The two greatest risks in life are taking too much risk and not taking enough risk.
Are you a bird in search of a cage?
All the cards are seamlessly the same (all of them even say Vice President). So, what are we exchanging here? Because it isn’t information. We are exchanging status. Establishing a pecking order of who is up and who is down.
“You have a reservation at Dorsia on a Thursday. I have one on Friday.” Just that very subtle reflection is enough to trigger Bale in the scene. “Let’s see Paul Allen’s card.”
Even in a room full of execs with a title, money, fancy clothes, a reservation at the hottest restaurant in town–it’s still not enough. Because despite all of the status, there was someone else missing–someone has more.
A powerful lesson that more is rarely the answer to our problems. There will always be someone with more status. And if you let it, it will consume you.
What we do brings status. What we measure brings peace.
Brilliant scene.
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Came across this piece from Learning A Day that is worth sharing:
“I was thinking about an anecdote from a book by late Vanguard founder John Bogle. This was an exchange Bogle witnessed at a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island in New York.
The late novelist Kurt Vonnegut informed his pal, Joseph Heller, that their host, a hedge fund manager, had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his wildly popular novel Catch-22 over its whole history.
Heller responded – “Yes, but I have something he will never have…enough.”
Many comedians will admit that getting five minutes of really good material takes years to develop.
If you are dedicated enough, over time, you become funny. Once people see you as funny, it’s difficult to keep being funny.
This is why many comedians go back to stand up. Because no one is just funny all the time. You have to work on it like anything else.
When you are not putting energy into your craft, you are not getting better at it. Obviously. Don’t underestimate the time it takes to put together five good minutes of anything you do. There is a difference between an okay joke and a really good one.
Draw a box.
Imagine every decision you’ve made at this point has fit inside that box.
Now, the question is, when are you going to make a decision outside your comfort zone? One that doesn’t fit in that box.
No time better than now to start.
Happy New Year.
When Ringo Starr was drumming for The Beatles, they were pioneering the use of sampling, artificial double-tracking and the use of multitrack recording machines.
Fast forward to today, it is much more technical to record a soundtrack.
Just look at the rigs and the playing styles of back then and today:
The point is that everything is so much more technical and precise than it used to be. It can be overwhelming to start something new because how could you ever be that good?
For one, you shouldn’t compare your start to someone’s best moment. And two, just cause you probably won’t be as proficient as a prodigy, doesn’t mean there isn’t room for you. Find the why you are doing this–if you are doing it for money, you might be behind. If you are doing it for something else, start where you are.
I read about this idea of how you should be careful who you share your good news with. The idea is that not everyone is actually rooting for you.
That sort of makes sense to a degree. Is everyone really rooting for you? I’m sure after WWII allied forces were not asking for a pat on the back from Switzerland.
If it’s generous share it, which means exercising vulnerability. Vulnerability by definition is facing risk, uncertainty, and exposure. Precisely because we don’t know how someone will react is why we share something. But if you are looking for reassurance, you’ll never find enough of it.
2020 wasn’t the right time to start a project. How could you?
2021 has felt like a year of recovery from the chaos of 2020.
And 2022, well, that can feel like a recovery from 2021. And so on.
Do good work despite the conditions. Despite how we feel in this moment. Forcing ourselves to do something inspires us to do more.
Not in the mood is an easy excuse to grab.
There are real limits and things we can’t control. And yet, humans have this extraordinary ability to overcome odds. We are resilient.
Don’t let another year go by without a plan.
Social media reactions are usually an overreaction to any given situation. It’s the only way to stand out amongst the noise.
Those who have been around the sun a few times have the patience to wait and see how things play out. It probably is not as bad as we imagine.
You don’t brush your teeth or pay the bills or do the dishes forever. Only for 100 years at most.
Then you will never have to do it again. The things that feel boring and monotonous don’t actually last forever, it’s just the story we tell ourselves.
Which means we make things feel more dramatic or longer than they actually are.
The old adage:
If you have the money, you don’t have the time. If you have the time, you don’t have the money.
Many, if you were born in the right circumstances and are lucky enough and work hard enough, can achieve both means and time. But what happens when you have both the time and money? What then?
What now? What will you build?
What gets you up in the morning to change things and make them better? Because once you can’t make things better for yourself, the natural question to ask is, How can you make things better for others?
