Greatness

Taste requires originality. It invokes an aspirational authenticity. Writer George Saunders calls this “achieving the iconic space,” and it’s what he’s after when he meets his creative writing students. “They arrive already wonderful. What we try to do over the next three years is help them achieve what I call their “iconic space” — the place from... See more

Walter Isaacson on the link between suffering and greatness and those with happy childhoods: “We grow up with fewer demons but we grow up with less drive. We end being Boswell and not Johnson. We end up being the observer and not the doer. Respect those who are in the arena…” A few... See more

"It is rarely a mysterious technique that drives us to the top, but rather a profound mastery of what may well be a basic skill set." —Josh Waitzkin Mastery of basics, not secret techniques, makes legends. Look at Roger Gracie's BJJ dominance—leverage and positioning. Jiro... See more

The human species was given this tremendous gift of neuroplasticity, the ability to change ourselves and be better in deliberate ways. My definition of greatness is anyone that’s making that effort, even in a tiny way, just to take this incredible machinery that we were given—our nervous system—and to leverage it toward being better, feeling

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Compulsion. I think about that word a lot. I believe that all of us, carelessly walking about planet earth, are intrinsically compelled to do something . It’s in our nature, in the shape of our soul. To excel, to truly be the best, I think it’s crucial to spend time thinking about what that is. Because if you do something other than that, you’re... See more