“Things that aren’t doing the thing:
- Preparing to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.
- Scheduling time to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.
- Making a to-do list for the thing isn’t doing the thing.
- Telling people you’re going to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.
- Messaging friends who may or may not be doing the thing isn’t doing the thing.
- Writing a banger tweet about how you’re going to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.
- Hating on yourself for not doing the thing isn’t doing the thing.
- Hating on other people who have done the thing isn’t doing the thing.
- Hating on the obstacles in the way of doing the thing isn’t doing the thing.
- Fantasizing about all of the adoration you’ll receive once you do the thing isn’t doing the thing.
- Reading about how to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.
- Reading about how other people did the thing isn’t doing the thing.
- Reading this essay isn’t doing the thing.
The only thing that is doing the thing is doing the thing.”
Loopy
“If you think you’re running 10 minutes late, text to say you’ll be 15 minutes late. That way the other person gets one disappointment and one pleasant surprise. Most people do the opposite: they say they’re 5 minutes late when it’s 10 and end up annoying the other and looking like total fools.”
Jacob Falkovich
“For all Dex’s protesting about the sanctity of trails, it was only in absence that Dex truly understood what a trail was. They had been on hikes through protected lands before and had ridden through more untended places than they could count in their years on the tea route. Those experiences had been soothing, calming, somewhat meditative. It did not take much brain to make your feet follow a path, and that meant your thoughts had ample room to drift and slow. Walking through uncut wilderness was another matter entirely, and Dex felt something primal awaken in them, a laser-focused state of mind they hadn’t known they possessed. There was no room for wandering fancies. All Dex could think was: watch the root, go left, that looks poisonous, mind that rock, is that safe, soft dirt, okay, go right, avoid that, careful, careful, CAREFUL. With every step, there were dozens of variants, and with each step after, the rules changed yet again. Travel on a trail felt liquid. Travel off of it, Dex was learning, felt sharp as glass.”
Becky Chambers, A Psalm For The Wild-Built (Page 86)
“Mosscap touched their metal torso, smiling with pride. ‘I am made of metal and numbers; you are made of water and genes. But we are each something more than that. And we can’t define what that something more is simply by our raw components.”
Becky Chambers, A Psalm For The Wild-Built (Page 75)
“‘Robots are not people. We’re machines, and machines are objects. Objects are its.’ ‘I’d say you’re more than just an object,’ Dex said. The robot looked a touch offended. ‘I would never call you just an animal, Sibling Dex.’ It turned its gaze to the road, head held high. ‘We don’t have to fall into the same category to be of equal value.'”
Becky Chambers, A Psalm For The Wild-Built (Page 69)
“You might be fortunate enough to have a hobby. Something you are focused on and passionate about. You might read the journals, develop your skills, collect, connect with others in the field, and commit to getting better at it… Time spent on a hobby feels like time well spent. Obstacles and setbacks aren’t a tragedy, they’re simply part of journey, the things that make it interesting. It’s possible to bring that mindset to work. Not all the time, certainly, but often. And when we do, it turns out that work gets more productive and even more fun.”
Seth Godin
“Take the small things seriously, because small things become big things. The person who takes small things seriously earns the trust of those around them. That person will eventually be given bigger and bigger opportunities, the types of opportunities that dramatically change one’s trajectory.”
Sahil Bloom
“Nobody in the world knows where I am right now, they thought, and the notion of that filled them with bubbling excitement. They had canceled their life, bailed out on a whim. The person they knew themself to be should’ve been rattled by that, but someone else was at the helm now, someone rebellious and reckless, someone who had picked a direction and gone for it as if it were of no more import than choosing a sandwich. Dex didn’t know who they were, in that moment. Perhaps that was why they were smiling.”
Becky Chambers, A Psalm For The Wild-Built (Page 47)
“Dex was the best tea monk in Panga, if the chatter was to believed. They didn’t believe such hyperbole themself, and it’s not like anything about their work was a competition. But their tea was good. They knew this. They’d worked hard. They put their heart into it. Everywhere they went, they saw smiles, and Dex knew that it was their work—their work!—that brought those out. They brought people joy. They made people’s day. That was a tremendous thing, when you sat and thought about it. That should’ve been enough. That should’ve been more than enough. And yet, if they were completely honest, the thing they had come to look forward to most was not the smiles nor the gifts nor the sense of work done well, but the part that came after all of that. The part when they returned to their wagon, shut themself inside, and spent a few precious, shapeless hours entirely alone.”
Becky Chambers, A Psalm For The Wild-Built (Page 38)