Keep Going

Austin Kleon

Highlights

  • In The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell said everyone should build a “bliss station”
  • We have so little control over our lives. The only thing we can really control is what we spend our days on. What we work on and how hard we work on it. It might seem like a stretch, but I really think the best thing you can do if you want to make art is to pretend you're starring in your own remake of Groundhog Day: Yesterday's over, tomorrow may never come, there's just today and what you can do with it.
  • “It is only when you and I add the burden of those two awful eternities, yesterday and tomorrow, that we break down. It is not the experience of today that drives men mad. It is remorse or bitterness for something which happened yesterday or the dread of what tomorrow may bring. Let us therefore do our best to live but one day at a time”
  • "Your list is your past and your future.
  • Carry at all times. Prioritize: today, this week, and eventually. You will someday die with items still on your list, but for now, while you live, your list helps prioritize what can be done in your 35 limited time." - Tom Sachs
  • "Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it well and serenely, and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

1. EVERY DAY IS GROUNDHOG DAY.

2. BUILD A BLISS STATION.

3. FORGET THE NOUN, DO THE VERB.

4. MAKE GIFTS.

5. THE ORDINARY + EXTRA ATTENTION

6. SLAY THE ART MONSTERS.

7. THE EXTRAORDINARY %3D YOU ARE ALLOWED TO CHANGE YOUR MIND.

8. WHEN IN DOUBT, TIDY UP.

9. DEMONS HATE FRESH AIR.

10. PLANT YOUR GARDEN.

HOW TO BE HAPPY:

  • READ OLD BOOKS.
  • GO FOR LONG WALKS.
  • PLAY THE PIANO.
  • MAKE ART WITH KIDS.
  • WATCH SCREWB ALL COMEDIES.
  • LISTEN TO SOUL MUSIC.
  • WRITE IN A DIARY.
  • TAKE NAPS.
  • LOOK AT THE MOON.
  • MAKE DUMB LISTS.

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