How To Enjoy The Process

“Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of [lightning] to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself.” 

— Chuck Close, artist

s you invest in some skills, but not others, you get a greater return from activities where you have considerable training. Thus, your opportunity cost for learning new things increases. Therefore, a failure to learn new things is perfectly rational, even if it can result in inflexibility as we get older.

One way this manifests is the time horizon... See more

Choose consistency over intensity, because consistency compounds.

When I go into a situation, I try to keep a mindset of baseline optimism.

• When starting the day: It’s going to be a good day.


• When meeting someone new: I’m going to like them.


• When trying something challenging: It’s going to work out.

Problems will inevitably arise and I’ll deal with them as the situation demands, but my preference is to assume I’m... See more

If you never get bored of learning, you'll never get tired of living.

I am aware that I shouldn’t judge how people try to escape the 9-to-5 grind. I am aware that a job’s purpose is money, not emotional enrichment. I know!

What I am instead arguing for is something more expansive. The thing you should work hard at is everything . Finding ways to imbue each moment with meaning and purpose and effort is the only path... See more