Tilt, Praxis COO Cameron Sorsby guest hosts to share three key traits that separate great young professionals from the pack. These are skills that are extremely valuable and set you up for long-term success, but don’t require a degree, a good job, or any gatekeepers permission to learn. No matter what you […]
How to Work Weekends Without Burning Out
My wife and I work at least one day each weekend. Why? As we say regularly here at Praxis, when you are young you have lots of time and few responsibilities. You need to take advantage of that. Amanda and I don’t have kids yet, so we made the conscious decision to spend our time […]
5-on-5: The Challenges & Rewards of Writing Every Single Day
The five Praxis participants who contributed to this post have all participated in our bootcamp’s 30-day writing challenge. During this challenge, they write and publish something every single day. Here are some of their stories and reflections on the practice of daily writing. 1) What’s the funniest or most creative thing you ever did to […]
Tiny, Ridiculous Daily Challenges Work Better for Me Than Big Goals
I’m not big on goals and goal-setting. I’ve done it at various points, and it’s had a few positive effects and can be somewhat fun, or at least useful in challenging me to think bigger. Still, I find that I’m more of an opportunist than a planner. I prefer to keep building things – myself, […]