“Some days I show up and do the best writing of my life. Other days, many days, I show up and do writing that is underwhelmingly average (and reeking of a few typos). The lesson I hope you walk away with in watching me work is not that I am flawless, but that a deeply flawed individual can achieve something that transcends his lackluster abilities by simply showing up, again and again, over the course of a lifetime.”
Cole Schafer
“Hustle isn’t always about hurrying. It is about getting things done, properly. It’s okay to move slowly… provided that you never stop. Do we not understand that in the story of the tortoise and the hare, that it was actually the turtle who hustled?”
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny (Page 57)
“Show up…
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny (Page 44)
…when you’re tired
…when you don’t have to
…even if you have an excuse
…even if you’re busy
…even if you won’t get recognized for it
…even if it’s been kicking your ass lately.
Once something is done, you can build on it. Once you get started, momentum can grow. When you show up, you can get lucky.”
“The potter’s wheel, once set in motion, keeps spinning and spinning, and only gradually slackens and comes to a halt; and likewise, in Siddhartha’s soul, the wheel of asceticism, the wheel of thinking, the wheel of discrimination had kept turning and turning, was still turning, but was now sluggish and hesitant and on the verge of halting. Slowly, the way moisture creeps into the dying tree stump, slowly filling it and rotting it, worldliness and slothfulness had crept into Siddhartha’s soul; slowly they filled his soul, made it heavy, made it weary, lulled it to sleep.”
Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha (Page 68)
A Motivational Excerpt From Tom Brady’s Hall Of Fame Speech—”You Don’t Have To Be Special…”
Excerpt: Tom Brady—one of football’s all time greatest quarterbacks—delivered some motivational FIRE during his Hall of Fame speech… Read it here…
Read More »A Motivational Excerpt From Tom Brady’s Hall Of Fame Speech—”You Don’t Have To Be Special…”
“I know that sometimes, persistence is not a virtue. I would trade my other abilities to be an exceptional songwriter. I gave it a serious enough try to know that I don’t have the knack, for years, and I’m not interested in being publicly mediocre at the performing arts. My life is incalculably better for having let the dream go. The world will be happiest with a certain range of behaviors from you—life will be easier if you find a place in that range where you’re content. David Whyte calls this the conversational nature of reality, and he is correct about the importance of this concept.”
Sasha Chapin
“The [String of Pearls] is probably the most important thing, motivationally, you could teach yourself. You just draw a string of pearls. There’s a line, then a circle, line, then a circle. Each one of those circles equals one action. But here’s the thing. Every action has the same value. I am the person that puts the next pearl on the string. That’s it. Just getting out of bed and doing what you have to do that day and not putting, like, a size value on the effort. They’re all the same size.”
Phil Stutz, Stutz
“It only takes five minutes to break the cycle. Five minutes of exercise and you are back on the path. Five minutes of writing and the manuscript is moving forward again. Five minutes of conversation and the relationship is restored. It doesn’t take much to feel good again.”
James Clear, Blog
“The most important battles must be fought anew each day. Exercising today does not render tomorrow’s workout unnecessary. Supporting your spouse today does not mean you can mail it in tomorrow. Learn to love the endless nature of things and life gets easier.”
James Clear, Blog
“The person who gets 1 shot needs everything to go right. The person who gets 1000 shots is going to score at some point. Find a way to play the game that ensures you get a lot of shots.”
James Clear, Blog
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, via The Daily Stoic (Page 127)