Tag: Action
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Identity + Action
One interesting contrast between English and Cantonese speakers is the way they describe what they do. English speakers tend to assert an identity: I’m a teacher. He’s a photographer. She is a great basketball player. Cantonese speakers prefer to state the verb: I teach (我教書). He likes to take photos (佢鍾意影相). She plays basketball really well (佢打籃球好勁). The…
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You don’t need more prep
Before starting a creative project, the voice says: you need more prep! More research, more planning, more studying. That voice is loud and obnoxious. Writer Steven Pressfield calls this voice the Resistance. It takes you on detours like getting a somewhat related certificate, envy other people’s achievement on LinkedIn, or worrying about where the money…
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Go Forward
Florence Nightingale founded modern nursing. In the mid-1800s, she drastically improved hygiene standard and reduced the death rate in hospitals. But before that, Nightingale was torn by the idea of leaving her comfortable home for service. In fact, it took her almost 16 years to respond to what she later referred to as “the call.” Healthcare work…
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Cultivate work you love
Jesuit priest Anthony De Mello on cultivating work you love: “You must cultivate activities that you love. You must discover work that you do, not for its utility, but for itself. How many activities can you count in your life that you engage in simply because they delight you and grip your soul? Find them out, cultivate…
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Scared?
Author Steven Pressfield on fear: “Remember our rule of thumb: The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.” Source: The War of Art
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Try something new every day
Doesn’t matter what it is, how insignificant it appears, or whether anyone notices. Take the long way home. Learn a new word. Do the exercises at the end of the chapter. Review old photos. Find a better way to solve the same problem. If we do that daily, we will have experimented over 360 small…
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Start with one
Key to building a new habit: start small. How small exactly? Try one. Make it absurdly easy. Then do it every day at around the same time*. Resist the temptation to ramp up quickly. Keep it nice and steady instead. If you miss a day, no worries. Pick it back up where you left off.…
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Start small
When we start a new project or develop a new habit, it is tempting to go big right away: read an entire book, run three miles, or play an instrument for five hours. But by doing too much at the beginning we risk burning ourselves out. I can’t tell you how many times I quit…
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From Firewood Sales to Presidency
In between his mediocre military career and his presidency, Ulysses S. Grant went through a period of setbacks and financial difficulty. To support his family at one point, he had to sell firewood—hardly a glamorous venture for a West Point graduate. His ex-army colleague was shocked, and said, “Great god, Grant, what are you doing?”…
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Seemingly futile effort
A football match looks like futile effort most of the time. A team makes a fantastic midfield play with delicate passes, but the ball is stolen last minute. Back to defense. Here comes a promising free kick opportunity, but the header goes wide. Back to square one. The striker finds a rare opening during transition,…
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One Starfish At a Time
One morning an old man walked along the beach. A big storm had just passed. As far as the eye could see, the shore was littered with starfish. From a distance, the man noticed something unusual. A woman picked up a starfish, threw it back into the sea, and repeated with the next one. He…