Category: Expectations
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5 minutes
In Springfield Confidential Mike Reiss and Mathew Klickstein write: Matt Groening definitely created the Simpsons, and the story of how he did it is truly unbelievable. Matt was a Los Angeles underground cartoonist when he was called in for a meeting at The Tracey Ullman Show. The series had one-minute animated bumpers (as well as…
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To find a good position, list out every possible criticism and craft the narrative
I was discussing a recent draft of my next manuscript with my friend and colleague Rahul, and he mentioned Nikita Bier’s tweet: You could replace “your product,” with your work, or your career path, or anything really, and this statement still holds true. When it comes to repositioning, an emotion like doubt comes in extremely…
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Audio and alter egos
When you want to change the way you talk to yourself—your self-talk—one interesting step is to listen to someone else talk, on repeat. For example, Seth Godin talks about how he changed his own negative self-talk by listening to Zig Ziglar tapes, for three hours a day, for three years. Similarly—but slightly different—Cathy Park Hong…
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On why people around you stop you from changing
The people closest to you serve as your anchors. The benefit is that they keep you steady and provide support. The drawback is they also hold you back from making changes that you may want to explore. If they’re not suited in a similar worldview to where you want to go, this force feels practically…
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The right season
A fruit is nothing picked out of season. Even a brute’s praise won’t stand to reason. Border of a Dream: Selected Poems of Antonio Machado, translated by Willis Barnstone
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Put the words on the page
When Lauren Martin was writing her book, and dealing with the anxiety of it, she sought out advice from other writers (via Jimmy Chim). She learned: The consensus was obvious: Stay present. Stay with what’s in front of you. Don’t get ahead of yourself, don’t worry about the middle and the ending, just stick with…
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Lightning in a bottle
Seth Godin writes, “When you’re having a good day, go for a walk and record a ten minute audio sharing your optimism, confidence and possibility. You’ll want to listen to it again.” If you know you’ll want to remember it later, then give your future self a prompt. That way, you can also practice the…
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Two questions for choosing a company to work with
Seth Godin suggests two great questions for choosing a college: Are the people this place attracts the sort of people I want to spend time with and become more like? Is the system that is in place here one that pushes and cajoles and processes people to become more like the kind of person I’d…
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Just one tooth
There’s a classic idea that the key to flossing regularly is to floss just one tooth. The key his this: it’s much easier to show up every day if you can reduce the task down to something so small and simple that it requires next to no effort. In Creative Doing, I share a prompt,…
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The consistency edge
Replit runs its own 100 days of code challenge. Recently Paul Graham shared the stats on how many people complete the challenge: What if, simply by committing and showing up 100 times—around 15 mins, sometimes 45 mins, per day—you did something that 99% of people don’t do? This type of daily challenge is a great…