career
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Nothing is mappable
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1 min read
Looking back, as if all the traits were heritable and therefore traceable. But nothing is so mappable. We contain a bundle of qualities that shift with time. As life goes on, what’s inherited yields to different flavors of personality. As Henry James put it, “Nothing is my last word on anything.” A new challenge is…
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It’s the indecision that’s risky
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1 min read
In the absence of ideas, we’re lost floating at sea. Weighed down in idea debt, a lack of action can have the same debilitating effect. Inertia is the purported enemy. Just write the truest sentence already. What works better is facing fear and proceeding right into it. We keep our eyes on the prize and…
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It’s never too late to do something incredible
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1 min read
Everything good takes time. We have to get comfortable with the idea that the work worth doing almost always never comes to fruition immediately. Our craft is also likely to be misunderstood for long periods. There will be periods of self-doubt and chapters of confusion, all signals that the muse wants us to keep going.…
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Work first, passion second
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2 min read
“Passion is not something you follow. It’s something that will follow you as you put in the hard work to become valuable to the world.” Cal Newport Passion is something you discover after the work has been done. You can’t possibly know what you’re passionate about without experimenting first. You may have an idea about…
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Solitude and leadership
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4 min read
A lot of people think thinkers can’t be leaders. But that’s exactly what leadership is: thinking. The leader of a group takes what they read and hear internally and externally and originates his/her own thought. They speak for themselves. As former Yale professor and best-selling author William Deresiewicz said in his 2009 speech to West Point…
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Admitting that you’re lost
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1 min read
Whether you’re stuck in a labyrinth or looping around the same racetrack, admitting you’re frustrated and lost is at least a starting point. The hard part is developing a plan to do something about it. If you want to go pro in any profession, you’re going to have to practice your beliefs and take calculated…
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On making life’s biggest decisions
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2 min read
When it comes to decision-making, first you decide, then you deduce. Of course, life’s biggest decisions such as marriage or a career change are some of the hardest decisions to make because the fear is that they won’t work out. The bigger the risk, the greater the hesitation. ‘This might not work.’ People like to play…
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A day of two halves
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1 min read
Umberto Eco was right when he said “We make lists because we don’t want to die.” We feel dead without a challenge. That’s why some of us split the day into two halves. Morning is the first half. We try to prioritize the hardest work between the hours of 9-12 before lunch so the rest…
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Be good at two things
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2 min read
Cartoonist and former ad copywriter Hugh MacLeod sent out an excellent newsletter about being good at two things. In it, he spells out the reasons why we should be knowledgeable in two areas in order to maximize our unique career potential. When you’re very good at “n”, there are probably thousands of people who are…
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Faith can move mountains
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2 min read
“There is a positive correlation between the fear of death and the sense of unlived life,” writes Oliver Burkeman in The Antidote (Amazon). Futuring is a tough business. We toggle between our present number of choices along with desires and goals that reinforce the prioritization of time. Knowing that we can’t do it all, most people…
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Despite popular belief to the contrary, there is absolutely no power in intention. The seagull may intend to fly away, may decide to do so, may talk with the other seagulls about how wonderful it is to fly, but until the seagull flaps his wings and takes to the air, he is still on the…
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Impatient with action, patient with results
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1 min read
Impatient with action, patient with results. Taking consistent, small steps, each day turns thousands of drips into a bucket of water. But it’s not so much the practice that matters — it’s the execution. Proper action uncomplicates thinking. As Albert Einstein once said, “Nothing happens until something moves.” Shooting the basketball with improper form every…