Take yourself out for a meal alone once each month

Take yourself out for a meal alone once each month. Carry a notebook and pen, bring your favorite book, and leave your phone in your bag. Let your mind run free. Flex that boredom muscle. It’s insanely freeing—a meditative experience.

Be bored for at least 15 minutes per day

Be bored for at least 15 minutes per day. “All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” - Blaise Pascal. We’ve completely forgotten how to be bored, but it’s a tremendous unlock for creativity and mindfulness.

Who is editing your version?

Even the longest biography is only 66 hours of audio. This means that the author has to leave out almost everything. We write our own autobiography each day by deciding what to focus on, what to rehash, and what to worry about. The same life story can be told in many ways, and the way we tell it changes who we are and who we become.

My mission statement

On earth, we have a short time to make our mark, so I want to live each day with purpose. I want to leave people better for having met me. I am a problem solver, connector, and creator, so I will use these skills to live with no regrets.

Learn which questions are unanswerable

To learn which questions are unanswerable, and not to answer them: this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness.

Introspection Illusion is a cognitive bias

Introspection Illusion is a cognitive bias that says that we assume that we have insights into why we act, choose, and think the way we do, but don't believe that others have the same introspective capacities. Classic egotism at play.

​List One Task, Do It, Cross It Out

The strategy:

Grab a piece of paper and a pen.

Write down ONE THING that would be good to get done right now.

Do it.

Cross it off.

Repeat the process.

Give it a shot the next time you find yourself in a rut.

Imperfection is beauty

Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring. The world will work very hard to try to force you to be normal. Fight back.

Risk is an essential need of the soul

Risk is an essential need of the soul. The absence of risk produces a kind of boredom that paralyzes in a different way from fear, but almost as much.

Happiness is simply the absence of desire

Happiness is simply the absence of desire... Happiness is not about the achievement of pleasure (which is joy or satisfaction), but about the lack of desire. It arrives when you have no urge to feel differently. Happiness is the state you enter when you no longer want to change your state.

The longer you're in the game

It is nearly impossible to have your best idea the first time you think about something. The most likely way to uncover important insights is to frequently revisit a problem. The longer you're in the game, the more ideas bubble up to the surface.

Identify what needs to be done

You know, when you get your head out of the busyness for a moment — you know when you’re avoiding what needs to be done. Identify what needs to be done. Often, it can make us uncomfortable and nervous. But these are things you need to do more than anything. Information is powerful, but only through action can your genius be realized.

A creative life is an amplified life

A creative life is an amplified life. It's a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life.

Noise Cancellation

The world is a noisy place. We are constantly hammered by stimuli competing for our attention. The ability to cancel out the noise - to truly focus on the task at hand - is both broadly applicable and extremely powerful.

Relentless Consistency

Many people are able to produce bursts of energy. Few people are able to produce consistent, steady flows of energy. The former might be flashy, but the latter is relentless. Take pride in punching the clock - in showing up - day in, day out.

When you are with someone

With the rise of technology - and the instant access to millions of people and things that it has provided - the ability to be truly present has become a rarity. When you are with someone - whether a new business contact, friend or partner - be with them. Be Present.

High Tolerance for Failure

We fear failure, so most of us play it safe to avoid it. But our greatest moments of growth often stem directly from our greatest failures. Do not accept failure, but do not fear it either. You will fail. Embrace it. Learn to fail smart and fast.

Comfort with Discomfort

We are conditioned to avoid discomfort, so most of us do. The problem? Discomfort leads to growth. It is an absolute necessity. If you train yourself to accept and embrace discomfort, you will always have an edge.

Intellectual Curiosity

Intellectual curiosity is a real-world superpower. We all have it, but most will never embrace it. For the curious mind, anything is possible. Fortune favors the curious mind.

The idea is to sprint downhill, not grind uphill

Look for situations where the energy is already flowing downhill. Invest in relationships where there is already mutual respect. Create products that tap into a desire people already have. Work on projects that play to your strengths. And then, once the potential of the situation is already working for you, add fuel to the fire. Pour yourself into the craft. Act as if you have to outwork everyone else—even though the wind is at your back. 

They knock on silence for an answering music

Creative people, as I see them, are distinguished by the fact that they can live with anxiety, even though a high price may be paid in terms of insecurity, sensitivity, and defenselessness for the gift of the ‘divine madness,’ to borrow the term used by the classical Greeks. They do not run away from non-being, but by encountering and wrestling with it, force it to produce being. They knock on silence for an answering music; they pursue meaninglessness until they can force it to mean.

You have to act as if you are a force of nature

Nobody accomplishes anything significant alone. But nobody accomplishes anything significant by accident either. Just because you need others doesn't mean you can wait for others to make it happen. You have to act as if you are a force of nature and try to bend the universe in your desired direction—while remaining pleasant and open to help along the way.

It only takes five minutes to break the cycle

Five minutes of exercise and you are back on the path. Five minutes of writing and the manuscript is moving forward again. Five minutes of conversation and the relationship is restored. It doesn't take much to feel good again.

The edge usually goes to the curious and empathic

In a competition between someone who knows the most and someone who is willing to learn the most, the edge usually goes to the curious and empathic professional, not the one who is simply protecting what’s already known.

Employ your energy elsewhere

If told your efforts will never be sufficient, or that your work is vaguely less-than-ideal, employ your energy elsewhere. Such taunts are only made by those who fear your already obvious talents and are utterly terrified by your infinite capacity to augment them.

Nobody is coming to save you but you

Let die the old ways which do not serve you. Conjure from your electric heart and from your spine of gold the words that may forge a new era. Appoint yourself the maker of new traditions and the speaker of the timeless truth. 

Happy Birthday, Learner.

Sonder more to be less cranky

Sonder: to realize that everybody on Earth is living a life as complicated, intense, and vibrantly unique as your own. It’s that feeling you get when you realize that you’re not IN traffic—you ARE traffic. Visually, that word is an iceberg: with what we see about other people above the waterline, while what’s really happening is submerged below.

Refuse all guilt linked to pleasure

Refuse all guilt linked to pleasure. Enjoy the things you treasure without caring if anybody else thinks they’re trash.

We rationalize staying in the wrong places

No perceived relationship, job, philosophy, or held position is entirely helpful or entirely hurtful. But your scales constantly wobble toward the emotions that are prompted by the reality of your situation. We rationalize staying in the wrong places when we can’t imagine what a better place looks like.

The act of teaching is the most powerful form of learning

When you're trying to learn something new, attempt to teach it to a friend or family member. See what questions they ask and how those questions expose the gaps in your knowledge. Study more to fill in those gaps. The act of teaching is the most powerful form of learning.

We are all participating in creating the mythology of our time

We are all participating in creating the mythology of our time. It is our responsibility to create a future where people, objects, systems  —  anything — can be allowed to thrive not in spite of, but because of imperfections.