#i had an excellent hal thought this morning but like i thought too hard about it i accidentally hit reset and now i dont remember

[meduseld]

Twenty Questions For Fic Writers!

Tagged by the lovely @samuelroukin. Answers under the cut,

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

241! Which is wild.

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

629,313. So more than half a mill

3. What fandoms do you write for?

A bunch? Rn working on a The Terror fic, and probably more WOT stuff but DC is always in my head and the one I've written the most for.

4. Top five fics by kudos:

I’d Learn To Float 

You're Looking At Me (Like You Don't Know Who I Am) 

Water Is Sweet, Blood Is Thicker 

Tough To Talk To 

Down On Both Knees 

5. Do you respond to comments?

I always try to! In fact I've ended up expanding on works in the comments because we get into wonderful conversations. The connection is a blast. I even love getting comments that say "extra kudos" and I send them little hearts.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably Like The Stars Miss The Sun In The Morning Skies since the only others that sort of end on an angsty note, Concentration Slip Away  and A Beautiful Lie (both of which are BatLantern with implications Hal is dealing with the aftermath of HalSin like in the actual angsty one) have room for there being a way to work it out. Something about Hal, I guess.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Oh, def I’d Learn To Float which probably adds to how popular it is.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Yeah, and never on the ones I would have expected. The ones that stick out are when I got a weirdo on my early NickXZiggy stuff and a really crappy comment on a fic recently that just revealed the person did not read a single tag or warning so I was more annoyed than anything because that was 100% on them. Those are the minority though, people tend to be really great! It's just funny that when I write ships I know are ~problematic I'm semi-braced for it and nothing happens but then they show up in the ones I would have thought no one would find objectionable.

9. Do you write smut?

Yes, but somehow that's when most of the character work seems to happen! I am that person that goes I'm just gonna write them going at it, no plot just sex, and end up with 5K of them being in their feelings before anybody gets naked.

10. Craziest crossover:

This is gonna be especially funny with the fact that Ben tagged me, hey @samuelroukin you want some Star Wars x Turn? It's here: What Binds The Galaxy

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge but there was that one guy that stole a ton of DC big bang works to put on Kindle Unlimited so there's a non-zero chance one of mine got got before they had him taken down.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, because I am a control freak so I have said no <3 (it's a character failing, I know)

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes and I had a blast but it never moved past the Discord collab phase for a few reasons. Maybe one day though!

14. All time favorite ship?

Hard call but honestly. HalSin is that bitch for me, the all -timer, has it all: enemies to lovers, lovers to enemies, mentor-mentee, brothers in arms, the-only-one-that-gets-me, opposites attract, xenophilia.... Also probs relevant that it was among the first to give me the tingles as a tween reading comics so.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Ugh there are some bangers in my icebox, there's a reason I don't post WIPs. But recently I was reminded of an excellent BirdFlash one I have that's just. Stuck. And an epic Superbat at a Boarding School of Horrors that I can't get my ass into gear about without the Big Bang to push me.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Character work I think, getting why they tick and getting it across. I'm a decent had at plot too! Did some casefic/mysteries and watched people get got in real time in the comments.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Getting to the damn point instead of wandering off into the weeds with 86 commas. It has had its moments but sometimes I need to get back to the action and maintain momentum. I wish I was better at smut too, I think I'm okay but then I read something someone else wrote and go HOW.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

This is a context needed answer. I think it really depends on what you're trying to do/the source. If your character does in fact routinely swear in another language in canon just pop it in there, or if they do that or if it's a setting where there are a lot of languages in play. Then there's the whole whether it is clear from context to readers who signed up to read 1 language or if you need to clarify. And finally: are you trying to conceal information? Because if you are you can pop it in as a bonus for readers who do speak it, or just have your bad guy be like "he turned and said a few words in Russian to his assistant, who snapped to attention" or conversely, if you aren't, you can say "He turned and switched to Russian, which their hosts did not speak. 'When it's morning, we will...'" It really depends what you're trying to accomplish with the other language and what you want your reader to know (or not know!)

19. First fandom you wrote in?

...............Fullmetal Alchemist anime and I buried the bodies, you'll never find them. Never.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Oof that's a hard call, they're all so different. But for today I'm gonna go with You're The Only Girl (I've Got On My List) because of the sheer size and juggling elements going on and how well it turned out in re: my plans for it at the start.

Tagging, if you dig it, @warrenkoles @hearthouses @poeedamerons and @starkfish

[dirt-str1der]

My mind is broken not in the angsty way but in the mac donalds ice cream machine way

[cedarmoons]

Prompt: Saige and Haley take Chester on a walk and Haley takes photos and Saige is Tol and Buff.

didn’t quite fit the prompt but uhhh have lots of haley/fem farmer fluff and smooching!! and tubby doggo! :) sdv fic readers if ur out there… show me a sign

Back in Denver, Chester had been known among your friends as “the fattest, cutest corgi in the world.” You’d taken him for walks whenever possible—which was rather often, since Joja only gave you 39.5 hours a week to avoid giving you the benefits they’d boasted about in orientation. You’d explored most of Denver while walking Chester; it was how you’d learned your way around. So he isn’t fat because of lack of exercise: he is fat because his body is, inexplicably, always prepared for the apparent inevitability of winter hibernation.

Haley calls him tubby. 

It’s #16 on the list of reasons you love her with all your heart. Not that you’ve gotten around to telling her that, yet, but, you know. That sort of thing comes with time.

You wake up at 6:00 to a rooster’s crowing, even though you know for a fact that there are no roosters on your farm (or Marnie’s, or in the surrounding wilderness, or even in Stardew Valley). Haley is under the blankets and Chester is a breadloaf, draped over her hip and the middle of the bed, watching you with sad bright eyes.

He wants breakfast. He’ll start flopping around if you don’t feed him soon.

Your words stir Haley; she rolls onto her back, faintly smiling, one of her hands lifting to rub at her blue eyes. Sunshine-blonde hair spreads out over the pillow. “Morning, honey,” she says, and you lean over Chester to kiss her cheek before rolling out of bed to pad toward the bathroom.

Haley comes in too, smiling sleepily at your reflection. Chester toddles in after both of you, panting happily, tongue lolling. He sits down, watching both of you stand in front of the tiny bathroom sink. You’re brushing your teeth, and she bumps her hip against yours, plucking her toothbrush from the neon cup on the sink rim. Before she wets it, though, she nabs your phone and starts scrolling, putting on a song with a wink.

You groan around your toothbrush as the gentle guitar starts playing. It’s Dad’s ringtone for you, and the namesake of your middle name. Haley grins at you.

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Joleeeene, Dolly Parton croons.

