Picture Sisyphus rolling his boulder up that hill every day. He knows what’s going to happen when he gets to the top, though maybe not exactly how. One way or another, that boulder is coming down again. There’s nothing he can do about it. The momentum’s too strong once he’s reached the apex. Some would […]
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Get it out of your head by putting it in physical space. Print it off. Map it. Draw a picture. Do some automatic writing. Lay it all out. Take a step back. Ponder the patterns. Do anything but sit and anxiously let it bounce around in your skull. When we’re working on something, we load […]
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In video games, I’m the hero. I put in effort, and rewards come out. Achievement unlocked. Ding! In my brain, my reward centers go “ahhhhhhh.” They say, “Hey, you’re doing a great job, so have these endorphins.” In my life, nothing happens, so I’ve learned to say: Feel the fire instead. When life bites you, the […]
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There’s this incredible scene at towards the end of Napoleon Dynamite, where the scorned and dejected protagonist throws off the shackles of his miserable high-school existence and boogies like a blistering god: During this epic show, the haters hate. Don and Summer, the school’s grimy alpha pair, give their usual dismissive smirks, but on Napoleon […]
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Beloved body/mind-hacker Tim Ferriss recently shared a blog post about his morning journaling ritual. He bashes out whatever comes to mind for about 5-minutes to record all of his doubts, neuroses, concerns, etc. In the post, he contemplates two possibilities for the purpose of this exercise: I’m trying to figure things out, and this might […]
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In a word, don’t. There’s a myth out there that when you’re applying for jobs, pursuing creative projects, or trying to create an audience for your work, you must learn to “fight through” the pain of endless rejection. All the greats do it. They pay their dues. You must learn to pick yourself up after […]
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