Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day

The key to conquering aimlessness is to concretely define the battles that you need to fight each day in order to make meaningful progress, then focus your efforts on those above all else.

Sadly, many sell their soul for much less than a million dollars, and over a much longer period of time. They sell out by ignoring their intuition in order to fit in or to make a run for the next promotion, by ignoring potentially risky opportunities in order to go for a sure bet, and by strapping themselves with consumer debt to the point that the

He recognizes that uncertainty is not an enemy, but a natural part of engaging in important and valuable work. He also knows that opportunities are valuable only if he is prepared to take advantage of them, and as such he is constantly developing the skills that will be needed when he gets where he wants to go rather than where he is currently.

It’s much easier to make a rule than to attempt to cultivate wisdom.

The key to conquering aimlessness is to concretely define the battles that you need to fight each day in order to make meaningful progress, then focus your efforts on those above all else.

Meshing involves all of the “work between the work” that actually makes you effective. It’s composed of activities that stretch and grow you, such as acquiring and developing new skills, reinforcing or enhancing your knowledge, cultivating your curiosity, or generating a better understanding of the context for your work. It’s also composed of criti

it sometimes leads to a failure to engage fully in the work out of a fear that it will never measure up, and because self-worth is tied to results, the deeper fear is that failure in work means failure in life.

You must have a clear understanding of what’s important to you, and refuse to compromise in those places that require swift and immediate action. You will eventually come to regret the times when you compromised your contribution for the sake of acceptance by others.

To be successful intellectually and professionally you need to maintain a level of disciplined curiosity, which means staying in touch with your deeper questions, and practicing the mechanics of divergent problem solving.