Saige Jolene Holland does have a certain ring to it, you’ve come to realize, but that doesn’t mean you have to like it. Could’ve been worse, though; it could’ve been Nellie Jolene as Mom wanted. That is way more faux-southern-girl and about a thousand times worse.

“I hate you sometimes,” you gargle, then spit. Haley laughs, unrepentant, and starts humming around her toothbrush to the tune. After she spits, you duck in to kiss her cheek. She catches your chin and kisses you properly, lips wet from the water and breath scented of artificial mint.

“I’m gonna do my makeup,” she says after you part. “And then I think I’m gonna take Chester out, with my camera. It’s so beautiful outside today.”

After you’d shown Haley Instagram, she’d made an account specifically for her selfies and pictures of Chester. Sometimes you’re a cameo, but mostly it’s Haley and Chester, who everyone following her thinks is her corgi, not yours. Her most liked photo is not of herself or of you two or of Stardew Valley’s scenery. It is a picture of Chester’s butt as he was in the process of scrambling onto the shipping crate for whatever reason. 

Haley had only taken it because she thought you’d find it hilarious. (She was absolutely 100% right. That same picture is framed on your nightstand.)

You smile at it as you pad back to the bedroom and get dressed. Haley ends Jolene and switches to Defying Gravity. You’d introduced her to your various collection of Broadway musicals, and Wicked is her new favorite.

Chester follows you out of the bathroom and flops onto the floor. “I’m going,” you chide, “be patient.”

He scrambles up at once, bouncing on his front paws, smiling at you as he barks once, twice. You click your tongue and he follows you downstairs as Haley tries to sing both Glinda and Elphaba’s parts. You feed him, kneeling down to run your fingers through his fur. “My beautiful tubby son,” you croon, lowering your head to kiss the top of his silken sand-colored head.

Chester keeps eating. You don’t blame him. You’d keep eating, too.

“So if you care to find me, look to the western skyyy!” Haley belts from the bathroom. She has a beautiful mezzo-soprano, even when she’s not trying. You pop your head inside to see her rubbing in her foundation. She stops at once, flushing in embarrassment, but you only grin and flash her a thumbs-up sign before pulling back to get dressed. The alarm clock that never goes off reads 7:10, even though you feel you’ve only woken up a little while ago.

Time moves differently in Stardew Valley. But it doesn’t seem to go so quickly, now. You think a lot of that has to do with your and Haley’s work, and the Junimos’ help.

You pull on a T-shirt that reads Smooch Your Local Farmer and jeans, and boots. It’d rained last night, and it’s spring, so you’re certain there are still puddles outside. The river will still be beautiful, though.

“And nobody, in all of Oz, no wizard that there is or was—”

Oh, God, you can’t miss the best part.

You rush into the bathroom, only to see Haley leaning against the sink instead of doing her makeup, using her toothbrush as an imaginary mic. She sees you and turns, not missing a beat. You blow her a kiss and flash her two thumbs up, and she grins, closing her eyes, nailing the last note of the verse. You sing Glinda’s part and then the chorus’s, all while Haley holds that final “DOWN!” note, the instruments backing both of you up.

When she finishes, she bows, and you whistle, clapping so hard your hands hurt. Reason #23 you love Haley with all your heart: she has a killer mezzo-soprano.

She grins at you, makeup still limited to foundation and primer, and butterflies erupt in your stomach. You still remember the days she’d locked herself in the bathroom and refused to come out until she had a face full of makeup. Which, not to lie, she looks great while wearing makeup (especially when she wears bright red lipstick, hell yeah)—but she looks great without it, too.

“Shoo,” she says, “I’m naked.”

“I happen to like you naked,” you reply, and she laughs, cheeks dimpling. The music shifts to Hey Soul Sister and she turns back to the mirror, cocking her hip and smirking at you with a sidelong glance.

That doesn’t stop you from walking up to Haley and bending down, wrapping your arms around her and lifting her up onto the sink’s counter. It knocks off some toothpaste, but that’s okay. Haley giggles, wrapping her arms around your neck, pulling you close and kissing you, long and deep. She is soft and warm in your arms, full-figured, not a hard edge to her. You brush back long blonde hair and break the kiss. She looks a little dazed, a blush darkening her cheeks as she looks at you in a way that makes your heart flip.

Reason #2 you love Haley with all your heart: that look.

“I’m gonna walk Chester with you,” you tell her, running your hands up the insides of her bare thighs, stroking her stretch marks. “We can visit Penelope and Leah.”

The whole farm should be ready for harvesting today, but you don’t mind. The crops never die no matter how long you ignore them, except at the end of season. It’d stopped being a concern years ago, because money had stopped being a concern years ago.

“Okay,” Haley agrees, easily. Hozier is singing about Eden when she kisses you again, hands smoothing down your shoulders. When she breaks the kiss, she says, “I love your shirt, by the way.”

You grin at her, and she grins back, dimpling. Reason #4 you love Haley with your whole heart: those dimples. Damn. “Well, I’d hope so, since, you know. You got it for me.”

(Again, another thing she’d thought you’d love. Again, another thing you absolutely love with your whole heart.)

You brush her hair over her shoulder, revealing a stretch of pale, freckle-dotted skin where her neck and shoulder meet quite nicely. Haley breathes out laughter, tilting her head back, and you lean in to kiss each freckle, squeezing the soft skin behind her knees.

Chester barks, and you pull back to see he’s sitting at the door, his leash in his mouth, ears cocked as he watches you both. Haley starts laughing and you pull away, shaking your head. “You’re lucky you’re so cute and also the love of my life,” you tell him. “No offense, Hal.”

“None taken. He’s the love of my life, too.”

“You have excellent taste,” you say.

“I sure do,” she says. Hozier is still singing. Haley turns to the side and fiddles with your phone, turning him off a moment later. Which, honestly, you think is a crime, somewhere. Probably Ireland. She turns back to you and leans forward, resting her palms on the countertop. “Hey, Saige, honey, before we go. Come here.”

Chester flops, the leash still in his mouth. “Be patient,” you tell him. His eyebrow bones lift, making him look impossibly, unfairly sad. You turn back to Haley, going to stand between her splayed legs once more. “What is it?” 

Haley smirks again. “I need to smooch my local farmer.”

“God, that’s so corny.”

“You love it.”

“I absolutely do,” you agree, and lean in to kiss her.

[lygrim]

Feudal High Fantasy AU PART DEUX

parttwoparttwoparttwoparttwoparttwo!! :D!!!! 

Part One

She takes her time with her preparations. She speaks with the farmer who lost a flock to the sorcerer on the mountain; she talks to old Geral by the well. She wants badly to talk to Wayne; Wayne has the most experiences with the sorcerer’s work than anyone, but if she asks too many questions about it Wayne will start to ask what she’s doing, and then try to stop her.

