“Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.”
– Albert Camus
(via)
Present
Success
“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”
– Maya Angelou
Doubt
“I don’t think there’s an artist of any value who doesn’t doubt what they’re doing.”
– Francis Ford Coppola
(via)
Legacy
“Your legacy is every life you have ever touched.”
– Maya Angelou
Negative Emotions and The Creative Process
“Rigor is the key to overcoming obstacles and completing tasks—and good mood doesn’t improve problem-solving, which involves judgments that almost by necessity won’t feel good: critique and evaluation, experimentation and failure. The stress that arises from problems may be unpleasant but it also motivates us to complete tasks, Davis says. In other words, negative emotions are actually beneficial to the creative process.”
Calder on Fan Mail
“My fan mail is enormous – everybody is under six.”
– Alexander Calder
From the book Art is the highest form of hope
Backed by Action
“Be a practical dreamer, backed by action.”
– Bruce Lee
Climb That Mountain
The fact is: sometimes you just have to do things for no other reason than to do them. Do them because you can. Because they exist. As George Mallory said when asked why he wanted to climb Mt. Everest: “Because it’s there.”
3 important life skills nobody ever taught you.
(via my favorite newsletter)
Stop
“Stop letting people who do so little for you control so much of your mind, feelings, and emotions.”
– Will Smith
A Bit Shaky
“Are you feeling a bit shaken, maybe stirred, maybe fearful and doubtful and completely utterly, wildly terrified? Good. Keep going.”
– Victoria Erickson
Vacationing Is Good For You
“Before you can go to the Bahamas for a week, don’t you first need to learn how to tolerate an entire elevator ride without checking your email?”
This Slate article explains why we need to take more vacation and offers examples of how some companies get more of their employees to do so. Definitely something you don’t need to teach the Swiss, but seems to be the case here in the US.
Children
So much better if parents remember they don't own their children, merely borrow them from the universe for a few years.
— Alain de Botton (@alaindebotton) October 23, 2016
Meet the Perennials
“We are ever-blooming, relevant people of all ages who live in the present time, know what’s happening in the world, stay current with technology, and have friends of all ages. We get involved, stay curious, mentor others, are passionate, compassionate, creative, confident, collaborative, global-minded, risk takers who continue to push up against our growing edge and know how to hustle. We comprise an inclusive, enduring mindset, not a divisive demographic.”
Gina Pell on the Perennials, the growing group of people who aren’t bound by age in the way most people in society used to be.
Be Generous
“Be generous with your time and your resources and with giving credit and, especially, with your words. It’s so much easier to be a critic than a celebrator. Always remember there is a human being on the other end of every exchange and behind every cultural artifact being critiqued. To understand and be understood, those are among life’s greatest gifts, and every interaction is an opportunity to exchange them.”
Part of a post by Maria Popova in which she shares 10 Learnings from 10 Years of Brain Pickings.
Instant Gratification
“Everything is instant gratification and the problem is too many people have applied that instant gratification to their careers and to their lives.”
— Simon Sinek
Beauty
(via DesignCrush)
Hope
“Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.”
– Suzanne Collins
To-Do List Make Over
“One of the reasons that so many of the tasks on our to-do lists end up woefully undone is because we have to go to meetings, and we have to do email; they create their own urgency. But if you want to make sure that you regularly accomplish meaningful work—the type of work that helps you advance your career, push forward important projects, or expand your skill set—you have to make time for it. (Productivity guru Stephen Covey calls this putting the “big rocks” in first.)
It so obvious yet I have never done it, but carving out time for ‘meaningful work’ is the first thing I’ll start doing after reading this article by Jocelyn G. Klei.
The Artist
“It seems that two qualities are necessary if a great artist is to remain creative to the end of a long life; he must on the one hand retain an abnormally keen awareness of life, he must never grow complacent, never be content with life, must always demand the impossible and when he cannot have it, must despair. The burden of the mystery must be with him day and night.”
– Goethe
Reflection
“The image that concerns most people is the reflection they see in other people’s minds.”
– Edward de Bono
One Can Steal Ideas
“One can steal ideas, but no one can steal execution or passion.”
– Tim Ferriss
(via)
Do Nothing
“To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world.”
— Oscar Wilde
(via Jocelyn)
Present
“Confine yourself to the present.”
– Marcus Aurelius