#554 How to make your ideas succeed
The thing about ideas
Is that they tend to fade
Unless you give them space
to adapt to the pace
of the physical world
Unless you give ideas
space to breathe
they won’t succeed
The thing about ideas
Is that they tend to fade
Unless you give them space
to adapt to the pace
of the physical world
Unless you give ideas
space to breathe
they won’t succeed
Fulfillment doesn’t come from closing the gap between wanting and having.
It comes from closing the gap between wanting and doing.
Want to write a book? Then write every day – even if you don’t have the book yet.
Want to start a successful business? Then start the business – even if you’re not successful yet.
Want to run a marathon? Then run every day – even if you haven’t run a marathon yet.
After all, you might never close the gap between wanting and having.
But the gap between wanting and doing, you can close right this very moment.
Questions to uncover your passion:
What would you still share, even when everybody else says, “I don’t care”?
What would you still do, even if nobody else believed in you?
If, in defiance of every limiting belief you have about yourself, you started to write every day, and you’re sticking to it, what else can you do that you previously thought impossible?
This is how the world becomes your oyster.
You’re a writer now.
And that means you’re starting to have a shot at being a good writer.
Be here for the triumphs.
Be here for the losses.
Be here for the dreams.
Be here for the doubts.
Be here for the courage.
Be here for the fear.
Be here for the victory.
Be here for the defeat.
Be here for the laughter.
Be here for the tears.
Whatever you do
Whatever you fear
Be here.
Wisdom doesn’t come from experience. It comes from reflecting on experience.
— Adam Grant (@AdamMGrant) December 11, 2022
Between ages 25 and 75, the correlation between age and wisdom is zero.
Gaining insight and perspective is not about the number of years you've lived. It's about the number of lessons you've learned. pic.twitter.com/8wbKsCMkED
Memory isn’t an objective account of the past – and that’s not its purpose either.
Memory stores the lessons we extract from life experience. And to do so, it modifies, adds, subtracts, highlights, and hides.
Hot soup burns my tongue – next time, I’ll remember the pain, but not if it was tomato soup or chicken soup. And I’ll remember to wait a couple of minutes before having the first spoon.
Experience lived. Irrelevant info deleted. Lesson learned. Memory created.
My country gets invaded – and that causes so much pain, I won’t just deliver an objective account of what happened: I’ll make sure to tell everyone who the evil guys are too.
Experience lived. Story modified. Lesson learned. Memory created.
I eat the most delicious dessert at a Mexico City restaurant – that’s the memory I’m going to tell my friends about, not which glass of dessert wine I had with it.
Experience lived. Dessert highlighted. Lesson learned. Memory created.
You’re going to make memories anyway. Which lessons do you want to learn?
You don’t need to find the motivation to start doing the work.
It’s more likely you need to start doing the work to find motivation.
And if it truly feels impossible to do the work, maybe you just need some rest.