Roxanne leaves in the dozy dew of the morning, her woolen cloak fluttering through the low lying fog with a basket over her arm. The only one to ask her whereabouts she's headed so early is the gatekeeper. She puts him off with a remark about not wanting to forage in the heat of the day before she  sashays down the path, swinging her basket as she goes. He does not see the sickle she carries in her basket. He does not see the sling and the bag of pebbles half-hidden in the folds of her skirt.

The fog stays with her as she traverses the valley between the peaks, clinging to her and deadening the world: the sunlight, even sound smothered in a blanket of grey. If it weren't for the occasional goatherd and shepherd, she would think she was the only soul in the world.

She reaches the treeline around noon. Curiously, the midday sun hasn’t dispersed the fog. The mist lessens as she climbs, though it refuses to be banished; clinging like the cobwebs of an ethereal spider between every tree and bush. Roxanne snorts at the idea of a giant spider scuttling through the forest, trailing mist from its spinneret, and then considers that if such a thing were to exist, this would be the place.

She, ah. She resolutely refuses to be put off by that thought. At all.

She stops to eat her lunch, perched on a boulder by a stream. She considers where she might find the wizard’s abode as she chews on the hard heel of yesterday’s bread topped with a generous slice of goat cheese and greasy sausage. Afterwards she washes it down with the sweet flesh of one of the last peaches of the season. She’s washing her hands and refilling her water skin from the stream when something grabs her.

She turns on her heel with a blood curdling screech and socks her assailant right in the nose. Hal flops over on the ground, bellowing that his nose is broken and holding his face.

Roxanne is a mixture of relieved, apologetic, and flatly annoyed because ‘What are you doing here, Hal? Stop squirming and let me see. Your nose isn’t broken, you’re fine.’

She hauls him to his feet. He explains (between sniffles) that he was with one of the goatherds and saw her crossing the valley and incidentally ‘hey rox couldn’t help but notice you’re here on this dangerous mountain all by yourself did you get lost looking for me? haha how about we go back to the village and maybe stop by a haystack on the way and uh just hang out? There? Alone? By a haystack?’

And Roxanne forces a laugh because ‘That’s real tempting Hal, but I’m kinda busy, you know. Foraging. Up here. Alone.’

And Hal, being Hal, offers to stay with her (read; chatter her ear off and keep her from exploring) to ‘keep her safe because like, it’s dangerous up here, y’know?’ and Roxanne is starting to think frantically of how to get Hal the Phenomenally Obtuse to go away and is considering hinting that the herbs she’s gathering are for very gross and possibly contagious lady problems and really, he should go, when Hal lets out the highest squeal she’s ever heard, unceremoniously pushes her right into the stream, and runs like a loose bowel.

Roxanne is screaming after him for dunking her and struggling out of the stream in her sodden skirts when she hears something huff behind her. She looks over her shoulder, the hairs on the back of her neck prickling. Please don’t be a troll, she thinks.

It’s worse than a troll.

She lurches out of the stream, launching herself at her basket. She chucks it forcefully at its head before booking it down the mountain path, cursing as she goes.

“’Get yourself a man’, she said. ‘Oh Roxanne, you’re not whole without one’, she said. ‘You need a husband to protect you when the wolves are at your door’, she said. Spot on, mother! Excellent advice, mother! Thanks so much, mother! Get you a man that will push you into the brook towards the terrifying frog monster and run away! THIS IS WHY I NEVER MARRIED!” Roxanne vents to herself, employing the art of screaming in your very quietest whisper.

She trips over her skirts twice, skinning her knee and the palms of her hands.  She stops several frantic minutes later and leans on a tree, panting for breath to listen while she fumbles with her skirts. She didn’t see the monster following her, but she can hear something large moving in the undergrowth nearby. Her heart is pounding in her chest; she quickly folds the hem of her skirt up into her belt, showing an indecent amount of leg, and takes off again at a run. The minutes drag on at a torturous pace and she loses track of where she is and how long she’s been running. She’s been running downhill, but she’s sure she should have broken the treeline by now.

She can’t get out. She’s lost. And worst of all she hears it behind her still; she can’t shake it, but when she casts glances over her shoulder, she never sees it. Her legs and lungs are burning and she has a stitch in her side that burns like a brand. She can’t keep running.

She’ll have to turn and fight.

She threw her sickle away with her basket. She has her sling and her pebbles, but that’s not going to help her here, not when her pursuer is seven feet tall and has more bulk than the village blacksmith.

She was an idiot. She was such an idiot, and now she was going to die, alone, killed by a monster on this godforsaken mountain. All because she was an idealistic moron with more curiosity than sense.

But she’s not going to make it easy. She dodges behind a tree again, gasping and casting around for a weapon. All she finds is a half-rotten branch and some rocks. A branch snaps and she spins on her heel.

She catches a glimpse before she lets a fist-size rock fly at it’s grotesque head with a desperate scream. It’s the hulking figure from the stream, with its horrible, flat, noseless face, it’s wet brown eyes, its mottled green skin and long, sinewy limbs. Its appearance is belied by the sound it makes as it shields its head; a high, piping cry of startlement. A surprisingly human sound.

She advances on it with her stick, still screaming. The beast scrambles back from her (it’s eyes are white around the edges, like a spooked horse) and brings a webbed hand to its head, whispering sibilant syllables. As she moves to strike it, a cloud of silvery white mist bursts from the creature’s paw, enveloping her, clogging her senses, weighting her eyes. The earth seems to tilt and fade. Her last conscious thought is that it looked like the creature had been blowing her a kiss.

