Brock ButlerThis site contains inspirational stuff that I am likely to reuse or respectfully steal from in the futureLife is too short not to do something that matters! Great Design, and Also How Design Works (For Startups)Stellar Combination: Michael Pollan's Food Rules Illustrated by Maria KalmanMichael Pollan's Food Rules, illustrated by Maria Kalman, inspires me two ways:
Having not read prior editions of Food Rules, I can't imagine the book without the the killer combination of illustrations and rules. Here are a couple great Food Rules videos found reading Maria Popova's Brain Pickings: Maria Kalman explaining her illustrations in the book The Food Rules animated in stop motion
Test yourself, make mistakes, resist flinching, and find your limitsTest yourself, make mistakes, resist flinching, and find your limits http://t.co/cZ94HyI8 #Kindle #iPad There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicideThere is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide. Do Less. Do Things Exceptionally Well. Focus.Doing fewer things--and doing them better--is profoundly important. There are so many things to do, but usually only a handful really matter. Those are the things that require intense focus and exceptional execution. Said another way ...
There is no better way to put this in context than to consider our own mortality. Steve Job's 2005 Stanford Commencement Address, and Merlin Mann's recent blog post titled No One Needs Permission To Be Awesome, do an excellent job explaining this.
The most essential step in doing the things that matter most is Focus. Focus on the things you care most about. Focus on the things that, once started, are hard to tear yourself away from because you are so passionate about them. Doing this requires cutting the other distractions, and many of them are not easy to drop. Some tough decisions need to be made.
Another Merlin Mann post puts it very well: First, Care. Once you know what you really care about, you can figure out how to focus on them. It makes it easier to settle hard decisions and drop things that would otherwise seem undroppable. There are some great resources out there that provide inspiration. focus : a simplicity manifesto in the age of distraction by Leo Babauta is a great book, and most of it is available freely via the web. Finally, I'll end with some words from the ever-quotable Seth Godin:
Where there is fear, there can be no freedom. Thich Nhat Hanh on Nirvana (6-min video) - Garr's posterousRemote Presentations That RockOne more presentation from @sachac (sachachua.com) that I really like.:
Must watch this RSA Animate video summarizing Dan Pink's motivation book (Drive)via youtube.com
There are three things I love about this: (1) Daniel Pink's "Drive" is a fantastic book about motivation, and this video provides a great overview. (2) The visuals greatly enhance the message. I'm impressed at how well the drawing is synchronized with the audio. (3) There are a whole series of similarly amazing "Vision Videos" at RSA's website: http://www.thersa.org/events/vision Einstein Quote
I just had to repost this. A bunch of things I have read recently have been resonating with my experience that our education system needs to change. It just has to, and I think it will. The Linchpin Manifesto (not mine, but worth reposting here) |
|
|
Adapted from Cory Watilo's Proper theme
|