Kindle Highlights
- Sculptor Elizabeth King said it beautifully, “Process saves us from the poverty of our intentions.”
- The Bhagavad-Gita says, “It is better to follow your own path, however imperfectly, than to follow someone else’s perfectly.”
- We become creative when we ship the work.
- act of doing something that might not work, simply because it’s a generous thing to do.
- If you want to change your story, change your actions first. When we choose to act a certain way, our mind can’t help but rework our narrative to make those actions become coherent. We become what we do.
- If we condition ourselves to work without flow, it’s more likely to arrive.
- Flow is a symptom of the work we’re doing, not the cause of it.
- “Do what you love” is for amateurs. “Love what you do” is the mantra for professionals.
- Here’s an easy test for manipulation: if the people you’re interacting with discover what you already know, will they be glad that they did what you asked them to?
- Hiding is pleasant. If it weren’t for the way it leads to suffering a thousand small deaths, hiding would be a comfortable way to coast through life.
- A key component of practical empathy is a commitment to not be empathic to everyone.
- Art is the human act of doing something that might not work and causing change to happen.
- If the problem can be solved, why worry? And if the problem can’t be solved, then worrying will do you no good. SHANTIDEVA
- There’s no promise that the world cares about your mission.
- What is this element of our project for? This is intentional action. Every element has a purpose. If you don’t even know what it is, how will you do the work to achieve it?
- Saturday Night Live doesn’t go on at 11:30 p.m. because it’s ready. It goes on because it’s 11:30.
- We don’t ship because we’re creative. We’re creative because we ship. Take what you get and commit to a process to make it better.
- What to Say to a Generous Critic “Thank you.” That critic just gave you a clue. She told you what might work. Not for the market, probably, but for her and for people like her.
- We don’t write because we feel like it. We feel like it because we write.
- Flow is the result of effort. The muse shows up when we do the work. Not the other way around. Set up your tools, turn off the internet, and go back to work.
- If you want to complain that you don’t have any good ideas, please show me all your bad ideas first.
- Instead of focusing on a masterpiece, ask yourself, What’s the smallest unit of available genius?
- Build streaks. Do the work every single day. Blog daily. Write daily. Ship daily. Show up daily. Find your streak and maintain it.
- Talk about your streaks to keep honest.
- Seek the smallest viable audience. Make it for someone, not everyone.
- without constraints, we’re left with no tension and no chance for innovation or surprise.
- Results are a by-product.
- The magic is that there is no magic. Start where you are. Don’t stop.
