subdued7 - Tumblr blog

[subdued7]

People often mention, “Just go with the flow.” but what the heck does that even mean?⁣ ⁣ The intersection of discipline and surrender is flow. ⁣ ⁣ That means that honoring your commitments, habits and rituals and focusing on what what you can control is one side of the work. The other side is handing over what is out of your control or your sphere of influence. ⁣ ⁣ Flow is a state achieved by daily practice. It's about finding harmony and taking a good look at yourself, your inner dialogue, the energy you are giving to work, relationships, and other commitments to discern what you should spend your time focusing on.⁣ ⁣ I find the most difficult and also exciting part of this journey to enter into a state of flow is realizing that you have access to it at any time. I believe this is difficult because when things are really spinning out of control or not going the way you envisioned, it's hard to find surrender in those moments. Or even on the opposite side, surrender can lead us to feel like so many things might be out of our hands, The harmony is what is really exciting because in practicing how to find get clear on what the discipline and surrender both look like!⁣ ⁣ Simply noticing is the best place to start.⁣ ⁣ How can you find more discipline?⁣ ⁣ What can you hand over to find more surrender?⁣ ⁣ Your flow exists in the harmony between the two.⁣

[subdued7]

Realize all you have in life is what you choose to do with your limited time. We are all going to die. Sooner than we would like to. People put their money in the bank to buy the things they don’t need and continue to sell their time until it runs out. Do the opposite. Protect your time and ruthlessly prioritize what you invest it in, and spend your money on things that buy you more time.

https://farzadban.com/what-I-learned-from-getting-deported-twice-and-building-two-successful-businesses-in-the-process/

[subdued7]

In “Gravity and Grace,” Simone Weil writes, “Attention, taken to its highest degree, is the same thing as prayer. It presupposes faith and love.” Then is the lack of attention the opposite? Does it presuppose fear and hate? [...] Regardless, down in Virginia, on a repurposed plantation: I want my attention back. The thought wouldn’t let go.

https://www.wired.com/2017/01/how-i-got-my-attention-back/

[subdued7]

I just want you to remember one thing: that this is your life, right now. As you sit in front of your computer, as the world spins on its axis, as Unix time gets increasingly closer to calamity. What do you do day in, day out, is it. You are ineluctably using up the finite number of days in that fleeting flicker that will be your life.

https://medium.com/@dellsystem/what-i-wish-i-had-known-1cf9714b01cf

[subdued7]

Drink enough water and you will cease to be thirsty. And yet, a doubting person can be drowning in facts, but facts won't change a mind that doesn't want to be changed. More facts don't counter more doubt. Someone who is shaking her head, arms folded, eyes squinted and ears closed isn't going to be swayed by more facts.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2017/05/facts-are-not-the-opposite-of-doubt.html

[subdued7]

"Dearest Fear: Creativity and I are about to go on a road trip. I understand you'll be joining us, because you always do. I acknowledge that you believe you have an important job to do. But I will also be doing my job, which is to work hard and stay focused. And Creativity will be doing its job, which is to remain stimulating and inspiring. There's plenty of room in this vehicle for all of us, but understand this: Creativity and I are the only ones who will be making any decisions along the way. You're not allowed to suggest detours. You're not allowed to fiddle with the temperature. Dude, you're not even allowed to touch the radio. But above all else, you are absolutely forbidden to drive."

Elizabetth Gilbert in ’Big Magic’

[subdued7]

But in both cases, it turns out that there is also the same remedy for self-restoration, and that is that you have got to find your way back home again as swiftly and smoothly as you can, and if you're wondering what your home is, here's a hint: Your home is whatever in this world you love more than you love yourself. So that might be creativity, it might be family, it might be invention, adventure, faith, service, it might be raising corgis, I don't know, your home is that thing to which you can dedicate your energieswith such singular devotion that the ultimate results become inconsequential.

https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_success_failure_and_the_drive_to_keep_creating/transcript?language=en

[subdued7]

A bad decision isn't only bad because we're uninformed or dumb. It can be bad because we are swayed by short-term comfort and ignore long-term implications. A bad decision feels good in the short run, the heartfelt decision of someone who means well. But there's a gap when we get to the long run. […] Our job as leaders (and we all are, in our own way) is to elevate the long run on behalf of those we care about, regardless how hard the marketing and tribal noise around us encourages to fall prey to instant comfort.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2017/05/when-time-catches-up.html

