Writer at Silicon Canals

Field Notes

Contributor

Field Notes is Silicon Canals' column on the human behaviour behind the work — decision-making, attention, identity, and the everyday observations that explain how people live and work. Articles under this column are produced by our editorial team under the direction of the Chief Publisher.

Mind

People who can’t finish a book they aren’t enjoying aren’t lacking discipline, they’ve quietly figured out that the years remaining are shorter than the years behind, and finishing things out of obligation has stopped feeling like virtue

The ability to abandon a book, a plan, or an obligation that no longer earns its keep isn't a lapse in character. It's a recalibration of what the remaining hours are actually for, and the psychology behind it is clearer than the culture lets on.

Aug 3, 2026

Mind

Most of what you do all day runs on habit, not choice — but a new study found the habits are usually working for you, not against you

Researchers tracked 105 people six times a day for a week. About two-thirds of what they did was triggered by habit, and nearly nine in ten actions were carried out on autopilot. The surprise wasn't the size of the autopilot — it was how often the automatic thing and the intended thing turned out to be the same.

Jul 17, 2026

Mind

There’s a reason “I’ll start Monday” keeps working — researchers found people are measurably more likely to hit the gym, start a diet, or set a new goal right after a fresh week, month, or birthday

A 2014 study tracked years of diet searches, hundreds of thousands of gym visits, and tens of thousands of goal commitments and kept finding the same pattern: the urge to chase a goal spikes right after a clean line on the calendar. Here is what that does — and does not — explain.

Jun 30, 2026

Mind

The founder who can’t sit through a quiet weekend without checking Slack often isn’t dedicated in the way it looks — many built a company partly to outrun the feeling that arrives when nothing is on fire

The founder who can't switch off on weekends isn't necessarily dedicated. Often, the constant checking serves a psychological purpose: keeping a specific, harder feeling at bay.

Jun 1, 2026