How to Be a Writer: 10 Tips from Rebecca Solnit
“Write bad stuff because the road to good writing is made out of words and not all of them are well-arranged words.”
“How you feel is something that you cannot take too seriously on your way to doing something, and doing something is a means of not being stuck in how you feel.”
Great article with some practical advice for anyone doing writing of any kind. Writing isn’t any different from being skilled at something else. It takes practice and diligence.
Pool of Thought
“There is no drug — recreational or prescription — capable of inducing the tranquil euphoria brought on by swimming. I do all my best thinking in the pool, whether I’m trying to figure out how to treat a patient’s complicated ailment or write a paper. Why that is is mysterious, but I have a theory. Assuming you have some basic stroke proficiency, your attention is freed from the outside world. You just have to dimly sense the approaching wall before you flip turn and go on your way. Cut off from sound, you are mostly aware of your breathing. You have to traverse boredom before you can get to a state of mental flow. Now your mind is free to revel in nonlinear, associative thought. Nothing has to make sense. You suddenly become aware that time has passed. You are not sure what elapsed in that strange discontinuity, but the solution to a problem that escaped you on land is perfectly obvious emerging from the water — a rapturous experience.”
Since I was a swimmer for 10+ years I can relate to this 100%. I often think about times where we had practices that lasted 2.5 hours or more. That’s a long time to be swimming, but somehow we managed. The more I think about it, the more I remember how much I was able to get off my mind during those practices. No external voices, no random distractions of any kind—it’s just you and the water.
The Four Burners Theory: The Downside of Work-Life Balance
“Essentially, we are forced to choose. Would you rather live a life that is unbalanced, but high-performing in a certain area? Or would you rather live a life that is balanced, but never maximizes your potential in a given quadrant?”
This article essentially summarizes what work-life balance means. Because time is finite, when you choose to focus on one area of your life more than another, you are also making the decision to not focus on other areas. It’s all about a balance.
Matt Steel › The Abundance of Slowness
“In the U.S., we’re trained to think that successful people are busy.”
“The story I told myself was that slowness and emptiness were the same thing. I could not have been more wrong. I’ve found recently that when the time is used well, slowness can actually be one of the most profound sources of abundance.”
When it comes to critical thinking and deep work, taking things slowly and ensuring you are making the right decision can save you a lot of time in the long run. It’s true that in America we are trained to think just because someone is wearing a suit, that they are successful. Similarly, if someone is always working, they must have a lot of money. This is not always the case.
Work in progress – Matt Gemmell
“I look back through my archive and I’m occasionally embarrassed or even horrified — and then I’m delighted, and grateful for the opportunity to feel that way. I keep it all up here on the web, warts and all, because it reminds me that I’m a work in progress.”
I always enjoyed reflecting and writing. The only difference is now I make some things public. I asked myself why I would make my writing public, and I think Matt has the closest answer I could think of. It’s not about what others think, but more about reminding myself that I’m a work in progress. It makes me take time to think about what I’m reading, what I’m learning, and what’s next.
How a 5 minute ignite talk helped me re-prioritize my life
“She said the best piece of advice she was ever given was that people only remember who didn’t go to the funeral, not who went.”
I was at the Moz Ignite event and heard Michael’s talk. Nearly everyone in the room was in tears. It was one of the most sobering talks I’ve ever heard. I’m glad someone wrote a post about how it impacted them because I’m pretty sure nobody in that room left the same.
10 Learnings from 10 Years of Brain Pickings
“To understand and be understood, those are among life’s greatest gifts, and every interaction is an opportunity to exchange them.”
This boils down to being a human. Understanding where someone else is coming from is a skill that everyone should take time to learn and practice.
100 Things I Learned in 10 Years and 100 Reads of Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations
“When I get asked to explain the three disciplines, this is usually my short answer: See things for what they are. Do what we can. Endure and bear what we must.”
Stoicism at the core.
The Weird Economics Of Ikea
“Ikea is a behemoth. The home furnishing company uses 1 percent of the planet’s lumber, it says”
This is insane.
MailChimp and the Un-Silicon Valley Way to Make It as a Start-Up
“One of the problems with raising money is it teaches you bad habits from the start,” said Jason Fried, the co-founder of the software company Basecamp, who has written frequently on the perversions of the venture capital industry. “If you’re an entrepreneur and you have a bunch of money in the bank, you get good at spending money.”
This is similar to a father giving his child an insane amount of money to start with. It actually makes it more difficult for the child to understand how to earn, save, and appreciate. Would explain why many funded-startup owners I meet seem so spoiled.
Sorry, But You’re Not Your Dog’s Mom
“It’s absolutely okay to say no thanks to parenthood. The role of parent is not for everyone, nor should it be. But if you do forgo children and get a pet instead, understand the reality of your choice. By all means, enjoy your pet; adore, cherish, and love your pet. Spoil it, indulge it, dress it up for Halloween. Just remember that none of that makes you a parent. To call yourself that, you need to have kids.”
One of my biggest pet-peeves is when I hear people calling their dogs “my baby” or “my child”. It’s undermining to mothers and it’s ignorant.