Weekly Quote: Steven Pressfield on Doing What Scares Us
This week’s quote comes from The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, a book worthy of regular visits from your time and attention. Pressfield reminds us that meaning lies in the hard stuff, the scary stuff, the stuff that we know is important but triggers our anxiety and makes us want to run away. We can’t run away.
There’s too much to do, and too many people are counting on us to not do what frightens us. We have to keep our heads up and keep going. There’s too much at stake not to.
Weekly Quote: Michael Gervais on Our Greatest Regret
This week’s quote, from The First Rule of Mastery: Stop Worrying About What People Think of You by Michael Gervais, reminds us of the difference between what we think is important and what actually matters.
Weekly Quote: Building a StoryBrand With Donald Miller
This week's quote is from Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller.
Everyone has a story, and one of the key takeaways in Miller's book is that most people care more about their own story than yours. So, when trying to connect with others, it's best to make them the hero of the journey you'd like them to join you on.
This idea transcends marketing and building a business. It's a practical approach that makes a lot of sense in everyday life. Let people see themselves in your world; there's a good chance for a connection that works.
Todd Henry on Walking With the Wise
This week's quote comes from one of the books I start every morning with, the Daily Creative: Find Your Inspiration to Spark Creative Energy and Fight Burnout by Todd Henry.
Todd has written what might be the best and most succinct sentence I've read about the value of mentorship. Spending time with someone who knows more than you, who has more experience than you, and who is just ten percent further ahead in their journey or career can change your life.
In just the same way, being a mentor can be a deeply rewarding experience. You can watch your mentee's eyes light up and feel their energy change as they absorb whatever you're trying to impart.
Everyone has benefited from someone wiser than them. When you're ready, you should add your voice to the world. Someone needs to hear from you.
Weekly Quote: Seth Godin on Building Things
This week’s quote comes from Seth Godin. Seth is a marketing expert, author, entrepreneur, and teacher who’s influenced and encouraged countless creatives.
In case you’re feeling like a cog in the giant wheel of life, take a moment and read what Seth has written here.
Weekly Quote: William Zinsser on Simplifying Your Work
This week's quote comes from On Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser. The book, released in 1976, has sold over a million copies and is worthy of everyone's attention. Whether you're writing emails to your grandma or quarterly business reports for your senior leadership team, this book can help.
It takes effort to be concise. You want to express your gratitude, share a funny anecdote, and provide as much helpful information as you can. You want to answer all the questions that have been asked AND any questions that may come up.
Keep whatever your writing as simple as you can. Whether it's an email or the report out, tell the story that needs to be told, but whatever it is can probably be shorter.
Weekly Quote: Ryan Holiday on The Pursuit of Justice
This week's quote comes from Ryan Holiday's newest book in the Stoic Virtues Series, Right Thing, Right Now: Good Values. Good Character. Good Deeds.
As with so many essential aspects of our character, we make the most gains from what we practice every day.
Right Thing, Right Now by Ryan Holiday
A few weeks ago saw the release of Ryan Holiday’s latest book in The Stoic Virtues Series Right Thing, Right Now: Good Values. Good Character. Good Deeds.
I received my signed copy in the mail on release day as expected, but I’ve only just started reading it because I was knocked out for weeks with food poisoning and then followed it up with a chest cold and laryngitis, hence the extended radio silence here. I’m back.
You can grab your copy of Ryan’s new book here. It’s excellent. I’m a few chapters in and I particularly enjoyed the chapter about Truman. I’ve become a big fan of our 33rd President in recent years after reading The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World by A.J. Baime.
Cal Newport on Slow Productivity
This week’s quote comes from Cal Newport’s latest book, Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout.
The trap of unlimited time is rather easy to fall into, especially when you are working on a passion project. Add to that the rigors of everyday life, family, and day job stuff, and that unlimited time can quickly morph into infinity. I’m speaking from experience here, as I have projects I’ve lost track of because I haven’t been able to set the right kind of deadlines and actually make the right kind of effort to match them. I’ve written before about how practice makes progress, and this idea speaks to this quote. We needn’t forge a masterpiece here; we need to make something that causes those we want to reach most to take note of.
I’m taking the advice here to heart and seeing how I can make some slow progress on the work I’m doing. I hope you’ll do the same, and in doing so, be kind to yourself. Your circumstances are what they are, and they’re real. Even Newport mentions that what he suggests in this book won’t work for everyone, or at least not in its totality. Remember that, and do your best to accomplish the things you want to get done.
Weekly Quote: Raymond Carver on Being Patient
When I'm not writing, it's as if l've never written a word or had any desire to write. I fall into bad habits. I stay up too late and sleep in too long. But it's okay. I've learned to be patient and to bide my time.