Part One

Part Three

[allbestnet]

The last 160 and you are Finished

Considerations - By Colin Wright

From Good to Amazing: No Bullshit Tips for The Life You Always Wanted - By Michael Serwa

The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism - By Olivia Fox Cabane

Man's Search for Meaning - By Viktor E. Frankl

I Will Teach You To Be Rich - By Ramit Sethi

The Education of Millionaires: Everything You Won't Learn in College About How to Be Successful - Michael Ellsberg

No More Mr. Nice Guy: A proven plan for getting what you want in love, sex and life - By Robert A Glover

She Comes First: The Thinking Man's Guide to Pleasuring a Woman - By Ian Kerner

Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain: How I Went from Gang Member to Multimillionaire Entrepreneur - By Ryan Blair

The Sales Acceleration Formula: Using Data, Technology, and Inbound Selling to go from $0 to $100 Million - By Mark Roberge

The Fine Art of Small Talk: How To Start a Conversation, Keep It Going, Build Networking Skills -- and Leave a Positive Impression! - By Debra Fine

Models: Attract Women Through Honesty - By Mark Manson

The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life - Hal Elrod

Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth - By Steve Pavlina

The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results - By Gary Keller

Managing Oneself - By Peter Ferdinand Drucker

The Way of the Superior Man: A Spiritual Guide to Mastering the Challenges of Women, Work, and Sexual Desire - By David Deida

The 48 Laws of Power - Robert Greene

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment - By Eckhart Tolle

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book - By Janet Mills

168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think - By Laura Vanderkam

Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits - By Gretchen Rubin

The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are - By Brene Brown

Early Retirement Extreme: A Philosophical and Practical Guide to Financial Independence - Jacob Lund Fisker

The Secrets of Happy Families: Improve Your Mornings, Tell Your Family History, Fight Smarter, Go Out and Play, and Much More - By Bruce Feiler

The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun - By Gretchen Rubin

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead - By Brené Brown

Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long - By David Rock

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business - By Charles Duhigg

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard - By Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die - By Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking - By Malcolm Gladwell

Me, Myself, and Us: The Science of Personality and the Art of Well-Being - By Brian R Little

The Happiness of Pursuit: Finding the Quest That Will Bring Purpose to Your Life - By Chris Guillebeau

Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator - By Ryan Holiday

The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth - M. Scott Peck

The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size - By Tor Norretranders

The Art of Thinking Clearly - By Rolf Dobelli

The Productive Narcissist: The Promise and Peril of Visionary Leadership - By Michael Maccoby

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - John Boyne

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong - By James W. Loewen

The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse - By Gregg Easterbrook

How Rich People Think - By Steve Siebold

The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea - By Bob Burg and John David Mann

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams & Reaching Your Destiny - By Robin Sharma

This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession - By Daniel J. Levitin

Breakfast of Champions: A Novel - By Kurt Vonnegut

The 10 Secrets of 100% Healthy People - By Patrick Holford

You Must Change Your Life - By Peter Sloterdijk

The Last Lecture - By Randy Pausch

The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? - By Rick Warren

The Prophet - By Kahlil Gibran

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't - By Jim Collins

The Power of Positive Thinking - By Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

Awaken the Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny! - By Tony Robbins

Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles" - By Marianne Williamson

The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science - By Norman Doidge

The Power of Your Subconscious Mind - By Joseph Murphy

How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling - By Frank Bettger

How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing with People - By Leslie T. Giblin

I'm OK--You're OK - By Thomas Harris

Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life - By Spencer Johnson

Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar - By Cheryl Strayed

I Too Had a Dream - By Verghese Kurien

Great Men of Literature - By Will Durant

The Attention Revolution: Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind - By B. Alan Wallace

The Paleo Manifesto: Ancient Wisdom for Lifelong Health - By John Durant

Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation - By Daniel J. Siegel

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything - By Chris Hadfield

Perfect Health Diet: Regain Health and Lose Weight by Eating the Way You Were Meant to Eat - By Paul Jaminet Ph.D. and Shou-Ching Jaminet Ph.D.

Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success - By John C. Maxwell

Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It - By Kamal Ravikant

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change - By Stephen R. Covey

Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?: And Other Provocations - By Seth Godin

A Brief History of Everything - By Ken Wilber

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles - By Steven Pressfield

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion - By Jonathan Haidt

Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story - By Arnold Schwarzenegger

The Art of Asking: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help - By Amanda Palmer

Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence - By Ben Carson M.D.

The Psychology of Self-Esteem: A Revolutionary Approach to Self-Understanding that Launched a New Era in Modern Psychology - By Nathaniel Branden

Mastery - By Robert Greene

Your Killer Emotions - By Ken Lindner

Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life - By Marshall B. Rosenberg

What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast: A Short Guide to Making Over Your Mornings-and Life - By Laura Vanderkam

The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists - By Neil Strauss

The Truth: An Uncomfortable Book About Relationships - By Neil Strauss

The Strangest Secret - By Earl Nightingale

The Wheel Of Time: The Shamans Of Mexico Their Thoughts About Life Death And The Universe - By Carlos Castaneda

The Art of Dreaming - By Carlos Castaneda

Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy - By David D. Burns

Wishes Fulfilled: Mastering the Art of Manifesting - By Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

I Can See Clearly Now - By Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao - By Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

You Were Born Rich: Now You Can Discover and Develop Those Riches - By Bob Proctor

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit - By Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living - By Dale Carnegie

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams - By Deepak Chopra

The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts - By Gary D Chapman

Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High - By Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler

Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In - By Roger Fisher, William L. Ury, and Bruce Patton

Zig Ziglar's Secrets of Closing the Sale - By Zig Ziglar

The Power of Awareness: Move from Desire to Wishes Fulfilled - By Neville Goddard

King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine - By  Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette

The Art of Seduction - By Robert Greene

The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World - By Chris Guillebeau

Your Erroneous Zones: Step-by-Step Advice for Escaping the Trap of Negative Thinking and Taking Control of Your Life - By Wayne W. Dyer

You Can Heal Your Life - By Louise Hay

The Unauthorized Guide to Doing Business the Richard Branson Way: 10 Secrets of the World's Greatest Brand Builder - By Des Dearlove

Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive: Outsell, Outmanage, Outmotivate, and Outnegotiate Your Competition - By Harvey B. Mackay

See You at the Top - By Zig Ziglar

Feel the Fear . . . and Do It Anyway - By Susan Jeffers

The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level - By PhD Hendricks Gay

The Winner Effect: The Neuroscience of Success and Failure - By Ian H. Robertson

The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life - By Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd Ph.D.

The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph - By Ryan Holiday

The Compound Effect - By Darren Hardy

The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Loving-Kindness - By Pema Chodron

The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster: Why Now Is the Time to #JoinTheRide - By Darren Hardy

The Art of Profitability - By Adrian Slywotzky

Small Is the New Big: and 183 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas - By Seth Godin

The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less - By Barry Schwartz

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion - By Robert B. Cialdini

How We Decide - By Jonah Lehrer

The Investor's Manifesto: Preparing for Prosperity, Armageddon, and Everything in Between - By William J. Bernstein

The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World - By Eric Weiner

What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful - By Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter

The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal - By  Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz

The Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills - By Daniel Coyle

The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It - By Kelly McGonigal

The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking - By  Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird

Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered - By Austin Kleon

The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking - By Oliver Burkeman

When Cultures Collide: Leading Across Cultures - By Richard D. Lewis

Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It - By Gabriel Wyner

Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want - By Nicholas Epley

Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success - By Shane Snow

On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction - By William Zinsser

