Love Your Work

When Vincent van Gogh began his career as an artist, he had already failed at everything else. He even got fired from his own family's business in the process. Not seeing any alternative, he completely immersed himself in art. In one two-week period, he created 120 drawings. But exactly none of those drawings are famous today. What feels like waste is not waste Last week, I talked about the Iceber...

1920s, London. Radclyffe Hall was pacing around her study. She wore close-cropped hair, a tweed skirt, and a man's silk smoking jacket and tie. Her partner, Uma Troubridge, sat in a nearby chair, reading the writing of Radclyffe – or "John," as she preferred to be called. But just as Uma's voice wavered a bit, John grabbed the papers from her hand, and threw them in the fire. In the 1920s, throwin...

It's 1997, and Tiger Woods is in a sudden death playoff, against Tom Lehman. Lehman shoots first, on a par three, and hits his ball into the water. Now Tiger's up, and this is Tiger's tournament to lose. All he has to do is hit a safe shot, far away from the hole, and far away from the water. But that's not what he does. An aggressive and dangerous play The hole is way on the left side of the gree...

Shiny Object Syndrome is an affliction that causes you to be attracted to "shiny objects." Shiny objects can be whatever is new and trendy in your field. But oftentimes, the shiny objects are simply new ideas you have – other projects you'd rather be working on. In this form, Shiny Object Syndrome will ruin any chance you have of finishing your current project – unless you do something about it. T...

If you want to grow an audience online, it's great to have a consistent newsletter. It keeps you in touch with your subscribers, and it gives you a place to test out small ideas you can later grow into big ideas. I've been delivering my Love Mondays newsletter every week for more than 100 weeks (and you can sign up at kdv.co). Here's how I streamline and automate the process, so I never miss a wee...

You hear a lot about morning routines , but nighttime routines are every bit as important. Your parents probably had a bedtime routine for you, and if you have kids you probably have bedtime routines for them. But we need bedtime routines as adults, too. I follow a specific nighttime routine, and it helps me get to sleep faster, and wake up better-rested. Wind down, and don't try to force sleep My...

I once was a professional dater. I was good at getting dates. I was terrible at finding a partner – which I really wanted. I went on so many dates, I made $150,000 on an online-dating-advice blog (which I recently shut down ). I've now been in a relationship for several years. Here are the harsh truths I wish my single self had known. Dating is noise. There's nothing about dating that has anything...

Does image-based media make us think less about our principles and ideals, and more about pursuing mere appearances? Daniel J. Boorstin thought so. In his book, The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America , Boorstin breaks down why "The Graphic Revolution," has built a world where our fantasies are more real than our reality. In this book summary, I'll explain why Boorstin says, "By sharpening...

The business of creative work is the business of riding randomness. If you want to write a bestselling book or launch a revolutionary company, you're going to need luck. You're navigating Extremistan, not Mediocristan , as I talked about in episode 253. How do you increase your chances of having a hit without risking everything? You do it with "The Barbell Strategy." You can use the Barbell Strate...

I recently got a message from a reader, who said, "I don't know if it's meditation or you reaching a new level professionally, but I feel like your writing is on FIRE!" I do feel my writing has improved over the last year. They're right to think the meditation I talked about on episode 246 has helped. If I had to pick one thing that has improved my writing, it's starting to use the Zettelkasten me...

After fourteen rejections, as I outlined on episode 247, I finally landed a BookBub Featured Deal . Once I tallied up my results, I had lost more than $4,000 running the promotion. I'll tell you why, and why I'd still do another BookBub Featured Deal in a heartbeat. My BookBub Featured Deal Results Book: The Heart to Start: Stop Procrastinating & Start Creating BookBub Category: Advice and How-To...

If you want to succeed in anything creative – whether that's writing, art, or entrepreneurship – you're navigating unfamiliar territory. Everyone else is living in Mediocristan, but you're living in Extremistan. You need a different approach for deciding how you define success. "Extremistan" is a term introduced by Nicholas Nassim Taleb in his book, The Black Swan , which I summarized on episode 2...