Raymond Carver
This week’s quote comes from a 1983 Interview in The Paris Review with the short story writer and poet Raymond Carver, considered by many to be one of the defining voices of short story writing in the later part of the 20th century. If you’re new to Carver and want to read some excellent short fiction, I recommend starting with this collection.
While I cannot attribute my lack of writing to bad habits so much as to the demands of being a busy parent, I can relate to the idea that I feel far away from writing when I don’t do it regularly. Lately, my time to write has been less regular than I’d like or is even typical, so when I consider getting to my desk during quiet moments either late at night or occasionally during the day when there’s a bit of a lull, it feels more daunting than usual.
Yet, when I sit down, and my hands touch the keys, it feels entirely right again. Now, I’m not writing short fiction or poetry, at least not right now, but what I am writing, the story I’m telling, is something that has an impact on me and, I hope anyway, an effect on others, too.
Maybe you haven’t picked up your guitar in a while, or haven’t made it on a run in a few days, or perhaps you haven’t sat at your computer to write the next chapter in your novel. This happens to everyone. We lose the thread and sometimes for no reason that we can parse except getting busy or getting distracted. Don’t worry about the why right now. Be patient, and when there’s time and space find your way back to whatever it is you’ve lost touch with, embrace it, and make your way.
Weekly Quote: Tony Bourdain on Character and Skill
This week's quote comes from the world-traveling documentarian, chef, and writer Anthony Bourdain, whose book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly greatly inspired me when it was released a couple decades ago. I keep a well-read copy of the book on my shelf. I remember buying it a few days after I moved into my second apartment in the early 2000s. It's one of the few possessions that's moved from city to city, through career changes, and from being single to being a happily married dad with two kids.
Tony is sadly no longer with us, but his legacy as a writer, traveler, and chef continues to inspire many. I still use the Global 8-inch chef's knife, which he recommends in the book, daily when I'm prepping meals for my family, just as I did as a kid in his early twenties, living on his own and trying to figure out the world. Another tool that’s been well worth holding on to.
As for the quote, it broadly speaks for itself. We've all known people who are strong of character but lack the skills. We should always bet on them. They're the ones worth putting the effort in for because they'll be there for you, too. Most often, the energy pays off, and everyone gains something.
Weekly Quote: Seneca on Learning While Teaching
This week’s quote from Seneca brings forth an important idea: We best serve ourselves and others around us when we learn as much as we teach. Consider what we can glean from what someone is saying when we listen. When we really listen, instead of busying ourselves with crafting our witty response, which is meant to impress but does little more than feed our ego.
Don’t waste your time trying to put on airs. The right people, those you should be spending your time with whenever possible, will see through that. Want to impress someone? Listen to them, learn from them, and then teach what you know when they are ready to hear it.
Weekly Quote: Austin Kleon on Collecting Good Ideas
This week’s quote comes from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon. Inspiration might be found everywhere. Whether reading a book, watching a classic film, chatting with some old friends, or taking a long hike, be ready to make a note in your project ideas list, journal, or commonplace book.
I’d argue the next step is actually going back and taking a look at these ideas. They’re easy to collect and forget about, yet I think you really start to find the influence and build a creative narrative from the ideas you’ve collected when you take a second (or third or fourth) pass and get another look at them.
Weekly Quote: Finding Opportunities in Challenges with Dr. Michael Gervais and The First Rule of Mastery
I've just finished The First Rule of Mastery: Stop Worrying about What People Think of You by Dr. Michael Gervais, and I really enjoyed it. It's the right mixture of social science, organizational psychology, and personal development, culminating in actionable advice aimed at helping us overcome one of the more powerful external actors in our lives: FOPO, or fear of other people's opinions.
When I shared this week's quote with a few friends, we all arrived at a similar conclusion: the idea that we should see challenges to our beliefs as an opportunity and not a threat is a great idea, but it's also difficult to actually make it a part of our daily practice.
As you know, I believe in productive struggle and know mistakes are the language of growth. This aspect of development is worth working on, regardless of how difficult it is.
Finding Focus: How I Fortify My Day With A Morning Reading Habit
Life holds a certain dissonance, even in the best of times. Joy comes with pain. Growth with sadness. Not to sound too much like Master Yoda here, but hopefully, you get my point. Life is messy and full of responsibility. People depend on us, and to be successful, we need all the help we can get.
In my own life, this is undoubtedly true. To help fortify my day, I take 15 or twenty minutes each morning to read a daily passage from several books and to review a selection of highlights from past reading. Aside from starting the day with a sense of accomplishment, it also offers me fresh insights related to essential roles in my life.
To accomplish this, I’m using my recently acquired iPad mini, whose primary purpose is to act as a personal reflection tool. I use it for reading, journaling, highlighting, and light note-taking.