[subdued7]

I don’t give a shit about your “amazing culture” Everyone has great culture and you’re all best friends, I get it. This is so common in startup land that it’s meaningless. I’ve worked at these places, and I promise you what is an amazing culture for one person can be horrible for another. I want you to prove it. I want to meet members from every team, I want to chat with them and get to know what they’re like. It’s important for me to know that these are people I’m going to work well and grow with, and that they want to do those things with me.

https://code.likeagirl.io/i-am-a-woman-in-tech-and-this-is-what-i-want-in-a-company-f6177569a287

[subdued7]

If you put undue pressure on yourself to *be* the genius, this is a reminder that your only job is to show up and practice your craft.

https://twitter.com/tinaessmaker/status/856533154018062336

[subdued7]

Buying anything is really frightening. It involves change. Change involves risk. Risk involves death. So saying yes and dying are only an inch apart from each other. So when people are hesitating, or complaining, or critising, or giving you an objection, what they're really saying is: there aren't enough benefits on offer to match the risk I would feel in making this change happen. And the answer to that, there are two; 1) figure out how to put way more benefits on the table, way more urgency, way more tension, or find somebody else, who wants change more than this person does. But what will not work is bid by bid answering their objections. Because you almost never answer your way to a yes.

https://soundcloud.com/designmatters/design-matters-with-debbie-millman-seth-godin

[subdued7]

In the year 1930, John Maynard Keynes predicted that technology would have advanced sufficiently by century’s end that countries like Great Britain or the United States would achieve a 15-hour work week. There’s every reason to believe he was right. In technological terms, we are quite capable of this. And yet it didn’t happen. Instead, technology has been marshaled, if anything, to figure out ways to make us all work more Why did Keynes’ promised utopia – still being eagerly awaited in the ‘60s – never materialise? The standard line today is that he didn’t figure in the massive increase in consumerism. Given the choice between less hours and more toys and pleasures, we’ve collectively chosen the latter.

http://strikemag.org/bullshit-jobs/

[subdued7]

Irritation is a privilege. It's the least useful emotion, one that we never seek out. People in true distress are never irritated. Someone who is hungry or drowning or fleeing doesn't become irritated. And of course, irritation rarely helps us get what we need. Irritation clouds our judgment, frustrates our relationships and gets our priorities all wrong. Irritation tries to persuade us that it's justified, but it merely pushes us away from what we actually need. In order to be irritated, we need to believe we're not getting something we deserve. But of course, that expectation is the cause of the irritation. We can choose the lose the expectation, embracing the fact that we're lucky enough to feel it, and then get back to work doing something generous instead. It turns out that irritation is a privilege and irritation is a choice.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2016/10/on-being-irritated.html

[subdued7]

When did you give up? The bureaucracy is no longer your enemy. The bureaucracy is you. And it's easy to blame your boss, or the dolt who set up all these systems, or the one who depersonalizes everything. The policies and the oversight and the structure almost force you to merely show up. And to leave as early as you can. But the thing is, the next job, like the last one, is going to be like this. If this is the job you're seeking, if this is the level of responsibility you take, perhaps it's not just your boss. How long ago did you decide to settle for this? How long ago did you start building the cocoon that insulates you from the work you do all day? Years ago, the spark was still there. The dreams. And most of all, the willingness to take it personally. You can take it personally again.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2015/09/when-did-you-give-up.html

[subdued7]

It turns out that nothing will change everything for the better. It works better to focus on each step instead of being distracted by a promised secret exit.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2015/08/the-one-thing-that-will-change-everything.html

[subdued7]

In order to be credible, you must be authentic and true. Twenty years ago, something might be written about you in a newspaper. Then this newspaper would be scrapped, and that would be it. But now your statement stays [online] for the next 20 to 50 years — who knows how long for. To be credible, you must be consistent in the way you behave. Someone can say to you, “Listen, two years ago, you said something different.” In a split second, they know. That’s where lies that wonderful future for mankind.

http://pi.co/brunello-cucinelli-2/

[subdued7]

Once you become a creative director, you realize that authority is an illusion. You’re a negotiator between the client’s taste, the designer’s ego, and the user’s need. You succeed when all three are satisfied.

http://cognition.happycog.com/article/but-what-i-really-want-to-do-is-direct