Quotes of the Week
Happiness is hard work. You have a considerable amount of agency when it comes to finding general happiness. But it’s very difficult to get there without moving your body, eating well, exercising your mind, and nourishing your soul in some form every day. – Guy Raz
When dealing with a competitor who makes a similar product, your brand will always be more important than any functional differences between the two products. – Mike Cessario
Luck happens when you’re out in the world. – Rod Cuthbert
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Charles Dickens
The perfectionist is never satisfied. The perfectionist never says, ‘This is pretty good. I think I’ll just keep going.’ To the perfectionist, there is always room for improvement. – Julia Cameron
The secret is to show up, do the work, and go home. – Coach Christopher Sommer
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. – Chuck Close
In my whole life, I’ve never been good at something I wasn’t very interested in. It just doesn’t work. There’s no substitute for strong interest. – Charlie Munger
Your job, throughout your entire life, is to disappoint as many people as it takes to avoid disappointing yourself. – Glennon Doyle
Inspiration comes on the twenty-fifth attempt, not the first. If you want to make something excellent, don’t wait for a brilliant idea to strike. Create twenty-five of what you need and one will be great. – James Clear
Less is more and more is more. It’s the middle that’s not a good place. – Paula Scher
Success on Wall Street is having the most money. Success to us was having the best life. — Ed Thorp
All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone. — Blaise Pascal
Music of the Week
The Eureka Brass Band was recommended in a recent Axios New Orleans newsletter. I’m biased but these tunes while somber made for fantastic background music this week at work. The group from New Orleans was active between 1920 and 1975 with its membership varying at any given time. Trumpets, trombones, reeds, tuba, snare drums, and bass drums are the instruments you hear. Trumpeter Willie Wilson founded the group with early members that included “clarinetists Willie Parker, John Casimir, George Lewis and cornetist Kid Rena.”
Article of the Week
“You can’t be afraid of failure, you can’t be afraid of the negative outcome” from The Real Reason Steph Curry Is So Damn Good helps you see the greatness behind Steph Curry.
“That means having a passion for constantly inventing for customers, strong urgency, high ownership, fast decision-making, scrappiness and frugality, deeply-connected collaboration, and a shared commitment to each other” in Amazon CEO Vows Leaner Teams Amid Bloat, Ends Work From Home shows why Amazon continues to reign supreme.
“I’d sometimes slip a piece of paper into the pocket of his chef’s jacket and tell him to read it at the end of the night. He’d fish it out as he was leaving and would find that I had written something like “Leave your ego at home” from How Emeril Made a Name for Himself in New Orleans confirming why the Brennan family and chef Emeril Lagasse have made a name for themselves.
“You do your best work and have the most fun when you’re not burdened by fear that someone else thinks you’re doing it wrong” from Do It Your Way is another article I loved by Morgan Housel.
“The senior Egan advised him to write down five of his passions and five industries he thought would be the most important in the next 20 to 40 years. The move from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources landed in both buckets” from He Wants to Be the Lithium King. Run for President. And Live to 150 is fantastic advice from a dad.
“The biggest thing is to not give up and to not get in a comfort zone. Good or bad times, riding the waves is the most important. It’s the only way you can have a successful career in this sport,” he says. “There is no other way” from On the Road With Sergio Pérez, Mexico’s F1 Megastar gives you a behind-the-scenes look at one of Formula 1’s star drivers.
“I knew there were limits to my desired independence, because, whether we like it or not, we all become like the people we surround ourselves with. So I surrounded myself with the people I wanted to be like” from The Perils of Audience Capture: How influencers become brainwashed by their audiences shows the downsides of chasing trends and becoming a caricature of yourself.
Book of the Week
Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich by Mark Kriegel is “the story of a boy transformed by his father’s dream—and the cost of that dream. Even as Pete Maravich became Pistol Pete—a basketball icon for baby boomers—all the Maraviches paid a price.” Maravich averaged an astounding 44.2 points per game at LSU without the three-point line establishing scoring records during his time in college. He was basketball’s great white hope eventually becoming a prisoner to his fame trying to please his father and LSU basketball coach Press Maravich. Pete was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks, traded to the New Orleans Jazz, transferred with the Jazz to Salt Lake City, and then was signed by the Boston Celtics. Along the way, his mother committed suicide, his brother became an alcoholic, and his father died of cancer. Pete eventually died of cardiac arrest post his NBA career during a pickup basketball game at the age of 40 leaving behind his two young sons with his wife. After his death, both of his sons tried to make their deceased father proud but ended up having the same demons as their father Pete. A sad story about living your dreams through your kids.
Podcasts of the Week
Smartless with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett cracks me up. Recent episodes I enjoyed include Jared Leto, Michael Keaton, Howard Stern, Laura Linney, Sacha Baren Cohen, Governor Tim Walz, and Keri Russell.
Bonus: Videos of the Week
Paperless Post – SNL, 10 Stoic Parenting Tips, Brian Chesky – Founder Mode & The Art of Hiring, Claude | Computer use for automating operations, and Mentalism, mind reading and the art of getting inside your head | Derren Brown | TED all bring the goods.
