1. No pain, no gain…
It is easy to watch someone do something really well and wish you could do it too. The problem is that we don’t see all the blood, sweat, and tears that goes into mastering a particular talent. Last year, I shared a video of my daughter landing her first flip on a wakeboard. This summer, my son Kyle has taken an interest in barefoot waterskiing. When you see someone barefooting, it looks really cool. They are getting pulled across the water on their bare feet at roughly 40mph. But to learn this you have to take a beating. The falls are rough! And in this case… no pain, no gain! But… no guts, no glory! Here is a slow motion video of one of his falls… YIKES! (Good thing his dad is a chiropractor!) And watch the second video to see success. Also, note the rising sun in the background… beautiful! We get up at 5:45 a.m. to catch that smooth water.
2. Something I’m thinking about this week…
When I hear something more than once, from different sources, I pay attention. This week I heard someone on a podcast say, “What you appreciate… appreciates.” Then, this morning, I was looking at some old notes I had written down, and there it was again… “What you appreciate… appreciates.” And earlier this week, I had read something I had heard before, but along those same lines… “What you pay attention to grows.” I also heard a doctor say that when struggling with a health problem, all we can think about is that problem, yet, at that same time the body is doing so many things well. So this week I have been extra careful not to focus on the negatives. There is so much confusing, negative, bad information right now, that it is easy to forget about all the good. I’ve been making a conscious effort to make sure that I think about all the good in my life and the world. And guess what… there is SO MUCH GOOD!!! Be careful not to let your attention and emotions get wrapped up in only what is bad right now.
3. Book I loved…
I can’t remember who recommended it, but I’m glad they did. I really enjoyed the book, Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative, by Austin Kleon. Great little nuggets of info. And it is all packed into only 10 pages, so it’s a very quick read. As I work on my book, I feel pulled to make it super short and super simple, because those tend to be the books I enjoy (and finish) the most. I have gifted this book numerous times and just ordered a bunch from Amazon for this year’s high school graduates to go along with the card I’ll give. Click here if interested in buying the book. Here is what is on the back cover of that book…
Unlock your creativity.
- Steal like an artist.
- Don’t wait until you know who you are to get started.
- Write the book you want to read.
- Use your hands.
- Side projects and hobbies are important.
- The secret: do good work and share it with people.
- Geography is no longer our master.
- Be nice. (The world is a small town.)
- Be boring. (It’s the only way to get work done.)
- Creativity is subtraction.