Reminders for myself

Estée Lauder on seizing the moments in life that matter the most:

“In every life there is a moment—an event or a realization-that changes that life irrevocably. If the change is to be a happy one, one must be able to recognize the moment and seize it without delay. Rose Kennedy once told me that good luck is something you make and bad luck is someth

It just barely works

This is the story of every new software innovation, and in fact, just about everything engineers have ever created.

The first Wright Bros. plane just barely flew.

The first version of VisiCalc was just barely useful.

The earliest bridges were shaky, unreliable and made of vines.

The secret of successful product development isn’t an

Discovery and invention

Isaac Newton didn’t invent gravity. It was there all along. He simply named and explained it.

The same is true for planets, continents and obscure species. They’re discovered, not invented.

Michelangelo talked about removing all the parts of the marble that weren’t the statue on his way to creating great art. Discovery is like

“The advice I like to give anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. 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 do an awful lot of work.

All the best ideas come out of the process

“Your job, throughout your entire life, is to disappoint as many people as it takes to avoid disappointing yourself.”

— Glennon Doyle

This is how we should approach life’s hardships, finding possibility where we can: the prospect of flourishing despite infirmity, of finding one’s way through loneliness, failure, grief, confronting the injustice and absurdity of the world. The question is not whether we should hope, but what we should hope for.

If we all carry a little of the burden, it will be lightened. If we share in the suffering of the world, then some will not have to endure so heavy an affliction. It evens out.

— Dorothy Day in Dorothy Day: Selected Writings by Robert Ellsberg, Dorothy Day

Here is a blessing I wrote for a friend who had lost 100 lbs and was struggling with the change:

A blessing for a friend to offer her body

For the ways you have carried me through every day since I was born, I offer my gratitude.

For the pleasure you have given me, I praise you.

For the pain you have endured for me, I respect you.

For the protection you