Tom McElligott on the Work

I had a professor in college who returned our graded essays, walked up to the chalkboard, and wrote in huge letters: “SO WHAT?” She threw the piece of chalk down and said, “Ask yourself that every time you turn in a piece of writing.” It’s a lesson I never forgot.

“You have to make stuff,” said journalist David Carr when he was asked if he had any advice for students. “No one is going to give a damn about your résumé; they want to see what you have made with your own little fingers.”

Good work habits are vastly underrated.

And any story beyond “I want to make the best thing I can make, whatever it is” are all undermining forces in the quest for greatness.

Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.