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Here are 5 interesting ideas to spark your curiosity heading into the weekend.
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Today at a Glance:
- Question: Closed mouths don't get fed.
- Quote: Fear is lack of understanding.
- Idea: Hemingway's Suitcase.
- Proverb: Lifetime happiness.
- Article: 22 small things with large impact.
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Question to unlock new possibilities:
What am I not achieving simply because I haven't asked?
When Steve Jobs was 12 years old, he cold-called Hewlett-Packard co-founder Bill Hewlett and asked for spare computer parts. It led to a summer internship and further stoked a curiosity that never went away.
The story offers an important reminder: Closed mouths don’t get fed.
There is something in your life that you deserve but haven't achieved, simply because you haven't asked for it yet.
If you want something—and you’ve done the work to earn it—go ask for it.
- Worst case—you’re told no.
- Best case—it’s yours.
Most of the people you admire are willing to help. They received help on their journey and want to pay it forward. But you have to do the work to earn that help.
The old adage to sit back and wait for good things to happen is terrible advice. A little push goes a long way.
Quote to reframe your fears:
"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less." - Marie Curie
Reframe fear as an information gap.
Gather information and conquer your fears.
Idea to benefit from inevitable chaos:
Hemingway's Lost Suitcase
In 1922, Ernest Hemingway was a 23-year-old aspiring novelist working as a foreign correspondent in Paris for the Toronto Star newspaper.
The young Hemingway, who was recently married and embracing the culture of Paris, would work for the paper during the days and then work on building his body of fiction work at night.
In December 1922, a bit of carelessness (and bad luck) led to a creative tragedy:
While traveling to visit her husband, who was on assignment in Switzerland, Hemingway's wife, Hadley, lost the suitcase that contained every single one of his novel manuscripts and copies.
It was a devastating blow to the writer, who had spent years working on the pieces.
Note: I can't imagine how this must have felt. I get extremely frustrated when I lose a few minutes of work due to an issue with Microsoft Word or the WiFi...imagine losing years of work just like that...
But rather than be completely derailed by the challenging blow, Ernest Hemingway found a way to benefit from the chaos:
Feeling new time pressure, he made his writing more concise, using fewer words, shorter sentence structures, and tighter paragraphs.
As it turns out, that shift in style dramatically improved his overall writing quality and output. To this day, Ernest Hemingway is known for his writing style that involved short sentences and simple language.
Hemingway's Lost Suitcase is a perfect example of a challenge that was turned into an opportunity with a growth mindset.
Adaptability is essential (and it's a skill you can build).
"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one most adaptable to change." - Charles Darwin
Life is chaotic. If you can embrace that chaos and roll with it, you'll find a way to win.
Proverb I can't stop thinking about:
This is a simple, beautiful proverb on the power of acts of service:
If you want happiness for an hour—take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day—go fishing.
If you want happiness for a year—inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime—help someone else.
List of small things with large impact:
22 Small Things That People Say Made Them Drastically Happier
Great list of tiny life hacks that created outsized rewards in people's lives.
A few of my favorites:
- Picking up the phone once per day to call a family member (relationships are everything).
- Reading before bed every night (improves sleep).
- Taking long hikes every weekend (nature + walking = win).
You might find some good ideas here. Worth a few minutes of your time.
In Case You Missed It:
In Wednesday's issue, I wrote about my Pursuit Mapping exercise that I use to identify the personal and professional pursuits that are most likely to bring joy and outsized rewards into my life.
Three steps:
- Create Your Map: Place pursuits, both current and prospective, into a 2x2 matrix that has competency level on the x-axis and energy level on the y-axis.
- Identify Your Zones: Your Zone of Genius is where your energy and competency collide. Your Zone of Hobby is where you have high energy but low competency. Your Zone of Danger is where you have low energy but high competency.
- Align Your Time: Slowly move more of your time towards your pursuits that fall into your Zone of Genius and Zone of Hobby.
Choosing the right pursuits is a direct path to a more purpose-filled, fulfilling, productive, and successful life. Learn to follow your energy and you won't be led astray.
Sahil Bloom
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