Write It Down to Ensure Clarity

When you write something down, you are forcing yourself to articulate exactly what you want to do and acknowledge the commitment you're making. This also shifts your focus from something you want to do to work on the things that keep you from doing it.

Skipping the good days

When we’re young, or the project is going really well, it’s easy to waste the good days. After all, there will be another one tomorrow. What becomes clear, though, is that good days are precious. When you’re feeling even a little creative, don’t wait. Write it down, roll tape, and speak up. When you’re feeling reasonably healthy, go for a walk. They’re all good days if we choose.

Boundaries and scarcity aren’t simply impediments

You’re rarely going to get the freedom and resources to do your best work unfettered. The hard part (and the opportunity) is to figure out how to get comfortable with fettered. Because fettered is what’s on offer. Boundaries and scarcity aren’t simply impediments. They’re leverage points and opportunities.

Avoid unnecessary amplifiers

This is extremely unique vs This is unique,

I’m very upset vs I’m upset, and

I love you a ton vs I love you

Sometimes, more words aren’t better.

There are no stupid mistakes

There are mistakes. These are moments when reality teaches us something. And there’s stupid. This is what happens when we refuse to learn from our mistakes. “Don’t be stupid” is a fine mantra. It’s particularly apt when talking about cultural forces, political agendas, and our thoughtless impulses. It’s also useful to remember to “make productive and generous mistakes.” And to learn from them.

An event or a journey?

They’re easy to confuse. An event happens at a date certain, then it’s over, nothing more to be done. A journey might include an event, but it’s bigger than that, and ongoing. A wedding is an event, a marriage is a journey. The week a book is published is an event, while the creation, publication and lifespan of the ideas in the book are a journey. The focus and energy we lavish on events can easily distract us from the journeys we care about.

Don't Rush

Hurry, sure. We need to hurry. Hurry puts it up on our priority list. Hurry gives us urgency and focus. But rushing is something that leads to errors and then apologies. “I’m sorry, I rushed it,” is not something we want to hear. But hurry.

It's not easy

It's not easy to make it look easy. Sometimes, you don’t need to bother. Making it look hard might be a plus. The important part is how it makes the recipient feel.

Sooner or later, we find a place to hide

Sooner or later, we find a place to hide. A place of security or sustenance. A place of safety. That sort of foundation can give us peace of mind and open the door to possibility. But, it’s possible that we can turn it into a trap as well. A situation so perfectly created that we’re stuck. Stuck without forward motion, stuck with a narrative of insufficiency or suffering.

Grief is a force of energy that cannot be controlled or predicted

Grief is a force of energy that cannot be controlled or predicted. It comes and goes on its own schedule. Grief does not obey your plans or your wishes. Grief will do whatever it wants to you, whenever it wants to. In that regard, Grief has a lot in common with Love. The only way that I can “handle” Grief, then, is the same way that we “handle” Love — by not “handling” it. By bowing down before its power, in complete humility.

If you don’t tell your story you lose it

If you don’t tell your story you lose it—or, what might be worse, you get lost inside it. Telling is how we cement details, preserve continuity, and stay sane. We say ourselves into being every day, or else.

More is More

More hope. More health. More security. More innovation. More breakthroughs. More connection. More creation. More joy. The climate movement doesn’t have to be about asking individuals to bear the burden of systemic problems. It’s not about living with less.  It’s about demanding more.  From your employer, your community, your local government, and your country.  The more we ask for change at the top, the more we work to change our systems, and the more likely we are to get it. 

Question to ponder upon

If I do nothing, what will happen? If I act right now, what will happen?

Sometimes you need to let go. Sometimes you need to get going.

Creativity makes you more creative

The secret to success lies in understanding the gentle beauty of momentum. But make sure it’s taking you in the right direction. You’ll know it’s right because it feels right in your gut. We get depressed for one reason: our body tells us we’re building momentum in the wrong thing. Don’t slip. Get moving with what is good for you.

If in doubt, take on winning habits

If you’re looking for a definition of ‘happiness,’ this is it: take on the habits of winners. What are they for you? You’re not stupid. You know that certain things make you feel worse overall. Life is super simple in this way. Do loser habits and feel like a loser. Do winner habits every day and feel like a winner. When you feel like a winner you will do better. It’s that simple.

