I spend a fair amount of time just thinking about whether something is feasible or not, and if it is feasible, whether it's really worth doing.

I travel internationally a lot and I have a hard time sleeping and staying awake normally after crossing multiple time zones, especially going east. I've tried light therapy but not found it too helpful.

You get energy from other people, so hang out with energetic people.

I specialize in science and history, with a special emphasis on including do-it-yourself projects in the mix. My dozen or so books have sold hundreds of thousands of copies. I'm also a contributing editor at Popular Science and at Make Magazine.

I think it's important to associate with positive, upbeat people.

Some things are better than other things: Google, Gmail, my vintage Montgomery Wards socket set (30+ years, still going strong), my Estwing framing hammer, and my Dremel rotary tool.

In my workshop, I like to have the TV on for background noise, but I only put on shows that you don't really need to watch in serial order; stuff you can glance up every once in a while and still know what's going on; for example, Cops reruns, Jeopardy!, and Forensic Files.