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.