Management of the Absurd - By Richard Farson

Hiring Smart!: How to Predict Winners and Losers in the Incredibly Expensive People-Reading Game By - Pierre Mornell

Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection - By A. J. Jacobs

Cut to the Chase: and 99 Other Rules to Liberate Yourself and Gain Back the Gift of Time - By Stuart R. Levine

How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships - By Leil Lowndes

Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School - By John Medina

The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted And the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, And Long-term Health - By Thomas Campbell and T. Colin Campbell

Lucky Or Smart?: Fifty Pages for the First-Time Entrepreneur - By Bo Peabody

Being Logical: A Guide to Good Thinking - By  D.Q. McInerny

On Writing - By Stephen King

Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Getting Things Done - By David Allen

Island - By Aldous Huxley

You, Inc.: The Art of Selling Yourself - By Harry Beckwith and Christine Clifford

Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur - By Richard Branson

Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality - By Scott Belsky

The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms - By Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success - By Adam M. Grant

Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work - By Chip Heath and Dan Heath

A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra) - By Barbara Oakley

Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity - By Hugh MacLeod

The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How. - By Daniel Coyle

[theadmiringbog]

Steven Pressfield

I’m 74. Believe me, you’ve got all the time in the world. You’ve got ten lifetimes ahead of you. Don’t worry about your friends “beating” you or “getting somewhere” ahead of you. Get out into the real dirt world and start failing. Why do I say that? Because the goal is to connect with your own self, your own soul. Adversity. Everybody spends their life trying to avoid it. Me too. But the best things that ever happened to me came during the times when the shit hit the fan and I had nothing and nobody to help me. Who are you really? What do you really want?

--

Susan Cain

I wanted writing to be a permanent source of pleasure, and never to be associated with financial stress or, more generally, the pressure to achieve.

--

Terry Crews

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession?

“Work hard to beat the competition.” 

The truth is that competition is the opposite of creativity. If I am working hard to beat the competition, it actually prevents me from thinking creatively to make all concepts of competition obsolete.

This competitive mindset destroys people. It’s the scorched-earth way of thinking, and everyone is burned.

The truth is that you need the success of everyone in your field in order to achieve your own success. Creativity operates differently. You work hard because you’re inspired to, not because you have to. Work becomes fun, and you have energy for days because this life is not a “young man’s game.” It is an “inspired person’s game.”

In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to? What new realizations and/or approaches helped? 

I realized that I had to let people leave my life, never to return.

It’s the realization that there is a “will to pleasure,” a “will to power” and, in the words of Viktor Frankl, a “will to meaning.” You won’t take a bullet for pleasure or power, but you will for meaning.

--

“An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.” 

–Niels Bohr Danish physicist and Nobel Prize winner

--

“These individuals have riches just as we say that we ‘have a fever,’ when really the fever has us.” 

–Seneca Roman Stoic philosopher, famed playwright

--

Mike Maples, Jr.

Ego is about who’s right. Truth is about what’s right.

--

“Friendship is born at the moment when one person says to another: ‘What? You too? I thought I was the only one.’”

—C. S. Lewis

--

Aniela Gregorek

... our Eating Out Jar, Happiness Jar, and others. The three of us are strong-willed individuals with distinct preferences, and the Eating Out Jar came out of a struggle. Each time we talked about going out to eat, we would spend so much energy bickering that we would be exhausted or discouraged by the time we finally chose. It was not fun. The same situation occurred with choosing an activity for the weekend.

--

Amelia Boone

For every major event in my life—everything from races to job changes to breakups—I assign a song. Most of these come organically: what I was listening to at the time, lyrics that spoke to me at a moment in my life, or a song I sang on repeat during a race (a common habit of mine). I keep these songs in a playlist, ordered chronologically. I can go back through and listen to that playlist and relive major experiences, both highs and lows, in my life.

--

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

I define faith as the ability to hear the music beneath the noise.

...

If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere, what would it say, and why? It would say three words: “Live. Give. Forgive.” They are by far the most important things in life.

--

Julia Galef

One distraction I’ve learned to avoid is consuming media that’s just telling me things I already know and agree with.”

--

Annie Duke

When two extreme opinions meet, the truth lies generally somewhere in the middle. Without exposure to the other side, you will naturally drift toward the extremes and away from the truth of the matter.

...

Poker has taught me to disconnect failure from outcomes. Just because I lose doesn’t mean I failed, and just because I won doesn’t mean I succeeded—not when you define success and failure around making good decisions that will win in the long run.

What matters is the decisions I made along the way, and every decision failure is an opportunity to learn and adjust my strategy going forward. By doing this, losing becomes a less emotional experience and more an opportunity to explore and learn.

--

“There is no exact answer to the question ‘what is the meaning of life.’ It’s like asking a chess master ‘what is the best move in the world?’ It all depends on what situation you are in.”

-- Victor Frankl

--

“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” 

–Bill Gates Co-founder of Microsoft

--

“What makes a river so restful to people is that it doesn’t have any doubt—it is sure to get where it is going, and it doesn’t want to go anywhere else.”

—Hal Boyle

--

Maria Sharapova

How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a “favorite failure” of yours? 

In my profession, losses are often seen as failures. Not being the person who wins the last point, walking off the court first. All those visible things. But internally, losing sets you up for winning. Losing makes you think in ways victories can’t. You begin asking questions instead of feeling like you have the answers. Questions open up the doors to so many possibilities. If a loss sets me up for those tough questions I might have to ask, then I will get the answers that will ultimately turn those losses into victories.

--

Jason Fried

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession?

No, don’t scale. Start small, stay as small as possible for as long as possible. Grow in control, not out of control.

--

“Raise capital to launch a software/services business.” No, bootstrap. As in life, we form business habits early on. If you raise money, you’ll get good at spending money. If you bootstrap, you’ll be forced to get good at making money.

...

I’ve always been pretty good at saying no, but over the last couple of years I’ve come up with a new rule. If the ask is more than a week away, I almost always say no, regardless of what is it. Exceptions include family things I need to attend, and a conference or two I really want to speak at, but other than that, if the “yes” would tie me to something further than a week or so out, it’s almost always a no.

I always explain why and say something like, “Thanks for the invitation, but I just can’t commit to anything more than a day or so in advance. I need to keep my schedule open for me and the people I work with on a regular basis. Best bet is to hit me up a day or two before you wanted to get together. If I’m available we can set up a time.”

--

Gary Vaynerchuk

What advice would you give to a smart, driven college student about to enter the “real world”? 

