Reminders for myself
Cringe tolerance: The crucial ability for creators to overcome embarrassment and release imperfect work to achieve success.
TRANSCRIPT
Cringe tolerance describes the psychological capacity to act, despite the certainty that others will judge your work as amateurish, naive, or embarrassing. It's the ability to post your first YouTube video knowing it will be awkward, to launch your website despite its obvious design flaws, to share your writing before it reaches professional
... See moreYou cannot create results. You can only create conditions in which something might happen.
Steve Jobs' presentation method: using analog planning, whiteboarding, and a simple three-point structure for maximum impact.
TRANSCRIPT
And the first thing he did was that he planned his presentations in analog. He would use pen and paper before opening Keynote and using any kind of software, and he loved drawing out his thinking on the whiteboard.
In fact, I was telling my friend Rick Gerson about this book as I was reading it. And something that pops up in this book, popped up
... See moreI work best from a place of zero ego and zero hope. I call this state being “lower than a worm.” A feeling that nothing will ever come of what I’m working on is crucial. A feeling of my smallness in relation to the world. I gotta be below the dirt. I am nothing and nobody. That frees me up. Who cares what a worm thinks, you know?
Lincoln Michel • Processing: How Erin Somers Wrote The Ten Year Affair
Exploring the concept of 'genius,' contrasting the healthy self-doubt required for growth with the historical idea of 'having a genius.'
TRANSCRIPT
Right. And I want to ask you something, because I remember reading, I can't remember who it was who said, after, you know, having their first big success, they felt really unhappy and they felt really worried that like, has the biggest success I've ever had in my life happened? Like, and who am I now? I think that that kind of doubt is healthy. It
... See moreThe Notebook Rule
Over the past couple of months, I’ve been fault-testing something I’m going to call The Notebook Rule.
It goes like this:
Over the past couple of months, I’ve been fault-testing something I’m going to call The Notebook Rule.
It goes like this:
Before any interaction with a screen, I write down, in a notebook, what I intend to do. Then, as soon as I’m done doing that thing, I walk away (close the laptop, put the phone down, literally walk away, etc).
J.E. Petersen • The Notebook Rule
I am comfortable with doubt and am constitutionally resistant to moral certainty, herd mentality and dogma. I am disturbed on a fundamental level by the self-serving, toddler politics of some of my counterparts – I do not believe that silence is violence, complicity, or a lack of courage, but rather that silence is often the preferred option when... See more
Tom Davenport • Nick Cave - The Red Hand Files - Issue #337- I’ve had several disagreements with friends about where you stand on things. Where do you…stand?
Questions to ask your friends
open.substack.com
Questions:
What’s a mystery in your life you want the answer to?
It has to be a mystery that is solvable. So it can’t be like “How would my life have been different if I took a gap year?” it has to be something that someone somewhere knows the answer to like “Why did _____ stop talking to me?”
If you could have one full time staff member what would they do?
Driver, chef, EA, masseuse etc. You only get one. They are on call 24/7.
If you could retire now and maintain current lifestyle without work but no further, would you?
So basically, you’re retired and you receive a paycheck that is exact same as you are currently making for the rest of your life. There is no way for you to make more money than you currently make.
What is something you love that you wouldn’t recommend to others?
What’s a lesson you need to keep relearning?
What’s a piece of advice you give to others but struggle to abide by?
What’s a small moment from your life that seemed insignificant at the time but you think back on a lot?
What’s a piece of common advice that you disagree with?
What’s something that’s farfetched now that you think will be common sense/knowledge in 25 years?
What thing are we doing today will be most laughed at in ten years?
What are your arbitrary rules you have for yourself?
Do you think the goal of travel is to see as many different places as possible or do you prefer to find a place you love and keep going back?
If you could be an expert in one subject overnight what would it be and why?
How would you live your life differently if everyone had the same amount of money and there was no way to be poorer and richer than anyone else?
What thing/trend/practice from the past should we bring back?
If you could pick one brand and all your stuff had to be from there what would you pick?
What’s something you were on the wrong side of history on?
What stereotypes do you think are true?
What opinions do you have that seem most out of line with your general political affiliations?