reminders to trust the process

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Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

How calligraphy shaped Steve Jobs and Apple’s typographic legacy - TypeRoom

Slowly is the fastest way to get where you want to be

“The feeling of progress is one of the best feelings of all. This is true even when progress is small.”

3-2-1: On progress, friendship, and how to improve your writing

Every “overnight success” is the result of years of thankless work. Success comes not from great acts of genius but from doing lots of small things consistently

23 Truths I Wish I Knew at 23

Poet Marianne Moore offers a simple life strategy: "I've made it a principle not to be over-influenced by minor disappointments."

Successful people don’t just ride out the Dip. They don’t just buckle down and survive it. No, they lean into the Dip. They push harder, changing the rules as they go. Just because you know you’re in the Dip doesn’t mean you have to live happily with it. Dips don’t last quite as long when you whittle at them

— The Dip

Separate the processes of creating from improving. You can’t write and edit, or sculpt and polish, or make and analyze at the same time. If you do, the editor stops the creator. While you write the first draft, don’t let the judgy editor get near. At the start, the creator mind must be unleashed from judgment.

Noah Smith • Interview: Kevin Kelly, Editor, Author, and Futurist

George Leonard on how mastery is nothing but a series of plateaus with brief spurts of progress:

“The most important lessons here — especially for young people — is that even if you’re shooting for the stars, you’re going to spend most of your time on a plateau. That’s where the deepest, most lasting learning takes place, so you might as well enjoy... See more

"Whether you are an adult or child, your first attempts will often seem unimportant or foolish.

The open mic night at a nearly empty bar.

The early blog posts that get ignored.

The dance recital on a little stage.

Early attempts are easy to dismiss because they don't seem to amount to much. But you have to do the low stakes stuff to prepare for the... See more

3-2-1: When to be patient, why we procrastinate, and the importance of early attempts

Remember how sabrina carpenter was preparing for her moment :”)