Just a quick note here to tell you loyal listeners about a new opportunity over on Patreon . As I've said in my Patreon pleas at the end of the episodes, some money that I make feels better than other money. When I sell a book, that money feels good. When I get a sponsor for the podcast, that money feels...not as good. Other money I get that feels good is the money I get from Patreon supporters. T...

Can the way we consume information make us unable to tell truth from lies? Neil Postman thought so. In his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death , Postman says everything has been turned into entertainment: Our politics, religion, news, athletics, our commerce – even our education – have all been turned into forms of entertainment. This has weakened our ability to reason about society's important quest...

I just got word that the Mind Management, Not Time Management audiobook is now live on Audible.com. And you can listen to it free. If you are not already an Audible member, you can listen to the Mind Management, Not Time Management audiobook free, with a free trial. Just go to kdv.co/mindaudible . If you prefer another platform, check it out, Mind Management, Not Time Management is probably availa...

There's an important bias to avoid: Survivorship bias. Unfortunately, people who might otherwise do something with their lives hide behind survivorship bias. Just as important as knowing when survivorship bias matters is knowing when survivorship bias does not matter. Survivorship bias has a fatal flaw. Example: Abraham Wald avoided survivorship bias to bring back more survivors In WWII the US mil...

As a nonfiction author, retaining what I read is my job. Through the process of writing three books, I've experimented with different ways of reading, remembering what I read, and using that knowledge to develop my own thoughts . I'll share today my note-taking system. I hope it serves as a good example of a digital "Zettelkasten" or slip box. Listen to My Zettelkasten: An Author's Digital Slip-Bo...

If you're a fan of using Getting Things Done to stay on top of all the, well, things you need to get done – you'll love How to Take Smart Notes  for staying on top of all the things you want to learn. I'll give you an introduction – in my own words – in this How to Take Smart Notes book summary. The note-taking system introduced in Sönke Ahrens's How to Take Smart Notes is a bit like Getting Thing...

Hey, just a quick note to let you know I'm launching a new (free) email course. It's 100-Word Writing Habit, and you can sign up at kdv.co/100 I built my writing career by building a writing habit. Three books later, I still write 100 words first thing in the morning. That gets me going so – in addition to books – I can ship an email newsletter each week, and a couple 2,000-word articles on this p...

You've heard the expression, "The medium is the message." But what does that really mean? "The medium is the message" is a term coined by Marshall McLuhan in his book, Understanding Media: Extensions of Man . More than fifty years after it was published – in 1964 – Understanding Media reads as if it's from the future. In this Understanding Media summary, I'll break down – in my own words – why "Th...

What is BookBub, and what is a BookBub Featured Deal? BookBub is a gigantic email list that sends discounted or even free books to people. BookBub curates the deals they send to their subscribers. They send them "Featured Deals." A BookBub Featured Deal is a chance to get your book in front of hundreds of thousands of readers – or even a million+ readers – interested in your genre. You'll sell hun...

I recently saw a tweet storm by entrepreneur/investor/philosopher Naval Ravikant. He was challenging people to meditate sixty minutes a day for sixty consecutive days. The view from the location of my 60th hour-long meditation session. Here's a quote from Naval about his meditation challenge, from The Naval Almanack : Meditation isn't hard. All you have to do is sit there and do nothing. Just sit...

It's hard to predict the future, but you can be better at predicting the future. All you need is a few delicious avocados. Even the "experts" are bad at predicting the future Wharton professor Phillip Tetlock wanted to make the future easier to predict. So he held "forecasting tournaments," in which experts from a variety of fields made millions of predictions about global events. Tetlock found th...

If you want to write a book , don't ask, "How much money does the average book make?" In this context, "average" is meaningless. You're in the world of Black Swans. The Black Swan is a book by Nicholas Nassim Taleb, and I have found the ideas in it critical to navigating my career as an author. Here – in my own words – is my summary of The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable . These ar...

Today is the day! My new book, Mind Management, Not Time Management is now available everywhere! Writing this book has been a long journey. Over the past ten years, I slowly discovered the things I share in the book, and I also scrapped several drafts, before I finally got it right. I'm very excited to share with you a cohesive system for managing your energy, instead of your time – to be producti...