Macro patience, micro speed. They should not care about the next eight years, but they should stress the next eight days. At a macro, I think everybody’s super impatient. I think I’m unbelievably patient in years and decades, and unbelievably sporadic and hyper every minute on a day-to-day basis. I genuinely think everybody’s the reverse. Everybody’s making decisions about, like, “What am I going to do at 25? I better do that. . . .” In years, they’re impatient and making dumb decisions, and then in days, they’re watching fucking Netflix. They’re super worried about 25 when they’re 22, yet they’re drinking every Thursday night at 7 P.M. They’re playing Madden. They’re fucking watching House of Cards. They’re spending four and a half hours on their Instagram feed every single day. This is super important. Everybody’s impatient at a macro, and just so patient at a micro, wasting your days worrying about years. I’m not worried about my years, because I’m squeezing the fuck out of my seconds, let alone my days. It’s going to work out.

...

I still need a healthy balance of 20 percent yeses to things that seem dumb, because I believe in serendipity, and that’s an important balance that people struggle with.

--

Tim O’Reilly

Every morning, on my run, I try to take a picture of a flower and share it on Instagram. I was inspired to do this by a passage I read many years ago in a book by C. S. Lewis (I think it was The Great Divorce), in which a character, after death, only sees the flowers as blobs of color, and his spirit guide tells him, “That’s because you never really looked at them when you were alive.” As the line from Hamilton says, “Look around. Look around. How lucky we are to be alive right now!”

...

I have profited greatly from Esther Dyson’s advice about accepting speaking engagements: “Would I say yes if it were on Tuesday?” Because the day will come when it is on Tuesday.

...

We equate being smart and being driven as the ways to get ahead. But sometimes, an attitude of alert watchfulness is far wiser and more effective. Learning to follow your nose, pulling on threads of curiosity or interest, may take you places that being driven will never lead you to.

--

“Let life ripen and then fall. Will is not the way at all.”

—Lao Tzu, from The Way of Life According to Lao Tzu

--

Tom Peters

They say: “Think big! Have a compelling vision!” I say: Think small. Do something super cool by the end of the day!

...

I write about “excellence.” Most see excellence as some grand aspiration. Wrong. Dead wrong. My two cents: Excellence is the next five minutes or nothing at all. It’s the quality of your next five-minute conversation. It’s the quality of, yes, your next email. Forget the long term. Make the next five minutes rock!

--

“If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.”

-- Albert Einstein

--

Brene Brown

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do? What questions do you ask yourself? 

Always these questions: 

Sleep? Exercise? Healthy food? Am I resentful because I’m not setting or holding a boundary?

--

Leo Babauta

What is an unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love? 

I am absurdly fond of minimalist aesthetics. I get a ridiculous amount of pleasure from an empty room with just one piece of furniture and a plant. Sometimes I fantasize about owning nothing but an empty room!

--

Esther Dyson

Always take jobs for which you are not qualified; that way you will inevitably learn something. And do not drop out of college unless you truly have a better alternative.

--

Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse: This small, short book provided me a vocabulary to think about the meaning of life—not just my life, but all life! It gave me a mathematical framework for my own spirituality. As it says, the game is to keep the game going forever, to rope all beings into playing infinite games versus finite (win-lose) games, and to realize that there is only one infinite game.

--

Kevin Kelly

I learned far more about business from that $200 than from a debt-inducing MBA.

...

What advice would you give to a smart, driven college student about to enter the “real world”? What advice should they ignore? 

Don’t try to find your passion. Instead master some skill, interest, or knowledge that others find valuable. It almost doesn’t matter what it is at the start. You don’t have to love it, you just have to be the best at it. Once you master it, you’ll be rewarded with new opportunities that will allow you to move away from tasks you

--

Eric Ripert

An orb of shungite stone. Its incredible protective and healing qualities—mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical—can be felt by even the most skeptical people. One benefit relevant for many of us today: it diffuses negative waves from electronics.

...

Five or six years ago, I decided that I was going to live my life in three parts—one-third for my business, one-third for my family, one-third for myself.

--

“Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.” 

–Fred Rogers Creator of the famous television series Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood

--

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” 

–Lao Tzu Chinese philosopher, author of Tao Te

--

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” 

–Terry Pratchett English fantasy writer

--

Gabor Mate

If you’re really smart, you’ll drop the drivenness. It doesn’t matter what’s driving you; when you’re driven, you are like a leaf, driven by the wind. You have no real autonomy. You are bound to be blown off course, even if you reach what you believe is your goal. And don’t confuse being driven with being authentically animated by an inner calling. One state leaves you depleted and unfulfilled; the other fuels your soul and makes your heart sing.

--

John Arnold

The reality, best captured in The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley and The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker, is that the long-term trend in almost every measure is resolutely positive. Optimism is a reflexive trait, with a circular relationship between cause and effect. The more optimistic society is about the future, the better the future is. These books serve as a reminder of the great advances.

--

Mr. Money Mustache

You are free for life once you have 25 to 30 times your annual spending locked up and working for you in low-fee index funds or other relatively boring investments. If you save the standard 15 percent of your income, this freedom arrives roughly at age 65. If you can crank that up to 65 percent, you’re free just after your 30th birthday, and you often end up a lot happier in the process. Of course, there are other ways to solve the money problem: Own a profitable business, or find work that is joyful enough to do it for life. But even these things happen more quickly if you don’t get mired in the earn-to-borrow-to-spend trap that is part of that big middle-class assumption.

--

David Lynch

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do? 

I sit and desire ideas.

--

Evan Williams

Mindfulness meditation, which I started doing regularly about five years ago, has changed my life more than any other behavior. I feel like it rewired my brain (probably because it did). At first, I felt the effects very powerfully. After a few years, it feels less dramatic but necessary. If I go more than a couple days without sitting, I feel off. Wish I had started many years before.

...

Be in a hurry to learn, not in a hurry to get validation. In a team environment, you will make a much better impression if it seems like you’re not at all worried about yourself. It’s okay to actually be worried about yourself—everyone is—just don’t seem like it. If you resist asking for too much, you will often get more.

--

Chris Anderson

The realization that the best way to get things done is to let go. Here’s the thing. . . . It’s often the case that people want to help you or work with you. But they can’t if you insist on holding on to tight control. The more you let go, the more people will surprise you.

...

Many of us have bought into the cliché “pursue your passion.” For many, that is terrible advice. In your 20s, you may not really know what your best skills and opportunities are. It’s much better to pursue learning, personal discipline, growth. And to seek out connections with people across the planet.

--

Michael Gervais

“Every day is an opportunity to create a living masterpiece.” We have far more control in our lives than many embrace. We create or co-create our experiences in life, and each day is a new opportunity to be fully engaged in the present moment. It’s the present moment where glimpses of our potential are revealed and expressed.

...

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise? 