The Books
Here's what I'm reading as part of this routine, as well as the corresponding role that it's aimed at improving:
The Daily Dad: 366 Meditations on Parenting, Love, and Raising Great Kids by Ryan Holiday
The Better Parent and Partner
This is the newest addition to my daily reading list. I'm on my first read-through and started it on January 1st. As the title implies, this book is helping me build my toolset as a father. The role of a father is among the most important to me, and as a stay-at-home parent, it's where I spend most of my time on a given day, so having this book as part of my startup is really helpful to remind me of my desire to be a helpful and loving father and husband.
The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday
The Better Human
Now on my fourth read-through, The Daily Stoic is the book that began my interest in Stoicism and daily learning, helping me realize that a few pages a day can be an antidote to the powerful feelings of self-doubt that lurk just outside our field of vision. The Daily Stoic helps to fortify me against my lack of control over external events and reminds me of my power to understand and shape my reaction to those events.
Daily Creative: Find Your Inspiration to Spark Creative Energy and Fight Burnout by Todd Henry
The Better Creative and Professional
My friend Jim suggested this book during one of our regular calls last year, and I enjoyed reading passages sporadically but didn’t quite commit. This year, I'm making it a part of my daily ritual. This feeds my creative self; I'm a better writer and thinker when that gets attention.
After finishing my morning reading, I switch to the second part of this routine and jump from the Kindle app on my iPad Mini to my preferred app that helps me manage and organize highlights from ebooks, articles, and email newsletters, Readwise.
Making and Reviewing Highlights
Much of what I think and write about is sparked by my reading. To manage highlights from things I've read, I use Readwise. I like that I can access all of my saved highlights via the app or the web, and they regularly email me with highlights and summaries to review. You can read more about how I use Readwise in this piece I wrote as part of the PKM Toolkit series.
While I'm reviewing highlights, I have two shortcuts at the ready. The first allows me to easily send a topic idea to a Craft document where I keep possible ideas of interest to write about. The second opens a mind map in Mindnode for a similar purpose. However, this is less focused on specific topic ideas and more on adding bits and pieces to projects or topics already in active development.
Building The Fortification
My daily reading practice is a powerful way to start my day in the right direction and help me build a foundation upon which to work to be a better dad, husband, human, and creative. While this habit is just part of my morning routine, it's crucial to any success I find during my day and offers an outsized reward for my time invested.
Jon Acuff on Fear And Faith
In just six words, Jon Acuff makes his point beautifully. It’s easy to be scared, but it takes a regular and concerted effort to persevere and move forward with anything resembling courage.
Weekly Quote: Ryan Holiday on Creating a Better Second Draft
This week's quote from Ryan Holiday's 2017 book Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work That Lasts is geared towards creators, that's clearly spelled out in the subtitle. However, these ideas apply to other aspects of our lives, too.
You need to find the people you trust to tell you when things aren't working. The people who aren't afraid to potentially hurt your feelings, respectfully, of course, by pointing out the flaws in something you're deeply invested in. Remember, they're doing it for a higher purpose - helping you find your way to the next level where you belong.
There's time to get it closer to where you want it to be, and you won't get there without listening to them. Find your editor. Whether you're a writer, a manager, a student, or a parent, who's the person you trust to advise you on becoming a better version of yourself?
Weekly Quote: Asking the Right Questions with Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy
This week’s quote comes from Living Forward by Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy.
How often have you been a part of the decision-making process that doesn’t go anywhere? It happens pretty regularly to most of us, and by the end, you’re left with frustration and no actionable outcome.
The missing piece was likely the need for the right questions.
This happened to me recently. My wife and I were doing some planning and decision-making, and we both realized how stuck we felt in a conversational loop. My wife, one of the most intelligent and most emotionally available people I’ve ever met, stepped outside of herself and asked a higher-level question that neither of us had considered but both of us very much needed to hear.
It provided clarity and a new perspective that didn’t make our decision for us, but it helped us get closer to a resolution. Asking good questions, the right questions, can be the difference maker.
Weekly Quote: The 12 Week Year on Making Small Gains
This week’s quote comes from The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington, and it speaks to an idea you’ve read on this site before.
Small regular gains add up in significant ways.
It takes time to get good at something, fail and succeed, and figure out the best path. Doing a little bit often is how the successes add up, and the failures offer context on what not to do.
Remember that mistakes are the language of growth. Do the thing every day, learn to fail, and you will see your successes over time.
Weekly Quote: Taking a Strategic Pause with the Daily Creative
This week’s quote comes from Todd Henry’s fantastic book Daily Creative, which along with The Daily Stoic, are books I try to read every morning as part of my startup routine.
This technique is best done using analog tools, so grab your favorite pen and some paper and settle in. If you use a connected device, put it into focus mode so you aren’t disturbed. This isn’t meditation; you can still sip your coffee and take a note here and there, but avoiding external distractions is important. You are doing this to let your mind wander, not answer emails.
Give the strategic pause a try. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do; you have things you’re working on, and taking this to think will be helpful.