If I had to put the recipe for genius into one sentence, that might be it: to have a disinterested obsession with something that matters.

“I think the reason there’s such good juicy kitchen gossip, and so much connection happens in the kitchen, is because you are usually kind of doing something repetitive, and that releases something in your mind that creates a space that doesn’t just reside in the brain, but also is something that becomes part of the body. And how often do we do tha... See more

J Curves are stretch opportunities where you take on a role outside your comfort zone. In the best case, these roles make you feel like you’re on a whole different planet. They’re high risk, but if you succeed, they accelerate your growth like nothing else can.

These opportunities can be transformative for someone’s career trajectory but they are al... See more

All these people you’ve known and loved – “they suffered and struggled so much, and then life is over,” said Scorsese. “You get to the point of saying, ‘Well, what does it all mean?’ It doesn’t matter what it means. You have to live it. And if you choose not to live it, you choose not to live it; that’s up to you. But you are existing and you live ... See more

every human being is a storyteller, that stories are how we seek to understand the meaning of our lives

In French, “cultiver son jardin intérieur” means to tend to your internal garden—to take care of your mind. The garden metaphor is particularly apt: taking care of your mind involves cultivating your curiosity (the seeds), growing your knowledge (the trees), and producing new thoughts (the fruits).

Imagine you are at the end of your life and you are granted the ability to repeat one day. Which period of your life do you choose to repeat? Which phase of life would you want to go back to? Does that tell you anything about how you should be spending your time today?

I’m uncomfortable with the idea of going public, but only because I haven’t been practicing. I guess I have to suck it up and accept that my practice now entails growing my capacity to deal with the unknown variables of other people even more than I already have.

There’s also something to be said about collating and curating in the slow writing process—facts, knowledge, smells, descriptions, stories, passport stamps, headlines—until the collection becomes part of the transformation process. Through acute and critical attention, away from the drive of production, toward the singularity of studying a branch, ... See more