“You can do anything you put your mind to.” Ah, no, that’s not accurate, and it reveals the advice-giver’s naiveté about human experiences.

--

“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”

 –G. K. Chesterton English philosopher known as the “prince of paradox”

--

“All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.” 

–John Gunther American journalist

--

Katrin Tanja Davidstodir

If you are asking about an exercise, I would say it is basic “fitness.” It is hanging out around your lactic threshold for an extended period of time—it’s hard. But that’s where the magic happens. It’s not going guns blazing through a workout and it’s not “talking pace.” It’s hanging out right where you might start dropping off soon but you can hold on. Once your general fitness is higher, your recovery is better between lifts and between events; it translates into so many other things.

--

Terry Laughlin

My five steps to mastery: 

Choose a worthy and meaningful challenge. 

Seek a sensei or master teacher (like George Leonard) to help you establish the right path and priorities. 

Practice diligently, always striving to hone key skills and to progress incrementally toward new levels of competence. 

Love the plateau. All worthwhile progress occurs through brief, thrilling leaps forward followed by long stretches during which you feel you’re going nowhere. Though it seems as if we’re making no progress, we are turning new behaviors into habits. Learning continues at the cellular level . . . if you follow good practice principles. 

Mastery is a journey, not a destination. True masters never believe they have attained mastery. There is always more to be learned and greater

--

Drew Houston

If I had a cheat sheet I could give myself at 22, it would have three things on it: a tennis ball, a circle, and the number 30,000. 

The tennis ball is about finding something that you can become obsessed with, like my childhood dog who would go crazy whenever anyone threw a ball for her. The most successful people I know are all obsessed with solving a problem that really matters to them. 

The circle refers to the idea that you’re the average of your five closest friends. Make sure to put yourself in an environment that pulls the best out of you. 

And the last is the number 30,000. When I was 24, I came across a website that says most people live for about 30,000 days—and I was shocked to find that I was already 8,000 days down.

...

Make sure the problem you become obsessed with is one that needs solving and is one where your contribution can make a difference. As Y Combinator says, “Make something people want.”

--

“There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.” 

–Louis L’Amour 

--

Muneeb Ali

Asking myself the question, “When I’m old, how much would I be willing to pay to travel back in time and relive the moment that I’m experiencing right now?”

--

Steven Pinker

Find a new topic or area or concern that has a small number of people you respect behind it, but which has not become a culture-wide fad or conventional wisdom. If it’s already common knowledge, it’s probably too late to make a major contribution. If you’re the only one excited, you may be deluding yourself. 

Ignore advice to simply follow your intuition or gut without thinking through whether the course of action is likely to be fruitful and rewarding. 

Focus on effectiveness—what your actions will actually accomplish—and not self-actualization or other ways of trying to feel good about yourself. 

Don’t think that the arts and verbal professions are the only respectable occupations (a common mindset of grandchildren of workers). The elites sneer at commerce as tawdry, but it’s what gives people what they want and need, and pays for everything else, including the luxury of art. 

Think about what you will add to the world. Some lucrative professions (e.g., ultra-high-tech finance) are dubious applications of human brainpower.

--

Whitney Cummings

There’s something very liberating about being dirty, because then you don’t have to worry about getting dirty.

...

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?

 “Network.” In creative fields, I think networking actually hurts you in most cases. Don’t waste your time socializing with people who you think can help you. Just get better, and opportunities will naturally present themselves once you deserve them. Only focus on things within your control. And if you don’t know what those things are, find someone who can tell you. Don’t network, just work.

--

Rick Rubin

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise? 

Anything having to do with commercial success. Anything having to do with testing things, doing polls, or getting public opinion on your work so you can change it. Anything suggesting a safe path and anything suggesting a stable situation, especially in the beginning. When you start out doing something, you’re likely charting uncharted territory, and it’s good to ask a lot of questions from people in the industry and to learn from them. Remember, though, when people give you advice, they’re giving you advice based on their particular skills, experiences, and perspectives. So know that when you get expert advice, it’s often people telling you about their journey, and every journey is different.

--

Ben Silberman

Even at the company, every week I show employees the current week within the year visually, just to remind them that every week matters.

...

I left Google in 2008 to start a company, and the first two or three things didn’t work out. Pinterest launched in 2010. It didn’t really start growing quickly for another year or two, and it really took off around 2012. That’s a four-year period where things weren’t going awesome. But, I thought: “That’s not that long. That’s like med school before you go into residency.”

--

Yuval Noah Harari

Nobody really knows what the world and the job market will look like in 2040, hence nobody knows what to teach young people today. Consequently, it is likely that most of what you currently learn at school will be irrelevant by the time you are 40.

So what should you focus on? My best advice is to focus on personal resilience and emotional intelligence.

Change is usually stressful, and after a certain age, most people don’t like to change. When you are 16, your entire life is change, whether you like it or not. Your body is changing, your mind is changing, your relationships are changing—everything is in flux. You are busy inventing yourself. By the time you are 40, you don’t want change. You want stability. But in the twenty-first century, you won’t be able to enjoy that luxury. If you try to hold on to some stable identity, some stable job, some stable worldview, you will be left behind, and the world will fly by you.

Don’t trust the adults too much. In the past, it was a safe bet to trust adults, because they knew the world quite well, and the world changed slowly. But the 21st century is going to be different. Whatever the adults have learned about economics, politics, or relationships may be outdated. Similarly, don’t trust technology too much. You must make technology serve you, instead of you serving it. If you aren’t careful, technology will start dictating your aims and enslaving you to its agenda.

--

Lorenzo stopped the action and walked around the net. He spoke quietly: “When I was a young player in Italy, nine or ten years old,” he said, “my coach gave me a rule: I could make mistakes, but I couldn’t make the same mistake twice. If I was hitting balls into the net, he would say, ‘I don’t care if you hit balls over the fence or anywhere else, but you’re not allowed to hit any more balls into the net. That’s the only rule.’”

--

Most of the time, “What should I do with my life?” is a terrible question. “What should I do with this tennis serve?” “What should I do with this line at Starbucks?” “What should I do with this traffic jam?” “How should I respond to the anger I feel welling up in my chest?” These are better questions. Excellence is the next five minutes, improvement is the next five minutes, happiness is the next five minutes.

This doesn’t mean you ignore planning. I encourage you to make huge, ambitious plans. Just remember that the big-beyond-belief things are accomplished when you deconstruct them into the smallest possible pieces and focus on each “moment of impact,” one step at a time. I’ve had a life full of doubts . . . mostly for no good reason.

--

Based on everything I’ve seen, a simple recipe can work: focus on what’s in front of you, design great days to create a great life, and try not to make the same mistake twice.

