#8: personal deadlines
What’s on my mind
If you give yourself 20 days to finish a book, it will take you 20 days to read it.
But if you give yourself 10 hours, it will take you 10 hours.
Are you setting deadlines for your goals?
How are you making the most of your potential?
Remember: done is almost always, better than perfect.
This week’s stories
👓 33 things I stole from people smarter than me
Ryan Holiday has been consolidating the same number of ideas as his age since he turned 28. And his 33rd edition is one full of wisdom.
The note on outcome vs. process is a good one.
As you become more professional at anything, you care less about results.
It’s not to say that you don’t get results, you do. But that’s because you know you can trust the systems and processes you’ve put in place overtime.
There are professional habits and amateur ones. Which are you practicing? Is this a pro or an amateur move? Ask yourself that. Constantly.
🎓 The best way to learn anything
There are two types of knowledge: 1) knowing the name of something (what it’s called), 2) actually knowing something (understanding it).
Based on this, if you’re on the lookout for ways to fully understand a topic (approach #2), this method might be the answer. There are 4 steps to it:
Pick a topic
Explain it to someone who doesn’t know anything about it
Find out gaps in your understanding of the topic
Simplify
✅ Getting things done, sorted
Over the last couple of months, I’ve been searching for a tool to help me consolidate and organize my growing list of tasks.
Something that’s neither complex nor too simple.
I tested quite a few apps, and went through swings of appreciation and frustration for different products!
I thought I was asking for too much…
Until I finally landed on Sorted³.
It’s an iOS app that syncs with my calendar and brings events, tasks, reminders and notes into a single interface. I’ve been using it to schedule my weeks and days. And I've been feeling more in control of my day.
Give it a try if you want to hyper-charge your time blocking and have a single place to organize your day from.
💭 The age we need each other
This is a profound essay.
We’re so used to celebrating and validating people with large audiences on big platforms, that we tend to forget those who are busy doing meaningful, humble and quiet work.
When we deep down believe in doing the “right” thing, finding a way to scale up is not necessary.
…Any time someone called with a problem, Roy would put down what he was doing and be right over to help.
📝 All good things must begin
Austin Kleon looks back at the work of some outstanding writers to learn that even they needed an “ignite” to get to work!
The takeaway from it?
For any idea that’s on your mind—even if you don’t think it can be fully executed—write down what rings true to you about it.
Creative work is very hard, and some sort of self-deception is necessary simply in order to start.