Being OK with hearing NO is a superpower

One of the common traits I see among those who seem to succeed at higher levels and rarely give up is this: They are ok with a no. They don’t take a ‘no’ personally. What do I mean by ‘no’ here? Any form of rejection, failed experiment, or loss can be seen as a no. People who go far know that a ‘no’ is just data received on the journey to success. People who take NOs seriously are more susceptible to quitting.

The consistent ability to show up

The single biggest thing that separates people is the consistent ability to show up and do the work. The consequences of failing to show up consistently are getting the results you deserve but not the ones you want.

Your thoughts on paper

If you can’t read and write, you can’t think. Your thoughts are dispersed if you don’t know how to read and write. You’ve got to be able to look at your thoughts on paper and discover what a fool you were.

Create something, anything

Creating is the literal expression of a confident soul. So create. This includes reaching out to say hi. It includes even drawing and writing. It means knocking off an item on your to-dos. Start small if you need to, and see how you feel when you choose to create over react.

Think less

It’s easy to believe we need to control our lives through incessant analysis. Chill for a moment. When we cloud our minds with all of this clever thinking, we block the inner creative flow.  Confidence appears when we’re relaxed in mind and body.

Artists must be allowed to go through bad periods

Artists must be allowed to go through bad periods! They must be allowed to do bad work! They must be allowed to get in a mess! They must be allowed to have dud experiments! They must also be allowed to have periods where they repeat themselves in a rather aimless, fruitless way before they can pick up and go on.

The path of the problem solver

The path of the problem solver, or value creator, is how you escape the world of replaceability. Fall in love with the challenge that problems present, from superficial to metaphysical, and your ideal future will create itself. This is the infinite game.

Your character is your concept of self

Life is a game and your character determines the outcome. Your character is malleable. That's the first realization you must make. You can change. No matter how painful. No matter what your mind tells you. No matter how much you want to cling to the comforts of your current life that are causing more destruction than you think. Your character is your concept of self: who you think you are.

Outcome over ego

If someone admits they made a mistake, have the grace to let it go. Holding it over them ensures they won't be quick to admit they were wrong in the future.

Do more of what’s working

It’s crazy how many people see success in their lives or businesses and then do nothing to exploit the win. Identify what’s working for you right now. Write down all the examples of this. You will find many. When we succeed, we receive a very clear signal of the direction we can take. How can you ensure you do more of what has shown to work? Squeeze every last drop out of those things that are proven to work. Be obsessed with identifying wins and doubling down on those wins. That’s how you astound yourself and those around you.

It’s Okay to Outgrow the Life You Thought You Wanted

What happens when you step into the life you’ve worked for, and realize it no longer feels as fulfilling as you imagined it would? It's absolutely alright to outgrow your past aspirations and goals. "Sometimes, learning what you don’t want might be as important as discovering what you do. That’s growing, too."

People need admiration and respect

People don't need enormous cars; they need admiration and respect. They don't need a constant stream of new clothes; they need to feel that others consider them to be attractive, and they need excitement and variety, and beauty. People don't need electronic entertainment; they need something interesting to occupy their minds and emotions. And so forth.

Know how to leave things alone

Know how to leave things alone, for if knowing how to refuse is one of life's great lessons, an even greater one is knowing how to say no to yourself, to important people, and in business. There are non-essential activities, moths of precious time, and it's worse to take an interest in irrelevant things than to do nothing at all.

If you want to matter more

If you want to matter more, speak to other people’s needs. If you want to matter more, chose to hope more can be. If you want to matter more, offend fewer. If you want to matter more, say so honestly. If you want to matter more, fight for better. If you want to matter more, learn the absolute costs of things. If you want to matter more, do the math on the immeasurable. If you want to matter more, fight for good ideas, not against random people. If you want to matter more, focus on your strengths.

Show Up Daily

Don’t look for inspiration. Forget motivation. They are consequences. Do what you want to do. Systematically. No matter what. Doing it even when it appears difficult or the results aren’t that great, is the strategy that allows you to reach just about any goal, no matter how big or ambitious it is. Showing up every day. “Motivation will only come once we have started a task or behavior, not before we get going.”

Any idea that is currently working has passed a lot of tests

More often than not the better way to create value is to take up and refine/improve an existing idea. Not trying to create something altogether new. “When you are dealing with a complex problem, it is usually better to build on top of what already works. Any idea that is currently working has passed a lot of tests. Old ideas are a secret weapon because they have already managed to survive in a complex world. Iterate, don’t originate.