[seminarsacademy]

Kathy Kennebrook – Marketing Magic I & Ii

Kathy Kennebrook – Marketing Magic I & Ii

Kathy Kennebrook – Marketing Magic I & Ii

Dear Friend; It’s absolutely true. I usually start my day talking to sellers, making offers and buying a property before I ever get through my first glass of iced tea in the morning, (I’m allergic to coffee) or get out of my pajamas. When I first got started in the real estate business a few years ago, I was working in full-time sales logging thousands of miles each year because if I didn’t work, I didn’t get paid. Frankly, I was tired of the whole business. I just thought there had to be a better way to make a living. Then I discovered real estate and quickly found out the best deals were going to be made only with sellers who were truly motivated to sell. Once I decided I wanted to make a lot of money…and enjoy the good life that goes with it, I knew I needed to find a way to make it happen. And the way to that goal was to find motivated sellers who wanted and needed to sell. I Want To Help You Earn The Same Big Profits I Do! Even in Today’s Market. I’m sure you’re skeptical. In fact I hope you are. Because that’s smart. But I urge you to read on to find out what makes my systems so special…. and why I’m willing to share my secrets with you. Hundreds of real estate investors all over America have implemented my systems. Now they have motivated sellers practically begging them to take their properties off their hands. What’s their secret? What’s their edge? At Last I Have Unlocked The Secrets To Getting Really Motivated Sellers Contacting You. Carve A Unique Niche Market That Other Real Estate Investors Simply Don’t Know About. My special techniques are designed to identify and address a unique and virtually untapped market place of motivated sellers … some of those include out-of-state owners, pre-foreclosures, burned-out landlords, hard to find owners, expired listings, estates, military transfers and more!! Written and spoken in simple language, with Step-By-Step directions even a novice can follow, my unique systems take all of the guesswork out of the equation! THE TRUTH IS…Not Everything Has To Be Hard! My “Cookie Cutter” Systems Are Incredibly Easy To Implement !! I’ve even included all the information you’ll need to put my systems in someone else’s hands and get them to do all the work for you so you can concentrate on reaping the rewards of CLOSING THE DEALS and getting the BIG checks. How much easier can I make it? The bottom line is, almost everyone would like to find a way to make lots of money with little or no effort. What could be easier than having the truly motivated sellers contacting you first? Gone are the long and boring days of calling ads from the newspaper, or burning gas driving around looking for the same houses everyone else is driving around looking at, or burning money on classified ads hoping for the best! There is an easier way! The sellers will contact you first and when they do, let me tell you, there are some wonderful deals to be made. The more motivated the seller is, the better the deal is going to be. Simply put, it’s all about having the motivated sellers contacting you first with the pretty houses and the ugly ones. These strategies have been perfected over the last several years and several hundred properties that I have bought and sold and hundreds done by my students. Here’s proof “We started an ‘out of town owners’ mailing using your materials and have gotten excellent results. I have two houses under contract right now, not to mention a pile of leads that I am still trying to work through. As for lead generation, your system has given me ‘more bang for the buck’ than anything else I’ve done. I am totally sold on it.” Paul Andrews, Airline Pilot, Englewood, Florida This Amazing System Works Whether You Are A Novice Investor Or A Seasoned Pro. Almost everyday I get e-mails and faxes from my students sharing their success stories, and they tell me how my systems have changed their lives! As you read them, you will quickly see these are just average folks who were looking for a way to increase their business and find even more motivated sellers. EVEN FAMED REAL ESTATE GURU RON LEGRAND SAYS: “If you want a turn-key direct mail system already done for you … better take a look at Kathy Kennebrook®’s Marketing Magic. She’s made it brain-dead simple to do these mailings and has created a masterpiece package for you that is very cheap and easy to follow.” But don’t just take his word for it. Read on and find out what some of my students had to say about this unique direct mail system: “By using your direct mail system to out-of-state owners, I was able to find, negotiate, and close on a deal putting no money down out of my own pocket. I will own the home free and clear in 10 years! I did this within 2 weeks of beginning your system.” Cindy and Mike George, Tampa, Florida

“I want to thank you for your system. It has led me to more leads than I know how to handle.” Bryan Jameson, New Port Richey, Florida

“I want to thank you for putting this system together. In the three weeks or so since I started mailing letters using your system, I’ve made a half dozen offers, which is six times as many as I had made in the preceding three months. Thanks.” Hal Davis, Plano, Texas

“As a real estate investor with 5 years experience and over $20,000 of other trainers’ courses, I found Marketing Magic to be a fresh and powerful approach which I can honestly say I wish I’d had 5 years ago. I immediately implemented your system and it is revolutionizing the profitability of my business.” Scott Bullen, Arvada, Colorado

Ordinary people are making thousands of dollars using this unique marketing system in virtually every city and every state, everyday. And you can too! Here is some of the neat stuff you’ll learn using my systems: · You’ll learn how to locate more deals in just a couple of weeks than you will be able to process in a year. · How to find the owners of vacant, abandoned houses even when they don’t want to be found. · Why YOU don’t have to work hard to make this system a success. And how getting someone else to do all the work for you will make you rich!! · Learn How To Automate The Follow-Up Process, The Deal-Making Process And Make Thousands More Without Ever Leaving Your Desk. · How hundreds of students all over the country are getting houses deeded to them in beautiful neighborhoods and how you can too. · How to find and make incredible deals with the owners of out of state properties. · How to carve a niche market for yourself by finding the most highly-motivated sellers that even your competition doesn’t know about. · How to locate pre-foreclosure properties your competitors don’t know anything about. · How to start from scratch and complete your first deal within 45 days. These techniques are designed to identify and address a unique and virtually untapped marketplace of motivated sellers and show you how to approach these sellers in a way that will make them contact you. “Wow! What a marketing product this package is. Not only did I close on a deal within a month of purchasing your materials, my phone is constantly ringing. I am on my way! This is all from using your marketing techniques. Sheela Dave, Tampa, Florida

Stop Searching For Sellers The Hard Way!! · Implement this dummy proof, affordable and effective marketing system that will have motivated, qualified sellers contacting you. · Position yourself out in front. Enjoy having the competitive edge with sellers who not only haven’t heard from your competition, they don’t even know they exist. · Turn small marketing dollars into BIG profits with MINIMAL effort and HUGE results. · Have an endless stream of motivated sellers practically begging you to take their properties off their hands. · Learn how to put this system in someone else’s hands so you can close the deals with the many sellers who contact you. · Pick out the marketing gems that work best for you in your area and capitalize on them for maximum profits.

Kathy Kennebrook – Marketing Magic I & Ii

Kathy Kennebrook – Marketing Magic I & Ii

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