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- The Quest Newsletter
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Quote: Priorities
Ideas: Process, Passion, and Breathing
Article: Advice for Life
Tweet: Nike Air Max
Question: Removal
Quote
The great Theologian Martin Luther on busy days:
“I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.”
The things we don’t think we have time for when we’re busy are even more important when we’re busy.
Ideas From Me
I.
I once heard a baseball coach say: "You can play well and lose and you can play poorly and win."
Just because you won doesn't mean your process is perfect and just because you lost doesn't mean it's broken.
We have to be committed to a process but not emotionally tied to the result.
II.
“Follow your passion” isn’t very helpful if you don’t know what your passions are.
We aren't born with passions. We find them by doing things.
We discover our interests, what we’re good at, what we enjoy, and what we care about, and then we feel alive or passionate when we do those things.
Interests + Skills + Enjoyment + Values = Living with Passion
And remember, there’s no timeline that you have to “have it all figured out.”
We are constantly in a state of development and discovery.
III.
When you get stressed or anxious, the brain sends signals to your body.
But the signals that connect the body and brain don’t just go one way -- the body can also send signals back to the brain.
The right breathing can help you short-circuit your fight or flight system.
Try box-breathing the next time you’re feeling anxious or stressed:
• inhale 4 seconds
• hold 4 seconds
• exhale 4 seconds
• hold 4 seconds
Try for 4 minutes.
Article
68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice from Kevin Kelly on his 68th Birthday.
One of the best lists of advice I’ve ever read.
Some of my favorites (tried to pick just 2-3 but couldn’t do it):
2. “Being enthusiastic is worth 25 IQ points.”
4. “Don’t be afraid to ask a question that may sound stupid because 99% of the time everyone else is thinking of the same question and is too embarrassed to ask it.”
5. “Being able to listen well is a superpower. While listening to someone you love keep asking them “Is there more?”, until there is no more.”
7. “Gratitude will unlock all other virtues and is something you can get better at.”
19. “The purpose of a habit is to remove that action from self-negotiation. You no longer expend energy deciding whether to do it. You just do it. Good habits can range from telling the truth to flossing.”
22. “Trust me: there is no ‘them’.”
24. “Optimize your generosity. No one on their deathbed has ever regretted giving too much away.”
50. “When you get an invitation to do something in the future, ask yourself: Would you accept this if it was scheduled for tomorrow? Not too many promises will pass that immediacy filter.”
59. “Eliminating clutter makes room for your true treasures.”
Great Twitter thread here from Billy Oppenheimer.
In 1985, Nike was struggling. Their stock dropped 50%, they had layoffs, and they were getting outsold by Adidas, Converse, & Reebok. So in a panicked attempt to find creative talent, Nike held a 24-hour shoe design contest.
The winner was a corporate architect named Tinker Hatfield. Tinker designed a shoe based on a building in Paris that he studied in Architecture school.
The shoe he designed? The Air Max 1.
The Air Max 1 was a massive success, and it steered Nike's design direction from then on.
"To this day," Tinker says, "Phil Knight says I saved Nike."
Billy touches on the "the positive manifold" phenomenon — the idea that different abilities tend to be positively correlated. That the expertise gained through specialization is transferrable.
The cognitive and creative abilities cultivated as an architect could positively correlate with being a shoe designer.
Question
What is one thing you could remove from your life that would improve it?
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Make it a great weekend.
Much love,
Beau Burns
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